I woke suddenly at 4am. My wife was beside me, lying on her belly, head to the left. She appeared to be spasming, making a hunh hunh hunh sound from her throat. I shook her shoulder, no response. Switched on the light, put on my glasses, went around to her side of the bed. She had a little whitish foam out of her mouth. She appeared to be getting air (airway okay) between the spasming. No signs of stopped breathing (blue lips / face). Heart was strong. Tried to awaken her, no response. Eyes red and open. I thought maybe she had swallowed something in her sleep that was causing a partial obstruction, did a quick mouth swipe with my finger, nothing. Called 911. Operator had me move her to the floor on her back, remove her shirt and begin CPR chest compressions. Really, I said, she's breathing and I can feel her heart beat. Yes. So head tilt, still breathing, but still unresponsive. With breathing and heart beating, I didn't compress hard enough to break her sternum, deep compressions for 30-40 seconds until she reached up and stopped me, and began to come around. I asked her my name, she said Tom. EMTs arrived, took over care. She was groggy, no memory of what happened.

Today an MRI revealed some masses on her brain of unknown origin - next step is to sort that out. Healthy middle aged female, no history of seizures. First aid, CPR - it really does often boil down to doing it for or to someone you love. Please, please make sure you are all trained. She asked, were you scared I was going to die? I told her no, once I had clicked off the A B Cs I knew that she was with us and we will get through this. God bless all paramedics, thank you Bellevue Fire Department (Station 1).