Man Down. Man Down

My time came today. I was climbing to the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at 12:30 p.m. I reached the halfway point and took the walkie-talkie radio from Ranger Kelly. I was carrying a book, along with my water jug and I continued onward. I noticed I was feeling the oppressive heat inside the lighthouse and took more rests than usual. There are 257 steps to the top but there are landings every 31 steps. There’s a window on each landing and I stopped at landing six for a breather.

I pushed on to landing seven where I found I was unusually out of breath. So I stopped again. Now I was sweating profusely. I put my book down on the window sill and took a swig of my water. But still I felt a little light-headed. I thought to myself: just push on one more flight of stairs. You’ll be better when you reach the top because there’ll be more breeze up there.

But then I slid down the wall, every-so-gently, and lay on the floor of the landing.

I remember a man in a blue shirt leaning down looking at me and asking if I was okay. I said I felt a little shaky. He grabbed my radio and transmitted, “Man down. Man down.” Ranger Justin, on the balcony, talked to him on the radio to figure out where the transmission was coming from. 

The man in the blue shirt told Justin we were one floor down from the top and Justin ran down the stairs to get to me.

The man in the blue shirt explained to Justin and me that he was a First Responder from New Jersey, that he had been at the World Trade Tower on Sept. 11, 2001. He said he had my pulse and it was shallow, that my skin was clammy.

Justin went through his procedure for a man down. He asked if I could move and I told him I actually felt a bit better, that I thought I would do even better if I went up one flight of stairs to the top and got fresh air because of the heat in the tower. He brought a cold compress with him and he put that behind my neck. He had already called Jason, the head ranger, who ordered the lighthouse closed, with all climbers below us to be evacuated. Those above us were asked to stay on the balcony. 

I climbed the last flight up to the balcony but I felt pretty shaky when I arrived there. Down I went again. It was a gentle collapse…just rubber legs that could no longer support me. I don’t believe I passed out.  But Justin confirmed I had, in fact, passed out. I do remember hearing Jo’s voice coming over the radio. She was assigned at the base of the tower. “Could I have a status report on Robert,” she said. Justin got on the radio and told her I was down but was speaking to him. He told her he had summoned the EMTs and we could actually hear the sirens as he spoke.

The man in the blue shirt stayed with me and I told him I was honored that he was there with me.

A woman supported my back with her legs on the balcony and held her hand over my eyes so the sun wouldn’t be too bright. Jason arrived, huffing and puffing a bit too much and I apologized to him for causing such a scene. And, minutes later, the first of two EMTs came on the balcony. They took my blood pressure and it was quite low (92/72) and a discussion started with Jason about whether they should use the box stretcher to carry me down. I told everyone I planned to walk down on my own, however. I asked if I could move around the tower so I could get in its shadow from the burning sun. Eager hands helped me to my feet and I walked the few feet to the shade. The woman who had been supporting me and shading my eyes showed me the imprint I had made on her two legs and I apologized. Jason said my color was coming back from the chalk white I was when he arrived on the top.

I told the EMTs that I’m a week away from the third anniversary of my heart attack but I had no sense this was related. I felt my blood sugar might be too low because I hadn’t remembered to take along my mid-morning Trail Mix snack bar today which I always do when I have a late lunch scheduled.

After I lay there for at least 10 minutes, I said I was ready to hike down the tower. One of the EMTs took the lead, with another one right behind me. It’s pretty easy going down and when I left the lighthouse, I was greeted by a smattering of applause.

The EMTs took me to one of three ambulances they had brought to the scene (!) and I climbed in. They placed me on the gurney, took my blood pressure again (115/80), pulse, and blood sugar (157) and then, just to be sure, hooked me up to the EKG monitor and took a look at my heart. The printout was as pretty as they come and they complimented me on what was happening in my heart. The lead technician said it looked a lot better than his. Jo had joined us in the ambulance and the EMTs said they felt I had been overcome by the heat. They offered to transport me to the nearest hospital – an hour away – for further tests but I said I thought that was unnecessary.

So they discharged me. We joined Jason in the Principal Lighthouse-keeper’s Cottage and he said he wanted us to take the rest of the day off. He also said he’d work on getting us a break at 11:30 each morning so I could rehydrate and stop for a morning snack.