Sometimes those around a drowning victim had no idea what was happening until it was too late. Drown victims don’t usually scream or splash a lot. They don’t go down once and hold up one finger and do it again and again until they have reached the limit of fingers to hold up either.
I read some very valuable information on Slate.com by Mario Vittone titled “Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning.” Those thrashing about and screaming can help in their rescue. Those who have certain signs cannot. As the article pointed out, watch for the signs of drowning:
Head low in the water, mouth at water level
Head tilted back with mouth open
Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
Eyes closed
Hair over forehead or eyes
Not using legs—vertical
Hyperventilating or gasping
Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
Trying to roll over on the back
Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder
I was in a swimming pool the first time I was in danger in the water. I didn’t know how to swim and everyone said it was easy. “Just jump in and go like this,” they said, as they demonstrated the dog paddle. I jumped in and couldn’t translate their instructions with my body being deep in the water. I barely made it from the bottom of the pool at one point to the surface and back out. It was so dumb of me to jump into the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim. However, no one looked worried as I hadn’t looked to them like I was drowning. I, on the other hand, showed the last five signs of drowning and see this as a near-drowning experience.
The second time I almost drowned was even more scary, and I came closer to death. I was at a lake with a church youth group when a few of us bobbed in the water on rocks not far from the shore. I was fine. I could swim this time, so I wasn’t worried when I bobbed down and the rocks weren’t there. I just swam over to the rocks and bobbed up and down like I wanted to do.
However, one of the girls close to me couldn’t swim, which I didn’t know about at first. One time when I went off the rocky ledge, she must have gone off it, too. She panicked. She grabbed onto me to save her. All the while, she pushed me under the water. I had to push her off me before I would be fine. However, the struggle lasted a long time. I remember seeing my life go before me.
In my push to get the girl from clinging onto me and pushing me under the water, I also pushed her back on the rocky ledge. She might not have been under the water much at all, but when I came ashore I was faint and exhausted. I lay on the rocks and rested a while in front of several girls who were sunning themselves and never suspected I had almost drowned.
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