[bc-chris]

i've been fairly lucky and haven't witnessed too many disturbing things

i saw an older fellow have a massive heart attack and collapse. i called 911 and when talking to the dispatcher she asked me how serious the situation was. i told her that one person was administering mouth to mouth and anther was doing chest compressions.... so it was serious. the paramedics arrived and worked on him for quite a while. that the first time i've ever seen someone get zapped by a defibrillator and what popped thru my head was, 'huh... you don't get the big body jolt like to see on tv!' unfortunately, they were unable to revive the gentleman. apparently his heart attack was so severe that he was 'dead before he hit the ground'.

another one i can think of was driving by an accident scene. you couldn't see anything, but the smell was disgusting.... like when you burn hair but waaaaaaay worse (i'm guessing that's what charred flesh smells like)