Flying Solo

"Is there a doctor or paramedic on board?" the flight attendants, moving around the mostly sleeping cabin, inquire.

My husband gives me a poke. "Ask if you can help."

"I'm NOT a paramedic."

But there are no doctors on board.

No nurses.

No paramedics. I believe that anyone with money would not be flying packed-rat class on the world's worst airline, red-eye to LAX on a Saturday night. Three hours delayed, to boot.

In the news, when people have an onboard emergency, a host of medical personal(physicians, surgeons, flight nurses, etc.) pop up from out of the woodwork and work feverishly to save that person's life while the pilot makes an emergency landing. Trained people, knowledgable people, people you WANT to be working on you. Not some petrified young EMT who has never done CPR solo( the codes I've been involved in, the paramedics were all over it and the best thing I could do was not get in their way and hand them the appropriate tools at the appropriate times). Except on Manniken Annie, and that hardly counts.

But I appear to be the only one. How can one just sit there and do nothing, and be able to live with yourself later on? Despite the incredibly poor timing (I wouldn't want anyone like me to be working on me) you can't just do nothing. I pledge not to lose them, or my own cool. (until later) I briefly consider the legal ramifications if this individual dies while under my offered services, no good Samaritan Laws protect you if you're a medical professional. Guess I'll be spending the next X years in jail.

Thunk, thunk, thunk. That's the sound of my own heart,racing fit to beat the top qualifier in the Indy 500. Dexcom blood sugars immeadietly begin to go up.

They aren't having chest pain, difficulty breathing, or a heart attack. Just an apparent run-of-the-mill stomach bug.

Thank you, God. Although I could do CPR, I would prefer the first time not be at 32,000+ feet, solo responsible for someone else's life.(aren't flight attendants supposed to be trained in CPR/AED? What do they think the doc/paramedic has, an advanced cardiac drug box with them?)

Finally my bg levels off at 250 mg/dl. I'm really not ready to fly solo on this one, the next person to have a heart attack would be me.