Neither mundane nor pointless to those involved, but I need to vent these emotions somewhere “safe”.
My husband and I are staying on a little island off the coast of Belize. It has an airstrip, a small dock, and about 500 residents who cater to tourists. Our hotel is one of the largest with 10 rooms.
About 9:00 last night, Hubby and I were tucking into our room for the night after enjoying a day of sea and sun. The TV was on in the background. While in the bathroom treating our sunburns, we hear a woman shouting. I pop my head out to see if it’s the TV. Shouts turn to screams - “Help - Please - Somebody help!” Definitely not the TV. I dash into the courtyard to find a hysterical woman* trying to attract anybody’s attention. Her husband is turning blue. I know CPR, so I go to investigate.
The man is laying on the bed in their room. He’s obviously unconscious and… he’s not blue, he’s grey. HW is still screaming, so I don’t take the time to have someone get help because she’ll attract someone’s attention - I start assessing. Not responsive, no chest rise, no heart sounds. I start trying to clear an airway. Just as I tip his head back, a man comes in the room. “Are you medically trained?” I ask. He shrugs - “I’m a pharmacist… I’ve got CPR…” “I’m just CPR trained. You want to take the lead?” He says “Sure.” I’m still trying to clear his airway - he’s vomited and I can’t get it out. Two more faces appear at the door. I happen to know they’re medical students - I overheard them the day before at the pool talking about either nursing or doctor classes. I give them the brief.
The four of us lift the guy onto the floor, and the pharmacist starts chest compressions. The med students are manning head and feet, so I move out to find hotel staff. The bartender is with the growing crowd by the pool. I ask him to call a doctor. He says “I called management.” I repeat “You need to call a doctor RIGHT NOW - that man is not breathing.” Bartender shrugs helplessly - it’s obvious he’s not helping. One of the other guests pipes up: “There’s a doctor staying at two hotels down.” I reply “Please go get them right now.” She dashes off.
HW had gone into the room as I had headed out. I go back in the room to try and get information from her. We learn the man’s name is M and that he had been to the local clinic earlier in the day with chest pains and numbness in his arms. After dinner, he had taken some antacids and some migraine medication. Later we would learn this was not the whole story. HW keeps repeating “do something… somebody do something…” I do my best to keep her out of the way of the med students.
Next to arrive, what seemed like simultaneously, are the two nurses from the local clinic and the police. The med students start asking the nurses for equipment - suction, oxygen, an AED…anything they have that might help. One of the nurses runs off to the clinic (I assume), but the other nurse turns to the wife and says “Why didn’t you take him to the mainland like we told you?” Yeah, real helpful.
The woman doing compressions is sweating hard in the 85F heat and high humidity. I offer to spell her, but she asks instead that I try to get HW out of the room, and try to keep traffic to a minimum - it’s already crowded. She and breather will swap soon. During breaths, they keep turning M to try and clear his airway.
10 minutes in: The entire hotel has gathered by the pool. The police and the 2nd nurse are trying to find a way to get the man off the island. M is still grey, and continuing to vomit, but now there’s blood, too. I’m outside with HW, trying to keep her out of the way so everyone else can help M. The doctor arrives.
From here it gets chaotic. Doctor is briefed, and starts barking orders to the med students. Police have called a boat, but it’s more than an hour away. Guests keep trying to help - one has aspirin, another an epi-pen. HW ends up back in the room. Doctor asks for the story again. This time we learn he’d been “cranky sick” for a couple of days (still not the whole story.) The oxygen arrives (a huge cylinder with a breathing bag attached). Med students, pharmacist, and doctor are all still furiously CPRing. One of the cops tells HW “have faith - pray to the lord God and everything will be alright.” :rolleyes: Doctor asks HW if M has any allergies to drugs or latex. Negative. Has he been doing any drugs? Well, yes… he had four beers and smoked some weed (the whole story at last!) in addition to the Tums and migraine prescription. “But he’s been drinking and smoking all week!”
Doctor clears the room except med students and one cop - the AED is here. We can hear it talking from just outside the door where I’m trying to keep HW at bay so the AED can do its job. “Analyzing… shock recommended. Stand clear.” You could hear the thump as his limbs jolted and fell back to the floor. “Continue CPR…”
We’re now almost a half hour down now. The doctor sounds desperate - “you have to find a way to get this man off this island.” HW repeats that mantra to anyone who will listen, but there’s nothing. No more planes for the night, the boat is on is way. There may be a helicopter at the international airport on the mainland, but they can’t find the owner or a pilot. I’ve lost HW to begging the cops, the doctors, anyone to do something. The sensible clinic nurse pulls me aside. It’s not looking good. We need to find a phone that can be used to call the USA - HW is going to need support, even if M makes it. I find the hotel manager, who offers up his personal cel phone, with international dialing instructions. As I pass it off to the nurse, I hear the AED say “No shock recommended.” I look inside, hoping this means M’s heart is beating. Unfortunately the AED says “Continue CPR”. M is still grey, and the floor by his face is covered in foamy blood. The doctor shakes his head, and the med students stop CPR. “There’s nothing more we can do.” HW howls. Policeman bows his head. The doctor says something about calling it as I back out of the room. 45 minutes of care lead to nothing.
I go to my husband and hug him tightly. We go back to our room, knowing there’s nothing else we can do. I cry, he holds me. I’ve never seen a dead person before, let alone seen someone die. I don’t know M or HW. I hadn’t even seen them around the pool. But I can put myself in HW’s place, and it scares the crap out of me. I slept fitfully. At one point I woke up and heard noises outside. I looked out the window to see M’s body, covered in a sheet, being guarded by the same police from earlier. By morning the body is gone, their room is empty, and we’re packing for the next leg of our vacation. But I’m struggling to put this behind me. I’m hoping this helps. Anonymous internet therapy FTW.
tl;dr: A guy died at the hotel I’m staying at, despite our best efforts, and I’m
shaken by the experience.
*I call her “Hysterical Wife” meaning no disrespect. She had every reason to be hysterical. And I never found out her name.
