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1:34am June 15, 2011

➸ Drowning doesn't look like drowning. Great info!

duyukdv:

I hadn’t even thought of the unrealistic depictions being a problem, but it makes sense. My mom was also a lifeguard for years, so I got better info. One of my cousins almost drowned when we were kids; he got pulled out and was OK, but no, it didn’t look anything like in the movies.

Wow. I had no idea, at all, that that’s what drowning generally looked like. It also brings back terrifying memories of my last time in the ocean.

I was there with a staff person (I’ll call her Kate) who was a really strong swimmer. I’ve always been a bad swimmer, and this was my first time in the water with the degree of movement disorder I had at the time. I could still walk part time, but for example my legs literally just stopped working halfway up the stairs from the beach. And I also fatigued easily, not as easily as now, but easily.

So we were standing in water not over our heads in any way, although it was high enough to swim in. I basically would ride waves back to shore and then walk back to where she was standing.

And then waves started coming in and the water started getting higher. And… yes supposedly fat people float, but I float a little bit under the water usually, and at any rate I was standing up.

So suddenly I found my arms and legs very weak, amplified by the extra resistance from the water. (I will never understand water-as-great-for-gimps, though some people find it that way.) And the water kept coming up over my head. And the air kept going away. And my arms were like lead. And all I could concentrate on was getting air, but I couldn’t time it right and kept getting water instead. And the entire world turned into the sensation of not enough air and water splashing over the top of my face and submerging and utter terror.

I don’t know how long this lasted. I knew I was in trouble but I didn’t know I was drowning. I can be dense like that, especially underestimating the seriousness of situations. And then Kate grabbed me and hauled me to shore (and having someone hold me above water was the best feeling in the world after struggling like that).

But ever since then I won’t get into water above low wading height without some serious flotation devices, and I hope I’m never in the ocean or other water with waves again. I found water hard enough before this experience, despite enjoying it sometimes. (But even then… long after I learned to swim my best, I had lifeguards shoo me out of the deep end of pools.)

Honestly I’m not sure yelling for help even entered my mind, even if I could have. And that scares me, as does the idea that Kate may not have known I was drowning if she thought it only looked like in movies. My life often strikes me as a series of incredibly close calls. I’m glad someone is getting the information out there. If you’ve read this far, definitely read the link.