Our flight home from Utah Tuesday was a bit out of the ordinary (to say the least!). It started out pretty non-eventful other than a dead DVD player battery, which made us resort to plan B: coloring. The girls and I were happily doodling when the flight attendant came over the intercom asking that any physicians on board please come forward. No movement. About 30 seconds later she got back on asking that any nurses on board please come forward. Again no movement. So here’s my dilemma, there appears to be no medically trained passengers on the flight (amazing considering it is a full flight on a large plane), and I am an RN but am alone on the flight with a 1 & 2 year-old. I turned to the gal sitting next to me and hesitantly said “I am a nurse, do you think I should go up?” She sweetly offered to watch the girls so I slowly stood and headed to the front of the plane. There I was met by two nervous stewardesses and a woman who was hyperventilating and stating that she couldn’t breathe. I knelt next to her and started going through some basic questions, “Do you have any pain in your chest?”, “Do you have any medical problems?” etc. She told me she had had panic attacks in the past and had taken some medication before the flight…then she went totally unconscious. I probably could have cried. My mind was racing with nightmares of having to get this lady in the aisle and do CPR by myself until we could land somewhere. Luckily she still had a pulse and was breathing so we got oxygen on her and slowly she came to. One stewardess got a physician on the phone who wanted to know her blood pressure, heart rate, ect. They handed me a manual BP cuff and stethoscope and I quickly discovered how awful it is to hear anything through a stethoscope while on a plane. After it was presumed that she was most likely having a panic attack, my blood pressure went back to normal, although the fun was far from over. This poor, sweet woman was very seriously under the impression that she was going to die on that flight. So vivid was this belief that she spent the next hour going in and out of consciousness with severe panic whenever she was awake. I spent that hour kneeling next to her, talking to her, occasionally checking her vital signs and holding oxygen to her face with one hand while she gripped my other hand.
At the beginning of the ordeal, another gal sitting across the aisle from the distressed one volunteered to go help out with Makenna and Sage. I had about enough time to tell her their names and ages and she was gone. One stewardess frequently checked on the girls and always reported that they were happy and doing well. How grateful I was for easy-going kids! At one point one of the stewardesses thought it might help to sing to the woman. She sang a few songs in a beautiful voice and the woman began to calm down. Then she asked if she had any favorite songs or any requests. Through the oxygen mask the lady said, “I am a Child of God”. It quickly became apparent that neither of the attendants or the gal sitting next to her were LDS. So timidly, I began to sing. She stared intensely into my eyes as I sang and I almost got teary eyed. Here I was on a flight home, kneeling next to a perfect stranger, holding her hand and singing to her while two other strangers watched over my little girls. I never thought nursing school would get me there! To end the story, an ambulance met us at the gate so we sat for about 10 minutes waiting for paramedics to come on board before we could deplane. When they did come, the woman woke up to two men standing over her and she was terrified. I tried to assure her that they were there to help her, but it took me holding her shaking hand and helping her into the wheelchair before they could get her off. After she was gone, I went back to my seat where Sage was asleep in one of the girls’ arms and Makenna was as happy as ever. I regret not being able to thank those women more. Looking back, it was pretty amazing of them to volunteer to watch two little girls they’d never met for an hour so that I could help someone else out. I’m so grateful for them!
After the flight, Nate was there to pick us up and it was so good to see him! I was pretty mentally and physically exhausted and ended up sleeping most of the way home – and he was sweet to let me. I even woke up the next morning with most of the muscles in my upper body sore. I think I was pretty tense through that whole ordeal. Overall I feel blessed to have an education that allows me to help other people, and I’m thankful that others are willing to help me. But what an adventure!!
