51–60 of 148 posts
That is incredible. 2.5 hours underwater, 1.5 hours of CPR. They were instructed not to start rewarming him until he could be given more comprehensive treatment at a hospital. They list 'death' as a differential diagnosis... He didn't come out unscathed though. They describe his progress: > At 6-month follow-up, he was giving short commands, standing without support, riding a tricycle, eating soft foods, and relearni…
I'd be curious to read about 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 year follow-up. Party pooper warning. I'm afraid I don't have rose tinted glasses, due to personal experience with a family member with TBI (accident at age 16, 3 weeks in a coma). The aftereffects are profoundly destabilizing to his environment. I sometimes have quite a dark view of people's need to be a rescuer and celebrate the "alive!", when they don't have to deal wit…
I feel you, I also unfortunately have experiences with that. It has profoundly changed my view on living, especially how I want to be treated when someday I'm heavily sick. A family member in a coma takes a heavy toll on you, emotionally and financially. They are simultaneously there and not there. If they did not write down how they want to be treated you can never make a decision where you are sure what's right, or…
And what if you might be able to make decisions again tomorrow. Or the day after? Or in two weeks time.. ? These things are never all that 'clear'.
By "fine" I mean alive, for months her character was much different. It took almost a year to return to its true behavior and enjoy the things she used to enjoy before. Even then she has much lower tolerance to unsolicited cuddling than before.
The vet speculated that the low temperature was what kept her brain alive since the blood almost completely lost the ability to carry oxygen as a result of parasite attacking the blood cells(her initial symptoms were shortness of breath).
I'd be curious to read about 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 year follow-up. Party pooper warning. I'm afraid I don't have rose tinted glasses, due to personal experience with a family member with TBI (accident at age 16, 3 weeks in a coma). The aftereffects are profoundly destabilizing to his environment. I sometimes have quite a dark view of people's need to be a rescuer and celebrate the "alive!", when they don't have to deal wit…
I have a similar view on general anesthesia now, everyone i know(including myself) that has had operations have been permanently affected by anesthesia. Turning yourself off breaks far more than doctors realize i fear.
So either I am an exception, or your "everyone I know" needs qualification. In any case, I'd be very interested in what aftereffects you noticed, maybe that helps me reflect.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel you, I also unfortunately have experiences with that. It has profoundly changed my view on living, especially how I want to be treated when someday I'm heavily sick. A family member in a coma takes a heavy toll on you, emotionally and financially. They are simultaneously there and not there. If they did not write down how they want to be treated you can never make a decision where you are sure what's right, or…
> For me, the decision is clear: when I'm not able to make my own decisions turn everything off and let me die. And what if you might be able to make decisions again tomorrow. Or the day after? Or in two weeks time.. ? These things are never all that 'clear'.
They say you're not dead until you're warm and dead.
News article https://www-nrk-no.translate.goog/vestland/nye-tal_-turgaare...
Recount of the story https://www-nrk-no.translate.goog/vestland/xl/turgaaren-var-...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weird! I wonder if there is some exponential complexity going on. More neural pathways leaving more stuff that can potentially break from an uneven freeze/thaw? Or is it literally that the freezing and thawing can't happen evenly when you're too big? A brief transistional period with unfrozen outsides and frozen solid insides is probably not great for you.
> Or is it literally that the freezing and thawing can't happen evenly when you're too big? This. You literally can’t evaporate all the thawing agent out of the blood of the organism without substantial burns by sheer volume
Something similar happened recently in Norway. A tourist was found severely cold in the mountains, in a storm where extracting him took hours. After a while hypothermia got to him, his heart stopped, and only 8 hours later they got it starting again, was technically dead for 20 hours. In this case, it looks to have gone well with the person afterwards. They say you're not dead until you're warm and dead. News article…
Actual mountain rescuer slogan/wisdom.
> As the patient's temperature approached 22 °C (72 °F), low-frequency and low-amplitude sinusoidal electrical deflections were noted on his electrocardiogram. Dunno about you, but this does things to me.