Page 23 of A Soldier's Return

“Hey, Melissa. Hey, Eli,” Tim said as they rolled up. “What’s going on?”

Eli was still counting compressions so Melissa spoke up to give the situation report. “We’ve got a sixty-seven-year-old man, Jim Stewart, with no history of heart trouble, on blood pressure and reflux medication. He collapsed about seven minutes ago and has been unresponsive since then but has been receiving CPR since about a minute or so after he fell over.”

“Lucky for this guy, you two were close by,” Tim said. “We’ve got the AED now. You want to do the honors, Eli?”

“I’ll keep doing CPR while you set it up,” Eli said.

A moment later, the paramedics had the automated external defibrillator ready. Eli stopped compressions while they unbuttoned the man’s shirt and attached the leads.

Seconds later, Eli turned on the machine and followed the voice commands. A medical degree wasn’t at all necessary to run an AED, but Melissa was glad she didn’t have to do it.

The man shook a little when the electrical pulse went through him, shocking his heart.

When it was safe, the machine ordered them to check his pulse, and Eli felt for it. He grabbed a stethoscope that one of the paramedics handed over and listened for a heartbeat.

“Nothing,” he said grimly. “We’re going to have to do another round.”

He resumed compressions while waiting for the machine to power up again, then stood back to allow the paramedics to reattach the leads and went through the process again.

Again, Jim’s body shook, and Carol let out a little moan. Melissa went to her and put her arm around her as Eli again searched for a pulse.

“I’ve got something,” he said, his voice containing more emotion than Melissa had heard since they had rushed to the man.

He listened with the stethoscope. “Yeah. It’s getting stronger.”

Both paramedics looked stunned, and Melissa couldn’t blame them. She hadn’t expected Jim to survive, either. Not really. If she were honest, she had suspected a massive heart attack, possibly even the kind they called the widow-maker.

“Nice work, Doc,” Tyler said. He fastened an oxygen mask over Jim’s mouth and nose.

Eli stood out of their way and let the two paramedics load Jim onto a gurney. Beside her, Carol was shaking.

“That’s good, isn’t it? That his heart is working again?”

She didn’t want to give the woman false hope. Her husband wasn’t out of the woods yet, not by a long shot, though he was starting to regain consciousness.

“Yes. So far, so good. The nearest hospital is up the coast in Seaside, about a fifteen-minute drive from here. That’s where the paramedics will take him first. From there, they may decide he will need to go to Portland.”

“Can I ride in the ambulance with him?”

She looked at Tyler, who nodded.

“I’m going to give you my contact info,” Melissa said. “Where is your phone? I can enter it in for you. When you need a ride back to Cannon Beach, either to go to your hotel or to get your vehicle or whatever, you call me. I’ll come pick you up and bring you back here.”

The other woman burst into tears and hugged first Melissa and then Eli. “You’ve been so kind,” she said as she quickly handed over her phone to Melissa. “Thank you. Thank you so much for what you’ve done. You’re a miracle. Both of you. A miracle!”

Melissa was typing the last number of her contact info into Carol’s phone when the paramedics started carrying the gurney since the usual wheels wouldn’t work well on the sand.

“Let us know how things go with you.”

“I will. Thank you.”

A moment later, she and Eli stood alone.

“You didn’t ride with him,” she observed, a little surprised.

“The paramedics had things under control, and I would have just been in the way while they do their thing. I can put my ego aside enough to be sure that the cardiac specialist at the hospital is in a better position to treat Jim than I would be right now.”

They both walked to where the dogs were tied up, and Melissa could feel her knees tremble in reaction.

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