Ooops i posted it again - the almost near drowning story

hank i dont have a lot of time but i am glad you are ok.

Wow! I'm just reading about this now. What a scary experience and dangerous. I'm glad you learned what you have from it and I hope working through the after effects gets easier.

When a person has an experience like yours, I think adrenaline and shock set in for the few hours thereafter, then once the effects wear off, the reality of the danger of the situation hits home.

I'm glad you are okay. I've had a similar experience, but doing something not nearly as noble. When I worked direct care with my clients, I had one client who always clung to the side of the 4-foot end of the pool. So another worker (a male) and I wondered what would happen if we tried to take her to the other end of the pool (6 feet deep)...possibly to eventually teach her how to swim. He could swim very well; I could dog-paddle. Once her feet didn't touch the bottom, she almost drowned us both. We kept trying to lift her where her head was above water and she managed to shove us both under. Luckily, my coworker regained his footing and lifted her off of me allowing me to also stand up so we could get her back to the 4-foot end.

Needless to say, we didn't do that again!

thanks. I do seem tired today.

Hankster, you are so brave! now it is time to take care of you!

how very scary!

I am glad everyone is okay.

hank, you are very brave & SO glad you are ok!!
like everyone has said, take it easy till you feel like yourself.

Hankster, you're not an idiot, hijacker or thread killer Thank you so much for sharing this, I think you were so brave for putting yourself at risk to save someone. Of course this has had an impact on you later when it's all settled down. Really hope you're ok and not being hard on yourself

ok ....... i really don't see your ending as being at the bottom of a pool; there's far too much life in you for that, so ...... good job on that not being the case! seriously; you are brave and heroic rushing in like that; and that's great your T has since shown you what could have helped more in the situation, but in my eyes you already did a great job hankster. be proud of yourself like we are of you! it's also .... totally understandable that you feel weird afterwards; time to switch into taking gentle care of yourself if you can ... kind of a baby yourself situation for a little bit to help you get over the shock (hmmm i'd shudder if i read what i just wrote in that last part so feel free to ignore it; just thinking ... you need some comfort)

Nice work posting your own thread. This sounds so scary. You saved a life though. How awesome is that??

I wanted to say thanks to the last posters but I didn't want to bump the thread, so thanks! yeah, what was more scary, the pool incident or STARTING A THREAD about it??? only took a life and death situation for me to really truly start a thread, to ask for help myself. what the heck does that say. and it was about the other people also not being able to ask for help in the right way. a big cycle of it.

I have some anger about going back to the pool. the water still felt "thick" to me while the guy was on me, so I think i'll be okay in the water physically. but boy now I know for sure what drowning looks like. the guy was in trouble for a long time (a minute or so?) while both the other woman and I were observing him and his girlfriend "playing", and we should have acted then, by throwing him the life preserver. I will definitely do that the next time, no doubt about it. the first thing i'm going to do is inspect that equipment.

hankster, be gentle with yourself and the pool when getting back in. I've had some experience trying to go back and restart an activity after a bad experience. Sometimes, there's a lot of emotion involved. I tend to try to go back and restart when people aren't around because I dislike showing emotion in front of people. Not sure that's safe with swimming, though. Be safe!

And I'm totally willing to bump your thread for you so that it stays near the top and you can tell us how getting back in the pool went.

hokey-dokey! last post for this thread! I went back to the pool today, swam - well, paddled around with the kickboard - for about an hour. there were some people there, who I think were NOT residents, who were not keeping a very close eye on their kid, even letting him go in the pool by himself, and the dad was one of those obnoxious let's scare the kid types. I started getting upset, then I thought, really? is it going to be like the other day? I realized I did not want to argue with these a-holes, I was not responsible for their child, and I realized how vulnerable I was - these two bullies could hold me under water pretty easily and no one would even notice. so I put a smile on my face, erased the tension from my body, and got my swim DONE! Nothing like a near-death experience to help you re-evaluate your priorities!

Great Job getting back in the water Hankster!!! I'm sure overtime it will be easier to relax and to not think of all the whatifs... it reminds me of when my son and I were in a pretty bad car accident driving to church... the first time I had to drive that same road...I approached the intersection with caution... then just slowly...to 2 years later...oh yeah thats the place the accident happened...

In time...it will get easier but nothing will ever take away that near death feeling... it helps me not to take life for granted!

I used to be a lifeguard back in the day. I remember one of the things they taught us in lifesaving class was this definition of panic: "a sudden unreasoning, and overwhelming terror that destroys a person's capacity for self-help". And their capacity for knowing they might be drowning somebody else trying to save themselves. It also makes that person extremely strong and even for certified lifeguards the motto is "Reach, throw, row, THEN go." for those who are not lifeguards, it's "reach, throw, row but don't go". You were very brave indeed!! I'm glad you're ok!!

I'm so glad you went back and were able to enjoy the water again, Hankster!

well, the pool is pretty small, I was just a few feet from the pool edges, and I know I can tread water for like an hour, that is my usual workout. and the guy was just SINKING right next to me. T said most people in that situation report that they didn't consider the consequences, they just acted. T also said it was good that I was able to develop a strategy as it was happening, when I thought, "he's breathing now, I am not, I need to break his hold on me, then continue the rescue." so, no, maybe not the smartest thing i've ever done in my life, and not an experience i'm looking to repeat. but definitely one where you know you're alive. it was a little like wrestling an alligator, actually - (if they have a division where you bring your guardian angel!) - he's on top, then i'm on top, water is splashing... hankster has found her extreme sport at age 60 - not!

THANKS!!! I was a little worried, but it was okay!

After reading this, I don't think I shall tangle with drowners until they fall unconscious.

great job getting back in the water ... now for the possibly harder task of ... hankster starting another thread ... now that you've begun maybe it will get easier?

once a year whether I need to or not?

hmm hmmm thinking more regularly than that