Memories...

Life is so busy these days, that it is hard to keep up!  I even blogged twice yesterday so that I could get in both things before my memory kicked them out.  I was going to blog about Ben tonight, and the fun conversation we had this afternoon, but right now it is hidden deep in my mind :(  Hopefully one day it will come back to me...

Instead tonight I will blog about a memory from long ago, cause I'm sure you are all tired of me blogging about winning, which I did again today!  This memory is another one from my college days...  It was brought back to my mind by a movie we watched the other night, The Eagle. 

We didn't have this much snow,
but it sure was cold!

It was the last Thursday in September... I was in Idaho at Ricks College (now BYU-I)... I was out on Search and Rescue (class ~ not actually searching for someone...  OK searching for someone, just not someone REALLY lost, just a classmate).  It was a COLD fall day...  In fact it pretty much snowed off and on ALL day long.  This wouldn't be a BIG deal if it wasn't our Swift Water Rescue final...  It was a little after noon, and I had already swam the Snake river TWICE!  We had been out there for many hours already (the day started before the sun was up).  I was part of the ADVANCE search and rescue class.  We had already finished our final, and were there to help with the final for the beginning search and rescue class.  I was mostly dry, when I learned that it was my turn to be the one of the ones "lost"...  OK I actually volunteered, because I wanted to get it over with while the sun was still up (we were told that we would ALL have a TURN of being LOST).   So I quickly swam across the Snake river (for the THIRD time that day) and found a place, hopefully not to hard to find, in the sun to wait.  As it started to snow again I was grateful for the black wetsuit I had on...  And the little bit of sun peaking out from behind the clouds...

I could not say how long I laid there on the ground before my "Rescue" team found me...  It felt like hours!  It might have been hours!  I could not tell you how long I laid there...  I just know that I went though the stages of Hypothermia, and that by the time the "rescuers" found me I was no longer shivering (not a good thing)!!!  The rescuers decided that they needed something from the other shore, and set off to go back across the Snake river in their boat...  Now in my mind the following things flashed through...

1. I was REALLY cold!
2. The rescuers boat really only holds three people max!  There were three "patients" and three rescuers... It would take at least three trips to get us all back!
3. It would be at least a half an hour before the rescue boat would be back.
4. I was REALLY cold!!!

It was at this point that I helped this rescue team out a little... I "suggested" that since they had already "found" me, that they might want to take me back across the river, and save them selves an extra trip...

They JUMPED on this idea!  They quickly came back to get me!  At this point they asked me if I could walk...  A little back ground on the whole Search and Rescue class stuff ~ or any Paramedic class stuff...  We did scenarios ALL the time.  And we would take turns being the patient for these scenarios...  We would have our "symptoms" that we would give the "Paramedic" when they preformed the right tasks...  Like when they would take your blood pressure, then you would give them what the blood pressure was for that scenario...  So back to the shore of Snake river...  I had already told the rescuers that I was unconscious (our instructor had not giving us our symptoms, so I made mine up...  and I thought that if I was unconscious that they would "save" me faster)... My rescuers asked me if I could walk...  Knowing that I had already said I was unconscious...  But hoping that I would walk to the boat to help them out...  It was at this point, having laid on the ground for who knows how long, that I realized that I actually couldn't walk...

The rescuers carried me to the boat, and quickly rowed me across the river.  When we got back to the other shore they went through the steps to finish the scenario...  Which included rewarming me...  And then I was free to go...  I was no longer a patient, I was just me again...  I was told to go change out of my wetsuit (and swimsuit) and to get in dry clothes and get some warm food in me...  Thank goodness I could walk at this point, but I lacked the fine motor skills needed to open my backpack ;) 

I look back on this memory with fondness, but I am grateful that my bout with Hypothermia turned out well!  I am also thankful that I didn't have to get back in that river again that day (that is a story for another blog).