Flight Foibles (warning, graphic description!)

Two blog posts in a week?  You people are lucky.  It's only because I had the craziest thing happen to me last night, so I had to share it with someone, so you're the some one(s).

I was flying back from a business trip from Jacksonville, FL through Atlanta, GA and my trip was relatively uneventful for the first hour other than the fact that I was on a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 which is quite possibly the noisiest plane ever produced.

See the engine?  I was sitting directly next to it. I may as well have been sitting on it. I couldn't hear myself think.  Good thing I had my trusty iPad and some headphones to watch the most recent episode of the Biggest Loser.  I've been relegated to watching it on my iPad since John dislikes the show so much.  Anyway, I digress...  

About an hour into my flight, a flight attendant came over the loudspeaker and asked if there were any trained medical personnel on board because they were having a 'severe medical emergency on the plane' and if people were willing to help could they please push their call button, which of course I did.  I love to help in emergency situations, I was an EMT for 6 years and am still a first responder and serve on my company's emergency response team.  So the flight attendant came to my row, and tossed the AED (automated external defibrillator) at me and told me to run to first class.

Which I did. By the time I got there, a nurse was already with the passenger who was having difficulty, a 58 year old man who appeared to be in cardiac arrest. He had no pulse and wasn't breathing. The nurse was panicking because she wanted us to being CPR and she didn't know how we were going to get him to the floor.  I moved her out of the way, grabbed another male passenger and he helped me lower the man to the floor, and he sort of dropped his end of the patient and the patient gasped loudly and vomited everywhere. Another nurse and a pediatrician came to help. I ripped off the man's shirt, applied the pads of the AED to his chest, plugged them in and pushed the analyze button.  The AED told us shock wasn't advised, and the patient regained consciousness momentarily.  We used one of those masks the safety demonstrators use on the flight:

..and then found the plane's oxygen tank and started the flow... by the way, the bag DOES inflate :-).  I had one of the nurse's start an IV and I prepared the Saline bag and had the other nurse get a set of vital signs. The doctor listened to his breath sounds and helped administer medication.  The lead flight attendant ran up to me and told me the pilot wanted to know if I thought we should divert!  No pressure right?  I told him I thought we should get another set of vitals to see if he was improving or worsening after we gave him dextrose and Aspirin.  I got to speak with him on that bat phone thing the flight attendants use to talk to the cockpit.  I got to make the call that we could make it to Denver without stopping in Omaha.  Meanwhile the man was in and out of consciousness and continuously vomiting and there were 300 people watching what we were doing... all while we were trying to keep his wife calm, and encourage her that he was going to be ok.  It was crazy.  We monitored our patient, and air traffic control diverted all the flights surrounding Denver into a holding pattern and let us land first. Did I mention I had to sit on the floor holding the patient's legs steady while we were landing...I guess that's one way to get a first class upgrade! We also got the express taxi service to the gate, and Denver paramedics were waiting on the jetway.  They hustled onto the plane as those 300 people watched, asked us a couple of cursory questions about his condition and didn't waste any time buddy carrying him off the plane.  As the nurses, doctor and I walked back to our seats to get our stuff to deplane, and people clapped for us. So awkward.  I know the Lord was with that man last night, to have so many trained capable people on one plane to provide ACLS for him... what a blessing.  I'm just thankful I got to be a part of it.  And the adrenaline was fun too. :-) 

How about one blog post a year??

Remember when I said I'd post again after Cooper's first birthday?  Well, here's the post... and Cooper is now almost two.  I stink at this whole 'two kids a job a husband and a blog' thing.  I usually prioritize the first three things, and forget the fourth.  I hope you're ready for the longest update in history! I'll work on my next blog post, ensuring it's witty, and wrought with emotion, parenting advice, and pearls of wisdom... until then I'll be starting with Cooper's 1st birthday... 

He ate cake, it had green frosting. This what happens when you don't blog for a year, you forget the important details, like what happened at your son's first birthday party. Sorry Cooper, you're lucky I took any pictures or remember that it happened at all:

 We had friends over to celebrate... and all of the kids ended up in McKenna's bed somehow.

Cooper received some awesome presents including this tool belt:

And this awesome chair from Grammie:

Coops is still a big dude:

There have been lots of trips around the house in the wagon:

And lots of playing with rocks in the yard, and apparently some playing sans pants:

Then Aunt Catherine granulated from college:

McKenna showing off her assets at Catherine's graduation:

English and I raced in an all girls race, next time we hope to dominate, this time we finished... and there was beer and free stuff at the end so a win/win either way:

I did a lot of this:

And my friend Shelly and I did this on a business trip: 

And at Fenway they have every Guinness product imaginable on drought... I was in Irish beer heaven:

McKenna fell in love, but had her heart broken, I'm not nearly as nice as Angie Osborne:

McKenna and Cooper got to play with Bode and Mimi Turill at Bev's house:

I rode in the Davis Phinney ride with a huge team of people from work, 46 miles on a road bike was a ton considering I'd never really ridden one before that week... check out the cause, if you're able, you should donate or ride in the event this summer http://www.davisphinneyfoundation.org/

We went to Crested Butte with Grandma and Grandpa for a week in June... this was our little cabin, it rocked my face off:

We did a lot of this:

And a lot of hiking: 

McKenna awkwardly fell asleep in the Chariot:

The grandparents with the kiddos on the top of the Continental Divide:

Another race: 

A podium finish (please don't ask me how many people were in my category):  

McKenna sat in the dentist chair like a pro:

We watched the fireworks from our driveway, which was a big deal because McKenna was allowed to stay up until 10 PM!

Laura tagged along with me to CA for a quick visit to the beach:

And while we were there we hung out with Kristen and Heather:

And saw a couple of these bad boys:

Went for some walks on the pier:

Saw the ugliest house in San Clemente:

Bought McKenna some shoes:

Let the kiddos run through the sprinklers, because this was the hottest summer E V E R:

I went to Canada for work, and received the most depressing notification:

I missed these kiddos a lot this summer with my crazy travel schedule:

But they finally were able to hang out with me at Grandma and Grandpa's house, look at Coops sitting in his own plane seat like a boss: 

Family beach time:

 Baby Cousin Riley... not a baby anymore!:

Cousin play time at the beach:

Helping Grandma and Grandpa water the flowers:

We also went to Legoland:

McKenna had a great time, but Coops was too small to ride on most things:

 But he could play in Riley's playhouse:

Then I went to China for work, it's not as glamorous as one might think traveling so much for work. I had the stomach flu on the flight there and couldn't eat hardly anything without nausea for the entire rest of the trip. Good thing I brought a bunch of Clif bars with me. 

Red Bull in China is gross. It's flat and tastes completely different. Isn't it weird that marketers/manufacturers change their products to meet the needs of different people groups?

While I was on my trip, McKenna started preschool, I was so sad to miss her first day! Thankfully John took lots of pictures to document it for me:

Then we put our house on the market, and it sold in 6 days, thanks to our super awesome Realtor and cousin in law Josh Steck. You should use him if you need to sell or buy a house:

Cooper lead with his head a lot the week this picture was taken, he has like 5 bruises on his face in this photo: 

We took our Israeli friend Idan to Steamboat for the weekend, here are some photos from the hot springs:

And then we moved on Halloween and into our friend's the Jordan's basement for a few weeks: 

John tagged along with me on a business trip to Seattle where we were able to spend some QT with his Aunt Denni and Uncle Luke who took us on a beautiful hike:

Then we closed on our new house:

Got McKenna's school pictures in the mail.  For the record, the outfit we sent her to school in is the one on the left the other two they dressed her in at school. We have no words for those other than 'what on earth were they thinking?????':

And went to Sedona with our friends two days after closing on our house (see: dumb idea) it was super fun!: 

Girls can ride up steep stuff too:

Then we celebrated the birth of Jesus in our new house:

And got excited and then dejected by the Broncos:

Played in our new back yard:

Went to Mickey's house for the first time with Grandma, Aunt Blair, Riley, Jocelyn and Holland:

I was a good sport (for those who know me well, I hate crowds and waiting and people in general) and I didn't whine all day!:

We took lots of walks and got a little sun to thaw us out, it's been ridiculously cold in Colorado, but there still hasn't been enough snow.  If it's going to be cold, there better be some stinkin' snow already.:

Cooper had a hangover from D-Land, here he is sleeping it off: 

Does it get much more beautiful than this?? We had a super fun date night with our friends the Williams':

Our little McKenna wasn't scared of the sound of the surf this time! We are making progress!!! Which is good since she will basically have no choice but to love the ocean/beach in this family: 

Which brings us to today. Back on the road again for me... but only for a few days this time! I promise to write more often, if my goal of being a celebrity mom-blogger who is independently wealthy and ridiculously awesome is to ever be reached.