I was home this afternoon in front of my computer and my beloved MiL who is about 74 as best as we can tell either slipped or fainted in the kitchen. I heard a sickening 'thud' and went running over.

She was on her back and twitching and making weird sort of sucking noises. Something I remembered from many years ago told me to clear her airway so I used a finger and dug down and hooked out her tongue that she had swallowed. After that I rolled her into the recovery position and then she took a deep breath and started breathing normally.

An ambulance was called and she is in the hospital tonight and the docs think she will be OK, well as far as a 74 yo lady will be. She's got a great big bump on her head (imagine half a golf ball size), but she was alert enough to thank me when I got to the hospital a couple of hours later.

The whole experience freaked me out. I think I was like 12 years old when I did my first first-aid training in the boy scouts or something and a couple more when I was working on ships. If she had taken the fall when our maid or neighbors were around she'd probably have choked to death on her tongue.

Not much point to my post, except to say that first-aid training can be good, even a bit saved a life today I think..