MY NIGHT...

well i didnt get to eat; but i could have saved a kids life tonight. fair trade? dunno. im pretty hungry right now. bout 11:40 i was in the quad itc; when i heard a thump, and a girl scream; i turned around and saw the itc monitor on the ground shaking, and the girl hysterical with her hands on her mouth. i ran over to that side of the room in enough time to see him spit out a mouthful of saliva, as he gyrated on the floor. he was having a seizure. a pretty violent one. by then another male had come over and got on the floor next to him. the kids name was gailen, or something like that; it was hard to understand the girl as she started shrieking hysterically again for help, and Oh My God's intermingled. i knelt down, he was choking and spat stuff out again, shaking harder. the other male, whose name i never learned, held down the kids arms to keep them from flailing into the metal desk anymore. i asked her if he had a history of seizures. she didnt look at me. i grabbed her shoulder and asked again, she looked at me, tears on her face and said no. i jumped the monitors desk and called 911. it took awhile for them to pick up. seemed like a half hour, probably was less than a minute. time moves slow when people are screaming and uncontrollably shaking. finally.. Johnson County 911 Service. "yes, im located in quadrangle residence hall, u of iowa campus, west side of the river; i have a 150 pound caucasian male, approximately 20 years of age, undergoing violent seizures. subject has no known history of seizures." --- where is he? "hes on the ground now... half on his stomach and half on his side" ok sir. SIR? are you still there "yeah" (i got taken in by watching it all and forgot to talk) is he breathing? "im not sure, im too far away--- guys i need to know if hes breathing" the girl starts shaking with hysteria and cries, even the operator hears it; Sir keep everyone calm; is he breathing? "no ma'am, hes turning blue and getting cold... he wont relax his throat or stop slamming his head" has he vommitted? "not vomit, just spit so far" do you know cpr, you may have to administer breaths-- "yes i do, but id have to put the phone down to do it" the other guy yells, I KNOW CPR TOO. the operator hears it "ma'am well be ok, we can do cpr, weve got people that can" is he breathing now? "is he breathing guys?" kids spits up again. yes, hes breathing now. youll need to get him on his side now, the operator says, to keep him from choking incase he vommits. "guys get him on his side" girl doesnt respond. FLIP HIM THE FUCK ON HIS SIDE. the other guy grabs him by his arms and rolls him over. then two RA's come in... someone must have yelled for help, i never heard it. they look at me first, then down at him, then back at me. the operator dispatches ambulance and iowa city pd. is he still breathing now sir? "yeah, his colors coming back.. we cant get a pulse, we cant keep him still." thats ok sir, keep him on his side, paramedics will be there shortly, stay on the line with me sir. then the hall coordinator comes in, followed by dps guards. "ma'am weve got dps here now" they stand off to the side, and dont say much. one grabs his radio and starts talking. the kid isnt as blue as he was. still looks bad. sir, youll need to stay on the line with me, how is the subject? "hes pale, still seizing, but hes slowing down" the kid has almost stopped shaking.. its intermittent now. i start to hear a faint ambulence siren. he starts moaning. "ma'am hes starting to come back to" a dps police officer comes in, with gloves on and drops to the floor wiht the kid, holding his head, brushing the spit from his mouth, taking great care to stradle him far enough to avoid the kid snaping his own neck between the officers knees. the sirens are loud now. the RA's stand around. sir, youll need to send someone out side to direct the ambulence where to go.. "ok, dps is here, but we can do that; GINA GET OUT FRONT AND FLAG DOWN THE AMBULENCE; ma'am im sending a women with dark hair, glasses and a blue shirt out side for the ambulence; were at the far east end of the building" ok sir, how is he doing now? "hes looking better, hes coming out of it" the kids rolling his eyes around... still dillated pupils. hes asking things, but trails off. the hall coordinator looks at me again. so does the other RA. (why the hell am i here? why am i the one doing this, why cant they?) the paramedics come in. the kid is on his back now, trying to talk. the girl has stopped screaming now, shes just crying and holding his hand. talking to him. i cant see him anymore, all i see is her butt and underwear hanging out of her pants. bright blue. "ma'am the paramedics are here" ok sir, you can hang up now.. "thank you" sir stay with him to tell the paramedics, you did a good thing tonight. click. i didnt stick around much longer. i grabbed kevin the hall coordinator, and asked him if i could go; he said ok. i picked up my stuff as they were tending to the kid. big crowd of people wearing blues and blacks. it smelled like rubber in the room, and a nasty breath smell. probably from the spit. i tried my best not to start shaking. my hands did trying to button my coat. i tried thinking why the hell i didnt hop up immediately when i heard a thump. ive heard that before. its a head hitting something. its hollow, but its solid. its like a dropping a pumpkin on the sidewalk, but louder. it echos. theres no splat. but its something like that.. or it isnt i dont care. i cant button my fucking coat. i try the zipper instead. its not much better. i hear the radios crackling. the kids talking now, answering questions. he cant tho. doesnt know where hes at. doesnt know his name. or who everyone is. the girl starts sobbing. its not a bad sob. somehow that sounds different from a bad sob, but it wasnt. i tried to walk past without attention. i stopped by kevin again, and told him i was willing to write an incident report. my watch said 11:44pm. he didnt look at me. he grabbed my shoulder, its ok, the RA's and i will take care of it... thanks man. thanks for being here. "yeah, no problem" no one looks at me when i leave. no one notices that i left i figure. i go out the door into the raining darkness, broken by sirens.. reds and blues temporarily blind me. the dps guard holding the door pushes me out of the way so they can move the backer board in. i just walk away. my hands are shaking in my pockets.