CPR Class

I went to a CPR class on Tuesday with some young women. We sat in the front and sometimes I even got to hold the baby the teacher brought. I have taken CPR classes over the years, the most recent was a few years ago. When she started explaining about using the heel of your hand for chest compressions, I tried to put my right hand in the correct position. I felt quite a painful pull and realized that I would need to use my left hand. At least now I know. Then we practiced doing chest compressions. The teacher knew I had a mastectomy and told me to only do a few compressions to see how much pressure to apply. She did not want me to hurt myself on a dummy. We also role played what to do if someone is choking, encouraging them to keep coughing, the Heimlich maneuver and so on.

The pain in my right arm doing the CPR was surprising to me. Awhile ago I stopped doing my arm exercises and started doing some yoga. The deeper stretching and weight bearing moves of yoga made a significant difference in my range of motion from the first day I did it.

On Saturday during lunch my son started choking. At first I thought he was joking around, but he kept choking. Then I remembered what I learned on Tuesday and went through with him what I had role played. After it was over C said he was afraid I was going to shove him into the table. He learned in Cub Scouts to do that as the Heimlich Maneuver when you are choking alone, and forgot about the other ways.