3 Year Old Boy Near-Drowning

[dkktsunami]

Zen Diver and Big Dawg - great work, wonderful outcome, and compelling display of grace under pressure.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Thanks guys.
I just got an update. Charlie is in ICU, but for observation now. He has been taken off the ventilator they placed him when they had to sedate him at the hospital. He is stable but being kept in ICU. I feel like superman, yet my legs are wobbly.

Ironically, this family has a maid who is the sister of my maid. I didn't know it last night, but two years ago, I spoke to mother on the phone and gave her a job reference for Rasika. Very small world.

Don, you are right, there is a very shakey feel to this, and I have a massive new respect for ER docs and nurses, and paramedics. They deal with these situations regularly. I will be grateful to never have to do this again.

I did go diving today. It was peaceful and helped frayed nerves. One huge batfish kept me company for quite a while on my drift.
i will sleep well tonight. Don't you just LOVE happy endings?

 

[Pearldiver07]

This is another case that brings home the point that CPR is an intermediate step, not a solution! My ex and I also were involved in a near-drowning involving CPR - almost an anology of this one (down to my first learning as a combat-lifesaver prior to deployment).

You couldn't have done more, given the circumstances and you could've done a lot less. I am thrilled that the outcome is developing the way it is.

And you're GOING TO HAVE RESIDUAL ANXIETY about this. Accept it, and seriously consider counselling. Our counselor told us it is not only common, it is to be expected. Don't just try to deal with it if things don't start to fit into place for you and you can't "let go" of the constant reviewing of what did and did not happen.

You did a great thing, but even so not every story has a TV ending. If you hadn't been there, I could almost guarantee that there'd be a news article about a drowning.

Now, hopefully some of the bystanders will realize what CPR can do for family, friends and neighbors. Everyone out there reading this - I offered a few iterations of CPR training at the apartment complex I used to live in - for cost. Just to help the community. Maybe if a few of you consider a time or two?

And in closing - thank you for stepping up when you could have just walked by. That in itself was a major thing.

 

[DANM]

great job! just took my refressure course on monday, i need this for my rescue diver class when i find the time after all the craziness around here lately

 

[ronbeau]

Yesterday afternoon, here in Kuwait, my husband and I were yelling at our kids to get ready to go out to eat. My den windows and French doors open onto the pool deck. I had heard a couple of sets of parents, each with several children, playing and squealing. The kids were young and most had on water wings. As I was on round three of the get dressed so we can leave mantra, I heard panicked screaming from the pool. I went to my door, and kids were running and screaming and adults were crouching and screaming around something on the ground by the deep end.

I went out my door, but couldn't see what was happening. I really thought there was some bug or maybe a snake there. Another guy walked up as I was walking over and asked if I knew CPR. I then ran to the crowd. The child was a 3 year old boy named Charlie. He was tiny and his parents were shaking him and screaming for him to wake up. Charlie was completely blue. I do not know how long he had been in the water. He had no breath sounds. I immediately began compressions and rescue breathing, and yelled for someone to call an ambulance.

The parents kept trying to help by pulling him around and leaning over him to shake his head. I told them not to touch him and let me work. My husband came out and took over the breathing while I continued compressions. We gave him CPR for 36 minutes, until the ambulance came. We continued it into the ambulance. As they took him away, we collapsed. By this time, his color had changed from blue to pink, but he was unresponsive. His pupils were fixed and dilated. We did not have much hope, but we had to keep trying.

One hour later, they called from the hospital. Charlie's heart was beating on its own and he had to be sedated, because he had begun trying to pull out the intubation tube. They said that he still had some fluid in his lungs, but they were in good shape, I had not broken any ribs,(unusual for one receiving chest compressions), and he was holding his own. The doctors complemented my hubby and me and said that our CPR saved his life.

I cannot describe the emotions throughout this experience. It was chaotic. The parents were understandably distraught, but they were so panicked, they once even tried to pull him away by his feet, yelling to hang him upside down so the water would fall out..... I felt for them. On the other hand, Erick and I were the only people in the entire complex, at that time, who were trained in first aid and CPR. I am now glad that my own kids are so slow at getting ready to leave. We would have been down the street and gone if we were on schedule. After being CPR trained since I was 16 years old, I have never had to use it. Until now.
For God's sakes, if I weren't a diver, I probably wouldn't have kept my certification up.... So, people. Take a CPR course. It may not be your own child, but you may be the only ones who could help one day.

Other than (God forbid) having been successful at this for your own family I can't think of too many things in this world than can come close to giving the amount of human satisfaction that you must be feeling after having saved the life of an innocent child.

This also might be a good time to reinforce pool safety with your own kids.
Good work. Now it is time to go out a celebrate with your family.

 

[TSandM]

It sounds as though you did as much as could be done. You don't know how long the child was underwater, or how oxygen deprived or hypercarbic he was. There can be a whole host of reasons why he didn't begin breathing on his own, but 36 minutes of CPR is an eternity, and both of you need to know that what you did was heroic. If this child survives with any neurologic function, it is entirely because of your actions. Bless you for posting this, and reminding us all that life-saving training is worth having.

 

[Missdirected]

Grace under pressure. 36 minutes is a heck of a long time but to then have to deal with hysterical parents.... I'm very impressed with your efforts.

:medal: :wave-smil :medal:​

I know that "get ready" mantra, having two boys of my own, you'll probably never say it in just the same way again, eh?

Zen, I understand what you mean by him being stable but have you heard anything on his brain function yet?

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Thank you all. Charlie had a seizure and they have determined that he does have some brain swelling. The problem is that the parents really have no idea how long he was under water. They are blaming themselves and torn up about it. I just returned from the hospital. The doctor had no coherent timeline of events. The parents were just panicked and in shock. We told them what we knew and did, so he has a little more information. Now, they must wait to see how bad it may be. But I always hope for the best. We had one miracle, let's not stop hoping.

At the end of the day, their son is alive. And where there's life, there's hope. They are holding him, not making funeral arrangements.

I have also decided to run a CPR course here, at my apartment complex. Ironic, that I have just gone through my coursework to teach MFA courses. I have a feeling that there will be a large group taking it. Everyone at home was outside front and center to feel competely helpless. Let's hope some good comes from this.

By the way, we all know that "administering CPR is exhausting and you must be in good physical shape,".......... I had NO real idea, though. I am Still exhuasted and I am sore in muscles that I didn't know were there...

So, I am going to move on, work out more, and make sure that if I am ever in that position again, I am still ready.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

I know that "get ready" mantra, having two boys of my own, you'll probably never say it in just the same way again, eh?

Zen, I understand what you mean by him being stable but have you heard anything on his brain function yet?

Yeah, my hubby told me he was glad we had such pain in the butt kids. If they had been good children and listened right away.....

We are just having to wait for that information. I am hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst. He is young and obviously a fighter. I'll be sure to post updates.

 

[CoralSeaMan]

As Dandy Don said, this child was dead and but for you he would be now. Your words reminding the rest of us of the importance of emergency training are the next gift you have given the community