So when last we left your intrepid blogger, I was sitting on the floor of the men’s bathroom of the REI holding direct pressure on a knife wound. The injured man had just told me his heart was likely to slow down until it stopped. And then he’d have a seizure.

The order of the death then seizure gave me pause, but his pulse had dropped down from 60 to 40 in the three minutes he’d been lying on the floor, so I wasn’t going to quibble. Of course, the guy didn’t want me to call EMS. He said he’d call his wife and she could drive him in — saving the expense of an ambulance ride. Then he closed his eyes because he was getting dizzy.

I hollered for my co-instructor who had been manning the back door to let students into the building. Greg was also the Fire and EMS Chief for Terlingua, Texas when he wasn’t moonlighting as a Wilderness First Aid instructor at the REI. (Man, did he have some good stories!) I filled him in and he called 911 despite the man’s protests. We joked with the injured guy as we waited (as you do) about whether or not this was some test of our skills by NOLS or REI. (No videos have emerged.)

The guy’s heart rate was almost up to 60 again by the time the paramedics arrived, and he was able to convince them that his wife (who he’d called and woken up on her birthday) would take him to the hospital.

And then we got to teaching.

What’s making me happy:

Running: 0. Stomach still felt like a lead weight.