Ever had a life experience that held such impact, just thinking about it creates a visual more genuine than it’s true occurrence?  Watching and rewatching as it replays through my mind like a music video set on repeat, I am forced to constantly be reminded of one of the realist events to ever happen in my life. With each repetition, the memory seems to metastasize in detail; reviving the underlying senses I tried so hard to obliterate. Depicting a visual so vivid I can hear the tremble in my voice as I yelled to wake her, I can feel the water dribbling down my hands in efforts to cool her body, I can even sense the very smell that encompassed my kitchen on that seemingly typical summer day. I always wonder if there was anything I could have done to alter the events that took place at my house on July 6th, 2015. Could I have done more; less? Did I worsen the situation? Due to the events that took place that day, I made a conscious personal decision that I would forever change my life for the better.
    
 For a more sensible read, I must give a little bit of background leading up to that day before I can begin to disclose my story. For starters, the protagonist of the tale is one of my bestest girl friends Ellie, whom I met in highschool my freshman year. Being that I wasn't districted to the high school I attended, I didn't have many friends going into my 9th grade year. Hoping for a way to socialize and maybe get my name out there, I asked some friends if they knew of anyone who would want to go to this wild Project X type party that upcoming weekend; and my friend referred me to a girl by the name of Ellieelle. A little anxious of what the night might throw my way, I rang the doorbell and waited to meet my soon to be best freind. Looking back on it now, our paths crossed because of this crazy party. That fact itself merely foreshadows what our friendship would later turn to revolve around.
     
Fast forward almost 2 years, to the summer of 2015; the summer leading to our junior year of high school. The setting was my little suburban house, on a particularly hot and humid summer day. At home by my lonesome, Ellie’s  father dropped her off at my house early that morning. He notably warned me that she had not been taking care of her body too well that summer, and to make sure she was drinking water and staying hydrated. Keeping her dad's words in mind, I made sure to question her throughout the day to make sure she was comfortable. Relocating ourselves to my back porch, we began to set up and prepare the equipment needed to tie dye t-shirts. As I’m filling up the buckets with water, Ellieelle stated that she was feeling a little lightheaded and wanted something to drink; passing the hose off to her to finish filling the buckets, I proceeded inside to retrieve her water. The next thing I know Ellieelle comes staggering in through the kitchen door calling my name. Knowing Ellie and her comedic personality, I thought she was joking with me at first. I quickly learned that was not the case, when I noticed she was talking to me using body language and hand gestures, yet facing the opposite way. Calling out to her from behind, she continued to talk to me with her body angled as if I was anterior to her. At that point, my instincts signaled a red light. I realized that this was becoming something serious; now not only her vision is fading out but her hearing was going as well. This event would later show to be my first emergency medicine experience. I often think back on that day and ask, “Did my Health Science background knowledge help me save my friends life that day? If I wasn't there with her, would she still be alive now?”
     
Due to the fact that Ellieelle's dad had mentioned the heat and her need for hydration, my first reaction was to get her sitting down to work to cool her body. She staggered into my kitchen through the door leading out to my back porch, repeatedly calling my name. As I continued to fill a glass of water I could sense the worry in her voice. The concern in her voice was enough to catch my attention, causing me to turn around. Noticing she was struggling with her senses, hard at hearing and losing her vision; I sat her down in the kitchen chair closest to the door, and began to talk irrelevant gibberish just to keep her conscious. Again, thinking it was dehydration or heat stroke, I gave her the water and continue to try to keep her awake by asking random questions like “Where are you? Do you know who I am? What is today? What did you do yesterday?” Unfortunately that was not enough. Her basic body functions as simple and involuntary as her eyes blinking, became lethargic. Right before my very eyes, in my arms, my best friend was falling into oblivion. Out of fear that she was shortly going to fall out of consciousness, I began to scream her name and smack her face to try and keep her awake. Reflecting back on a personal experience I’ve had with my own body overheating, I decided to refill the cup with ice cold water with the intent to pour it down her to cool her body and bring her back to her natural state.
     
This is where the story escalates and where I begin to question the actions I took. Did I really help her, or was I making her situation worse? Being that I am home alone with her, this is where I began to go into a slightly trepidatious state. Looking back on it, I can’t really use the word scared, because to my surprise, I was never really terrorized; it was more of an uneasy, panicked, yet composed state of mind. With that being said, as I’m pouring the water down her back, her body begins to convulse, locking up and seizing. The convulsions were a repetition of her neck and body locking up for about 10 seconds, relaxing and coming out of it for 30 seconds, and then returning to the convulsions; creating a very undesirable cycle for me to watch. Like I was taught in school, I allowed her body to perform its tasks as she was in the action of seizing, but in between the episodes when her body was stagnant, I would return to calling her name and smacking her to try and regain her consciousness. Eventually, after about two minutes of off and on seizing, they stopped and she came to without any idea of the events that had just taken place. Thinking she was done and back to normal health I refilled her glass of water and began to narrate to her the events that had just occurred. As she was sipping on the water she began seizing again; differing from the first episode, this time she had water in her throat. When the second set of seizures started she was in the action of drinking; is this my fault? I gave her the water, I told her to drink. Did me pouring water on her cause the seizing in the first place? Reflecting back on it, this is when I should have called 911, but knowing Ellieelle and her hobbies, I knew that the cause of these events were more than likely probably drug related. Should I have called for help? I’m not sure; but fortunately, I was able to hit her in the back and dislodge the water she had captive in her throat, also bringing her out of her convulsions.  
    
 Looking back on it now, I don’t know whether I helped Ellie or if I made it worse, but what I do know is I had a reality check that day. That day, July 6th, 2015, I established a pact with myself that I would never again put another hard drug into my body. What happened to Ellieelle that day could have easily happened to any of us, and I’m so blessed that the day’s events didn't turn out worse than they did. I like to think I helped her, but every bit of my body feels a blanket of guilt fall over me when I reflect back to that day. The lessons I learned following those events will stick with me for a lifetime. I learned to be careful with what I put into my body, and to surround myself with people who I feel confident can help if I ever find myself in a situation like Ellieelle and I. I also learned to be aware of my body and what I individually can and cannot handle; to be responsible by not pressing my body’s limits. I am only given one set of organs and once they are gone, they are gone for good.