the demise of o'shea

Today, I had an eventful art class.

We were all standing around watching a demonstration of sketching, when suddenly O'shea, a girl I know well, did this strange trancelike slide to the ground. She was laying down before anyone knew what was going on, and then we noticed the vacant look in her eyes and the odd, slow but jerky movement of her arms and legs. Her breathing became odd and irregular, and her face went blue before she caught her breath sufficiently. It was scary, her eyes were bulging and she was looking around but didn't respond to anyone. 

It was interesting to see the reactions of my friends in this critical situation. O'Shea's closest friends, understandably, were freaking out and in tears. The Devster was going, "We need to get someone, a teacher or something!" Marge nearly started crying. Trout said, "Does she have a pulse?! You guys, check her pulse!" I surprised myself by being almost totally calm and thinking only of her situation. My brain instantly started running through everything I knew trying to figure out what was wrong with her in order to help her. Some of these frenzied thoughts included an epileptic seizure, something blocking her airway, hypoglycemia, diabetes...the list goes on. When something in my subconscious determined that I had no knowledge as to what had had happened to her, I moved on to CPR. I didn't want to have to give her CPR because she's my friend but not a close one, so I know she would be totally embarrassed and uncomfortable when she woke up, but I was watching carefully to make sure she was breathing. 

It made me think maybe I could become something in the medical profession, after all...everyone is always telling me that I should because of my cool head, inability to get grossed out, and natural talent in the area. I don't think I will, but it was still interesting to learn about myself in such a stressful situation.

The physiology teacher and registered nurse was called, and O'Shea recovered just fine. It was most likely a very mild form of epilepsy, and we believe she was aware of the condition.