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To: FLAMING DEATH
Despite that, he never called out to us

When you are hypothermic it is very difficult to speak, much less yell out. I had no idea until I experienced it myself. When Frank first ask me if I was OK, I tried to yell but nothing came out. When I finally was able to speak, it was not loud at all.

34 posted on 12/07/2011 5:32:34 PM PST by thepainster
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To: thepainster

People on the verge of drowning usually cannot call out, because they can’t get their mouths above water, or the second air leaves their lungs to make a sound, they sink. Or reflex keeps their mouths closed.

They don’t thrash and splash, because they can’t get their arms out of the water.

They are vertical in the water, with their heads tipped back, and there is panic in their eyes, and they are silent and almost still - those are the signs that drowning is imminent.

I once saw my friend’s three y.o. daughter in this state, not realizing what it meant, I thought she was treading water. She was supposed to be a good little swimmer. Thank God my friend recognized what was going on before she came to harm. But the guilt stays with me even though she wasn’t hurt - I could have saved her from some time of terror.

Later I read a lifeguard’s account of what a drowning person looks like - an ocean lifeguard with decades of experience and hundreds of rescues - not some teenager at your local pool - and his account was exactly what I had seen with that little girl.


37 posted on 12/07/2011 5:45:59 PM PST by heartwood
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