Bad day in south centeral Washington

[6Gill]

Recovery diving for a Public Safety organization can and is very tough on divers making the recoveries. A diver making the decision to do this type of work should prepare him/her self for dealing with the job. It is not for the weak of heart. If you can't handle it seek another job. There is no shame in admitting that its not for you.

The fact is, that for the most part such divers are going to be dealing with the recoverey of children 90% of the time. I have found that if you have children, especially of the same age as the victim the harder it will be on you. You must learn to deal with it or hang it up! Body recovery diving is not for everybody! This is not recreational diving, there is no joy to be found here, unless it is finding the victim, so that the family has closure. Sooner or later it will get to you any way.

A lot of times you will be working in zero visablity, which means you will be working with just feel or at best a few inches of visability. This means a lot of times you will come face to face with the victim inches apart. I have even grabbed on to my dive partner thinking that I had found the victim. :reaper:

 

[DennisW]

Gary is so right. Doing CPR or Rescue Breathing on an adult is much different psychologically than doing the same for a child. I have done both. The adult didn't survive, the child did (a neighbor's kid found at the bottom of their pool). After it was over, I shook for nearly a half hour. Probably the adrenalin rush going away, but I'll never forget the feeling. I had dreams for months, only it was my kid laying there in my dreams. I never had the dreams about the poor man that died. I just knew I did my best and he was breathing on his own when the EMTs arrived.

 

[Gary D.]

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/allstories-news-story.asp?date=041004&ID=s1508356

 

[6Gill]

Just heard it on the news.

A Spokane woman crashed her vehicle into a river. She got out and made it to shore. The tragic part is her one month old remained secured in the vehicle and didn't make it.

No details yet other than what I just got off the news.

I feel for the diver that was involved with this one. I just hope they debrief properly. This is the type of dive that can end a diving career.

Gary D.

There was a short TV coverage of the incident on Seatte's TV 5 this morning 4/10/04. It did show a recvery diver in a Yellow/Black dry suit.

 

[Tao of the Dive]

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, honest, but I can offer a story that will show the effects of an infant death, PSD or not.

While working in the detectives ofice, I was called to a local hotel where a woman had been found laying face down on the floor. She was from out of town, and had been found by a co-worker. Time of death was estiamted at 12 hours, approxiamtely 30 minutes after she last talked to another co-worker the previous evening.

So we investigate the scene, interview the co-workers, and have the body sent to the morgue for follow-up. There seemed to be hemoragging from her pubic area, and I theorized possible pregnancy complications, however her co-workers advised they had no knowledge of her being pregnant. There was a fairly massive swollen area under her left breast. I drew the short straw for the autopsy.

The coroner begins the autopsy, and so far, no problem, they measure and state my theory may be correct. But hard to say due to the positioning. As soon as he enters the abdominal cavity, there was no doubt. That young lady had managed to carry a child, beyond term, to about 10 months, before the complications of hiding it AND not having it in a timely fashion killed her and the baby. It was traumatic enough for me to see that infant laying in her womb, and thinking that she had an opportunity to do the right things, I was angry, hurt, and any number of other things becuase I was looking at a very stupid, very dead woman AND child. Then it happened. To facilitate taking photos for the casefile, the ID guy and the coroner placed the fetus in the arm of the mother. Now keep in mind, the mother is filleted open, the fetus is discolored, everything that could be wrong about this is fairly obvious. But at that moment in time, something seemed right and wrong about that image, and it haunts me to this day. It was right in that mother and child were together, and mother was holding her child. It was wrong in that it semed to mock those sacred images of mother and child we are so used to seeing. It was wrong becuase this woman had hidden her pregnancy from everyone, family and friends, and had therefor caused her own death, but that of her child. I occasionally have a nightmare about that one, and talk about it rarely, if ever. And NEVER to a loved one. The biggest problem of all was, I was never debriefed. Nobody took notice of my behaviour after the fact, nobody noticed I was hurting. When I say that I have nightmares, or that it still haunts me to this day, I'm not being melodramatic, or overstating a point. I'm telling you EXACTLY what it did to me, and what it still does. That's what a good debrief can help prevent. No person should ever be denied a debrief. Because years of living with a tragedy is just too long.

 

[Snowbear]

No person should ever be denied a debrief. Because years of living with a tragedy is just too long.

You can still debrief - unfortunately it will be more expensive and take longer than if it had been done when you needed it the most.

 

[justleesa]

That young lady had managed to carry a child, beyond term, to about 10 months, before the complications of hiding it AND not having it in a timely fashion killed her and the baby.

I know I have heard of women that didn't know they were pregnant until they had their babies. Don't know how, but that's what they say. My question is how can you prolong a pregnancy?

 

[Tao of the Dive]

Poor nutrition, no treatment, and apparently, the uniform she wore for work (Tight about the waist) displaced the fetus and the uterus.

 

[justleesa]

What a sad thought. A great aunt of mine was pregnant before she got married - we are talking about the 1920's or 30's here - I know that she tightened her corset so she wouldn't show and the baby was born with brain damage, luckily not disfigured...(didn't do him much good though). The only thing that comes to mind is "Why?"

 

[Natasha]

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, honest, but I can offer a story that will show the effects of an infant death, PSD or not.

While working in the detectives ofice, I was called to a local hotel where a woman had been found laying face down on the floor. She was from out of town, and had been found by a co-worker. Time of death was estiamted at 12 hours, approxiamtely 30 minutes after she last talked to another co-worker the previous evening.

So we investigate the scene, interview the co-workers, and have the body sent to the morgue for follow-up. There seemed to be hemoragging from her pubic area, and I theorized possible pregnancy complications, however her co-workers advised they had no knowledge of her being pregnant. There was a fairly massive swollen area under her left breast. I drew the short straw for the autopsy.

The coroner begins the autopsy, and so far, no problem, they measure and state my theory may be correct. But hard to say due to the positioning. As soon as he enters the abdominal cavity, there was no doubt. That young lady had managed to carry a child, beyond term, to about 10 months, before the complications of hiding it AND not having it in a timely fashion killed her and the baby. It was traumatic enough for me to see that infant laying in her womb, and thinking that she had an opportunity to do the right things, I was angry, hurt, and any number of other things becuase I was looking at a very stupid, very dead woman AND child. Then it happened. To facilitate taking photos for the casefile, the ID guy and the coroner placed the fetus in the arm of the mother. Now keep in mind, the mother is filleted open, the fetus is discolored, everything that could be wrong about this is fairly obvious. But at that moment in time, something seemed right and wrong about that image, and it haunts me to this day. It was right in that mother and child were together, and mother was holding her child. It was wrong in that it semed to mock those sacred images of mother and child we are so used to seeing. It was wrong becuase this woman had hidden her pregnancy from everyone, family and friends, and had therefor caused her own death, but that of her child. I occasionally have a nightmare about that one, and talk about it rarely, if ever. And NEVER to a loved one. The biggest problem of all was, I was never debriefed. Nobody took notice of my behaviour after the fact, nobody noticed I was hurting. When I say that I have nightmares, or that it still haunts me to this day, I'm not being melodramatic, or overstating a point. I'm telling you EXACTLY what it did to me, and what it still does. That's what a good debrief can help prevent. No person should ever be denied a debrief. Because years of living with a tragedy is just too long.

This is so terrible. I feel badly for you. I will add you to my prayers tonight. Did typing it out and telling us about it, help you at all?