Life's Not Like The Movies
Today one of the other teachers from my school and I went to Abano to swim and suntan at the public pool. We rode our bikes there and back. The trip was about an hour each way, but really lovely through country backroads, etc.
We were on the upper deck of the pool sunbathing when I decided to go sit at the table under the umbrella and have a drink of water. I was just messing around with my cell phone, and I happened to look up. There on the deck of the pool directly across from us was a man lying spread eagle, legs dangling over the edge of the pool, and two lifeguards frantically giving him CPR. It was the most surreal thing I have ever seen.
It seemed like ages before the paramedics arrived, all the while they were continuing to give him mouth-to-mouth and pump his chest. About three people took turns pumping his chest. While they were trying to resuscitate him, you could see his wife (or girlfriend) off to the side broken down in tears and being comforted by her friend.
By now crowds of people had gathered around the man, and around the upper decks of the pool. Some people were shouting, and other were still swimming in the pool. The strangest thing about it all what that there was no whistle blown to indicate an emergency of any kind.
I kept waiting for him to spit up a whale spout of water from his mouth, cough a few times, sit up, and return to normal just like they do on TV. But that never happened. Instead his stomach began to bloat.
At some point they lifted up his dangling legs to lay him flat on the pool deck. The bottom of his feet were blue. Completely blue. I heard someone say "He went down, and never came back up."
Finally the paramedics arrived---walking towards the man. People started yelling at them to run so they did. They took over the situation. I think they shocked his chest, and then I saw them put a tube down his throat and attach electrodes to his chest. By the time they carried him out it looked like he had started breathing again.
It was definitely a scary few moments that seemed to last forever.
We were on the upper deck of the pool sunbathing when I decided to go sit at the table under the umbrella and have a drink of water. I was just messing around with my cell phone, and I happened to look up. There on the deck of the pool directly across from us was a man lying spread eagle, legs dangling over the edge of the pool, and two lifeguards frantically giving him CPR. It was the most surreal thing I have ever seen.
It seemed like ages before the paramedics arrived, all the while they were continuing to give him mouth-to-mouth and pump his chest. About three people took turns pumping his chest. While they were trying to resuscitate him, you could see his wife (or girlfriend) off to the side broken down in tears and being comforted by her friend.
By now crowds of people had gathered around the man, and around the upper decks of the pool. Some people were shouting, and other were still swimming in the pool. The strangest thing about it all what that there was no whistle blown to indicate an emergency of any kind.
I kept waiting for him to spit up a whale spout of water from his mouth, cough a few times, sit up, and return to normal just like they do on TV. But that never happened. Instead his stomach began to bloat.
At some point they lifted up his dangling legs to lay him flat on the pool deck. The bottom of his feet were blue. Completely blue. I heard someone say "He went down, and never came back up."
Finally the paramedics arrived---walking towards the man. People started yelling at them to run so they did. They took over the situation. I think they shocked his chest, and then I saw them put a tube down his throat and attach electrodes to his chest. By the time they carried him out it looked like he had started breathing again.
It was definitely a scary few moments that seemed to last forever.
posted by Going Somewhere @ 5:53 pm
1 Comments:
At 7:31 pm, June 18, 2006,
Just Say No said…
Wow.
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