Last week a member of my book club died. She was alive and vivacious. Then a heart attack. Then death. She was my age. Yesterday I attended a CPR (reminder) class. It's changed a bit. They no longer want us to do mouth to mouth. Just call 911 and begin immediately doing CPR. That's good news. I also learned how to use a defibrillator. Here's what to do: Open the defibrillator and follow the oral instructions the guy inside shouts at you.
But a better thing to do is to stay as healthy as possible - because I don't know how good I'd be administering the help above if you happened to need it and I was the only one around.
I'm all about staying healthy for as long as possible. I try to evaluate myself regularly using the Eight Dimensions of Wellness.
Physical - I work out and try to eat good stuff. I have one small glass of wine most days. That's fine. Just don't save up for seven days and have all of them at the same time. That's not fine. Among other things your liver will say "ouch."
Spiritual - Currently, all is well with my soul.
Social - I love my friends and family. That, in itself, leads to periodic stress. But's it's worth it.
Financial - I've finally learned how not to have this part of my life be "fear" based.
Emotional - I work hard at staying calm.
Occupational - I do just enough (non-paid) work to fulfill that need. And I manage my financial situation. That's work.
Intellectual - Three words: Life long learning. Oh, another word: Curiosity.
Environmental - I work hard trying to be "green" and also work hard trying to keep my bedroom at 60 degrees.
But, if all of this fails and you see me clutch my chest or left arm or jaw or anywhere else between my waist and my ears - and I pass out - please carefully consider whether or not you want to try the measures above.
And one more thing, The CPR experts used to recommend pushing on the chest 80 times per minute. They've now upped that to 100 times per minute. Here's how it was explained yesterday. Sing the Bee Gee's "Stayin' Alive" song while you're saving that person's life. It's the perfect beat for CPR.
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