Dr Taylor Delgado: It was Saturday night, and we had just gone to bed. Suddenly, Ali sat up, and screamed, "My head!" She then became nonresponsive and had a seizure. I was in disbelief, but I also knew exactly what was happening. I called 911: "My wife is having a head bleed. I need an ambulance." It was a bad connection, and they could barely understand me.
As I tried to carry Ali downstairs, she vomited. She still had rubber bands in her mouth from the jaw fracture that was a result of her accident just a month ago. I knew she needed an airway.
I grabbed a tracheostomy tube, but the opening over her trachea put in for the accident had since closed. I tried to push the tube through her neck, but it hurt her; her eyes opened.
I thought to myself: Maybe she doesn't need it. This can wait until she gets to the hospital. I can't do this to her. But she vomited again, and I knew what I had to do.
We were at the top of our stairs. I didn't have a blade or any other equipment, just the tracheostomy tube with the dilator.
