The doctor said "dehydration" and I, with my first aid book, decided heatstroke was the most applicable (after the fact). We have done all the things they suggested: cooling the house, pouring non-caffeinated liquids into her, adding a bit more salt to the diet.
The story, therefore, has a happy ending. If she really stopped breathing, and it seemed so, then she was without air for only the space of a few breaths. Then she had mine. I didn't stop to examine her; just began mouth-to-mouth and CPR . If her heart had stopped — I didn't take her pulse — it started up quickly. She, after all, has a strong one.
The moral of this personal episode is not my skill. Re-reading the first aid book on such emergencies, I have identified a lot of errors and omissions I made. But when she stopped breathing with her eyes opened and fixed, I stopped thinking and acted. The Red Cross and other agencies (such as your local paramedic squad or fire department) give first aid and CPR courses and can do a lasting job - lodging crucial skills there deeply enough to be waiting when you need them.
When you see a course; take it. Make sure there is a first aid book in your house and car and read it. Check your first aid kits. Write down those phone numbers you have been planning to put on the refrigerator: hospital, doctor, ambulance (if you don't have 911 service). Program your phone, cell phone and other devices with those numbers. Check the website of the Red Cross, and the NY Red Cross, and this website in the UK.
Get trained and get ready. If not, the skills and resources won't be there when you most need them.
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