I tried to help a young woman having a stroke yesterday.

Unfortunately she was in one of the worst spots possible. I digress for a moment.....

My wife and I had taken a short drive down the mountain into Tennessee for a brunch in our favorite C*****r Barrel. Those TN girls sure know how to make good biscuits and gravy (southern style - no chickens involved) We did a little shopping at the local Wall-mart, purchased some of their great "farmers" ham and Italian bread for a picnic at the NC welcome center. We filled up the gas tank saving over forty cents per gallon and then headed back up the gorge into North Carolina.

The gorge running from Tennessee up into the high country of North Carolina is a beautiful drive. U.S 40 is it's given name. A winding and twisting interstate highway. It features tunnels, a rushing river running alongside the highway, long range vistas (looking straight up that is) and yesterday the ability to move in time from the height of leaf season to the dead of winter once at the end of our not quite forty mile drive. It was cool yet as we climbed higher, snow appeared alongside the road, mostly unspoiled and becoming more prevalent the higher we went. Once over the NC line we pulled into the welcome station and headed for a picnic table.

As usual my wife could not drive past the restrooms and I attempted to pull into a vacant site only to be hollered at by a guy in the car already taking the spot adjacent.

He shouted to me that his wife was having a stroke. I stopped short, exited my car and approached to assist him.

Yes. His wife was definitely having a stroke. About thirty five years old, she was spasmodic and her tongue was h*****g out of her mouth to her left side. She could not talk. (hard to do when your tongue is stuck out) and she was very frustrated (just as would all of us be)....

The problem was the distance she was from emergency help. Her husband had already called 911 almost twenty minutes ago and not even a siren could be heard on the horizion.... Not a good thing. You see the most important on-site assistance for a stroke victim is getting them to the Emergency room post haste, so a scan can be made and if a problem is located medications can be used to help break apart the blockage and restore blood flow to the brain. If on the other hand if a bleeding is taking place inside the head, then treatments given to stop it.

The greatest chance for recovering from a stroke comes in the first hour and the sooner the better.... Not a good location to have a stroke. Not a good prognosis for the young lady.

I kind of took over and started trying to verify this was really a stroke and we might be missing something which would allow us to provide more immediate assistance. I soon discovered that she was aware of her situation and quite frustrated. Her eyes were equal in their dilatation and she could follow my finger with both of them... She had little ability to squeeze my fingers with either hand. Yet she was equal in the response. etc, etc.

There were only two possible on-site contributions I could make. One would be to give her aspirin if any was available. By this time a crowd had gathered and not one person had any with them, or in their cars. A blessing because if she had a bleed going on then aspirin could add to her problems. The other option would be to cool her head down with snow, plenty of that laying around and that could help constrict any vessels bleeding, but if it was a blockage that could also compound the problem.

It is always most important to remember the saying "Do no harm" so other than standing by in case she quit breathing was to try my best to keep her calm. Lower her blood pressure and just pray.

In my very best bedside manner... Always lacking and a negative... I put my hand gently on her shoulder, spoke softly to her that I would not leave her until the ambulance arrived. That her husband was beside me and doing everything anyone could do to help her. I also mentioned that God was always in charge of everything, that he was aware of her predicament and he would make sure all would be made right. I knew this was working because she laid her cheek against my hand... and i left it there as she calmed down.

In about another fifteen minutes the ambulance finally arrived. It had passed by the rest area earlier going in the opposite direction, because the road engineers had put up a barrier between the N and S lanes in an effort to keep people from running head on into each other. You see they could not just pull across into the rest area, rather had to drive another ten miles down the gorge to the next intersection where they could turn around.

Once they came close, I backed my car out and away so the ambulance could park adjacent, and moved out of the way myself. If nothing else, I had "done no harm." and could only leave it up to God and his hand guiding the paramedics. or EMT's

I think I remember my wife and I having a picnic about a tenth of a mile down the parking lot, but not much of it.... I am getting too old for this stuff.

So I write this little missive to clear it from my mind... Thanks for being nice....

Will I just pass by the next time?