What a day.

How wonderful that of all the people he could have been with at that time he was with someone who knew what to do. Thank God for that (or whoever you want to thank). Great job taking care of him and then helping them through once it was all over.

I understand holding it together during the crisis and then dealing with the feelings after. Its a well ingrained coping mechanism in many of us. We very often do well in chaos when others are falling apart. I consider this a strength in myself. I hope you see it that way in you as well.

Deep breaths. The crisis is over and everyone is safe.

Wow, Muji.

Of all the possible reasons that our fight-or-flight response can be triggered ... this has to be among the best.

Well done ! I hope he's okay.

How fortunate that young man was to have you with him.... Blessings!
MJ

I'm so glad he had you to help him and I know he will be grateful as well. Good job helping him and gr8 job taking care of yourself afterwards by coming here and getting it all out. Yeah you. I hope you are able to sleep tonight. Hugs

He is so lucky you were there! You saved his life.

That's a traumatic experience for you too. You did really well keeping it together and helping the family out. I hope you get some good sleep tonight.

Wow...I'm glad you two are both ok!

Thank goodness you were with him muji.... That would have been a freaky event... Seizures look awful!!!

My wee dog who I adore has canine epilepsy and I hate it...sigh.... He has one a month.... and it's less severe with his meds

I'm so glad your friend has gotten the help he needs and that you were there to help him.... I think sometimes God lines us up where he wants us to be ...Today you were his angel...xo

I have been afraid to open this thread, muji. I was terrified that you were the patient.

Now I am feeling monstrous for being so relieved that it was not you. . .

Glad you were there for him, muji. Glad you had this supportive place to vent the after affects. Even my high voltage nature feels that aftermath. Hope the recovery is on track. Hope you tech aide is, also. Good tech aides are hard to come by at Community College pay rates.

It's the day after, and I'm doing ok after my coworker had that seizure last night and I had to call the ambulance. Venting here and getting your support right away helped keep my own post-incident little freak out from escalating, and I got some good rest.

I just spoke to him on the phone. He doesn't remember anything about his seizure, of course, and asked me to fill him in on what had happened, so I did. He's got bruising in his shoulder, because I was able to catch his head as he went down. I made his shoulder take the impact instead as I held his head as he collapsed so he wouldn't have a head trauma.

It was a real trick to do that quickly. His arms were flailing and he was fighting me involuntarily. He is strong. He bit his tongue, too, I couldn't stop that. But preventing that head trauma was key. Glad I was there to prevent it. Thank God I worked on the neurosurgical unit as a hospital chaplain. It wasn't my first assist to a seizure.

He's terribly embarrassed, though he has nothing to be ashamed of, it can't be helped and it's nothing he did on purpose.

I hope he doesn't have to go on disability so he can keep working with me at the college. If that's healthy for him it would be great. I do enjoy working with the guy. He's one good fellow. I'll be seeing him today later on after 5 o'clock.

Speaking as the epileptic in those situations, thank you, Muji, for doing th right thing. People often think that they need not call an ambulance, but for grand mals, it's the preference for those having them---they're pretty hard on the body. It is the type of seizure where breathing issues often arise. (This is how my sis died, and I've almost died, so I know, alas.)

So thank you, so much, Muji. Thank you. Freak out all you want. It's normal. I once saw an ER resident pass out cold after he got his first grand mal seizure patient. (After the patient was stable, that is.) Keeled right over. (Yes, the patient was me.)

All of this to tell you----it is terrifying. And when they last more than 90 seconds (I don't give a flip for the 3-minute rule my neuro likes the old one), a 911 call is a *MUST*.

You did GREAT. You saved a LIFE. You saved a FRIEND.

Wrapping you in gratitude and safety,
Leo

Oh, Leo, your support means so much, since you know what it was like from your own flesh and blood experience. Yeah, then, you know how the fact that it was 10 minutes long made it an eternity.

So sorry your sis died from respiratory arrest like that and you nearly did, too, during a seizure. It was the real crisis point in the episode for me because he'd bitten his tongue already. For me to clear his airway with my fingers during CPR was dicey but I would have to. I was so glad he started breathing again 20 seconds later. I was timing everything to tell the EMTs because brain health and how long a person 's lungs or heart stop are directly related.

I appreciate your thanks on his behalf, I really do. I'm not surprised that resident M.D. passed out from fear upon seeing your seizure because it's a big event. Lucky for me, it wasn't my first, so I started timing it right away, shielding his head from trauma, and keeping him breathing by turning him on his side.

Now I have to tell him that I submitted an incident report about it to my college supervisor. When I was a hospital chaplain, I had to submit an incident report there, when this happened with one of my patient's on my neurosurgical unit, so I thought it best here. Even though he's embarrassed and it didn't happen on college property, he had one on campus in 2009 and now might have one again. So my bosses should know if it happens again why I may take charge.

He may be mad at me today when I tell him about filing the incident report, though, so wish me luck. It wasn't tattling, it was just logging info to be prepared if there's a next time. This guy's my buddy. Hope he can understand.

I'm reading a fascinating book called "The Body Bears the Burden" and one of the key components they discuss is a feeling of helplessness.

Here's what's so amazing about what you did with your friend. You jumped into action and helped to save him. No helplessness there. That's really incredible!

So I will say congratulations because I think you've not only helped your friend but also done more healing for yourself.

Hey, Reed, that makes sense. That explains why with my PTSD I loved being a hospital chaplain back when, too. As you say, it healed patients and healed me, too. Yes.