How the old ways can keep you alive
We had something scary happen this week that caused me to use CPR for the very first time in my life. And I had to use it on my two-year old.
We were having a lazy Sunday. After a late breakfast we decided to lounge about and watch a movie with the kids and pop popcorn. It was pretty cold outside and this felt like a great way to spend some family time. Afterwards, the kids scattered, and Ashley and I were left alone in the living room with our youngest.
We’re still not sure what happened. Ashley and I were both on the couch. Samuel was sitting in Ashley’s lap and then he got up to get a book from the bookcase that was separated from her by the front door. I was sitting perpendicular to them on our L-shaped couch. But neither Ashley nor I were looking directly at him.
All of a sudden we heard him fall, and the unmistakable thud of a head hitting hard on our concrete slab. He let out a little cry when he hit, but it didn’t continue and sure didn’t give an indication of what was about to happen.
Ashley got up to get him. As she turned the corner she let out a frantic, “Oh no Joey! He’s seizing!” I jumped up and got to him quickly and found he was having a grand mal seizure, or a clonic-tonic as they call it now. I prefer grand mal because in French that means the big bad seizure. And that explains what you see when someone is in that state.
My little boy was unresponsive, shaking and flopping. In first aid they teach you that when someone is having a seizure, the main thing to do is to turn their head to the side, and then cradle/support their head. Turning the head is supposed to help clear the airway and the rest is to make sure they don’t get any further injuries.
Samuel has had a fever seizure before, but nothing like this, and I was worried we had head trauma to deal with. But that was not the big issue: not only was my son having a big bad seizure, he wasn’t breathing. I told Ashley to call 911. Despite freaking out, she held it together and got them on the phone.
The next few minutes went by so quickly, and so slowly, all at the same time. Samuel continued to seize but his lips started to turn blue. And then his face, too. My boy was not getting air and it was very apparent. And then, the jerking changed. It no longer looked like a seizure, but instead looked like the jerk that happens as the life leaves the body. All I could think was that I was watching my little boy die right in front of me.
I did a finger swipe in his mouth to check his air. Finding nothing, I immediately put him on his back. I titled his head back and gave him a rescue breath, and I felt it go in. Even though I was freaking out too, I was careful not to over inflate his lungs. I let that one go and then tried a second breath. This one did not go in, but just filled his mouth. I immediately tilted his head back farther and gave him another breath that went in.
The thought went through my mind that maybe he had an obstructed airway. And remembering that on infants, you give chest compression to dislodged obstruction, I gave Samuel two chest compressions. In hindsight, Samuel is probably big enough to have done abdominal thrusts. But I was doing the best I could while in the moment.
While I was doing this, Ashley went to get our LifeVac apparatus designed to help remove obstruction in choking kids. We had never gotten it out, nor practiced with it, and her hands were shaking so badly she could not open the bag. I tore it open, assembled it and used it on Samuel as quickly as I could.
He still wasn’t breathing. I flipped him over, and supported him in my arms as I popped him on his back multiple times. And finally, I heard him take a gasp! And another, and another.
We were on the phone with 911 for 14 minutes before EMS got there, and it took him about that long to breathe normally although he was still unresponsive. But thankfully, he was crying in the ambulance before they transported him. And that was a good sign.
At the hospital they did a CT scan. It came back clear. He had a small fever and they assumed he had a fever seizure. And that when he hit his head, it compounded the issue. But he was running down the hallways asking to leave before we got discharged. And that was good, too.
So how can I relate this story to investing? The only way I can is to say that it all goes back to learning. We recently did a CPR class with our office. Now, I started learning first aid in Boy Scouts, and CPR since I was a lifeguard at age 16. And I have taken many classes over the years. This time, however, they changed how they want you to do CPR. They did not teach rescue breathing in this last class. Instead they taught you to do chest compressions, attach an AED (Automated Electronic Defibrillator) and then wait on EMS.
But that’s all for when your heart stops. I didn’t want to wait until my son’s heart stopped. He needed air! And had I not known the old way of doing CPR, I wouldn’t have been prepared to give it to him. And I’m praising Yahweh that I was and He gave me the clarity of mind to know what to do.
When it comes to real estate investing, instructors tend to teach tactics that are working for today’s market. Although that is important, things can change quickly, and you need to know more than the going trends of today. You need to attend courses where teachers have been through multiple real estate cycles and teach both the current and the old ways. Because the old ways come back into style when the current ways stop working.
That’s why I love going to events taught by Bill and Kim Cook like the Power of Pure Options class they have coming up on March 22-23 in Tampa Florida. Bill and Kim have been investing since the 90’s and have been through multiple real estate cycles. And they draw on that immense experience to teach not only what’s working now with their current deals, but also what worked through different cycles and how each can become relevant quickly.
Bill has the ability to take even the most advanced deal structure and explain it in a way that even a novice investor can understand. This particular class is about how to use options in ways you may have never considered. And since Bill is a creative deal structuring genius, he will show you how to couple options with other structures to get more deals done and be much more profitable.
To find out more about this in-person and zoom class, visit www.BillandKimCook.com. And if you need another great resource for education like that, I suggest going to www.cashflowdepot.com. There are tons of pre-recorded classes there that teach both the new and the old ways of doing deals. And if nothing else, please go take a CPR class so that you are ready for if the time comes.
Joe and Ashley English buy houses and mobile homes in Northwest Georgia. For more information or to ask a question, go to www.cashflowwithjoe.com or call Joe at 678-986-6813.