H IS FOR HYPOTHERMIA
Hypothermia is a dangerously low body temperature. A temperature of less than 95 degrees Fahrenheit and 35 degrees Celsius means hypothermia. Shivering is an attempt by the body to warm itself. Confusion and eventually a loss of awareness are symptoms to follow. Approximately 600 deaths occur each year in the United States because of hypothermia. Many people remove their clothes as the delirium gets worse.
I suffered from hypothermia during an incident in Alaska when it was 30 below and my car was stuck on a mountainside. Even though I was dressed in winter gear, I'd been in the cold for over two hours. Getting warm after that occurrence took well over eight hours. It's not something I ever want to repeat. Today, my fingers are still ultra sensitive to cold.
Murder & Obsession
Excerpt:
Shivering
uncontrollably, Steven wondered if hypothermia would be his Waterloo. He
wrapped a woolen blanket around his shoulders and did his best to remain alert.
He prayed the heat from the fire would be his salvation, but his body struggled
to find the warmth promised.
Steven
gazed at flames that seemed to him determined to withhold their lifesaving
heat. His lips were blue, his thoughts muddled, and tears like ice droplets
tumbled from his eyes. His body vibrated violently from the unending chill, loss, and his situation.
His
heart pounded like a percussion drill through rock, and his lungs struggled for
air. His mind sought understanding and forgiveness. He'd neglected his vow of
protection, a promise he never thought he’d fail to deliver.
Intense
grief filled his soul. Bordering on a complete collapse, Steven surrendered his
hold on reality. He wanted, needed to join her.
*****
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Remember every comment during the A to Z will be an entry to win a
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Read an excerpt of my story Ever-Ton HERE!
Al Gore won the Presidency in 2000.
The earth is dying and people are
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61 comments:
Good lord! I hope you are doing fine now and hasn't effected your health. The excerpt is brilliant. 😃
How scary Yolanda! to know you personally went through it! Beautiful places are so often ruthless. But sensitive fingers that produce the most awesome murders and magical descriptions, too :)
Best always,
Nila.
Madly-in-Verse
I cannot even imagine how you felt... I've been in vehicle during very cold nights while traveling across Russia but luckily the heating was ok :)
Oh god !! I would be so scared if I was stuck like that. I am already very sensitive to cold. Glad you were safe.
A Whimsical Medley
Twinkle Eyed Traveller
Two more days and I am on a long haul and can read your book. These teasers have me really sucked inl.
Wow, I'm sorry that happened to you. Yikes.
That sounds horrible. Intense cold is dangerous.
That sounds horrible. Intense cold is dangerous.
Cold and I don't get along. Hypothermia can really have lasting effects indeed. Rather be too hot than too cold any day.
I can't even imagine that kind of cold! Have you read To Build A Fire? I loved the shock of it. London was a brilliant writer who used very few words, but created such impact.
Hypothermia is pretty scary. Unfortunately it can affect the elderly and vulnerable people living in civilisation as well, old people who can't afford to heat their homes and perhaps homeless people living rough. Steven's grief is so profound I hope he finds a way forward.
I've heard the temperature doesn't even have to be below freezing, especially if the person gets wet.
Hi, Ramya, I'm fine. Thanks for stopping by!
Nila, I'm surprised I did as well as I did. Those kind of temperatures are nothing to fool with. Lucky!
Zeljka, that's the oddest part the car had no heat at all, but it also had no power to make it up that mountain. Thank goodness for good Samaritan!
I was scared, Rajlakshmi, and screaming at the top of my lungs did not warm me or bring help, at least not right away. :)
LOL, I can't wait to hear what you think.
Hi, Ivy, all part of living in the wilderness. ;)
Very dangerous! I was surprised by the number of deaths every year due to it.
Funny thing is, I still prefer the cold to the heat. :)
Amazing writer, Jack London. Great stories! It's amazing how you adjust to such changes, but warmth can't be far away. That night it almost was.
Hi, Sally, thats so true. I was shocked by the number. And that was in the whole US. Sad, especially when it due to electricity being cut or a lack of funds for heating oil. Yet, it happens still!
"Cold water dangerously accelerates the onset and progression of hypothermia since body heat can be lost 25 times faster in cold water than in cold air."
Very dangerous!
I've had one close call with hypothermia and it was awful and frightening. Good post!
Meet My Imaginary Friends
#AtoZchallenge http://www.kathleenvalentineblog.com/
I've had one close call with hypothermia and it was awful and frightening. Good post!
Meet My Imaginary Friends
#AtoZchallenge http://www.kathleenvalentineblog.com/
Hypothermia always makes me think of cadavers in a deep-freeze - in one book I read, one of the characters goes and hides there. Ugh! Scary as hell!
Thank you for the delightful excerpts. I am a complete thriller junkie!
And thank you so much for coming over every day, Yolanda. You've no idea how much I appreciate it! Hugs!
Oh, I am glad you able to tell this table~ Brrrr-I hate the cold. Everyone thinks because you are from a cold area you love it...WRONG! lol
I love your theme!
Did you get snow? I remember it being 30 below and we had to scrap the inside of our vehicle while driving. Yes, we headed to Alaska... in Haines Junction.
Good point.
Glad you survived your experience with hypothermia, scary. This story scene is very good. :)
Hi, Ella, yes, most of the time we tolerate the cold because we know spring and fall are too beautiful to miss. In Alaska, spring and fall are so short you barely know they've arrived, but you always know when they're gone. :)
I do know Vidya! I love your posts, so helpful and informative. You've put an amazing amount of work into this challenge. Kudos!
Yes, very frightening. Thanks for stopping by!
Have you read Jack London's To Build a Fire? I remember reading that for the first time as a teenager and the teaching telling me that it was an accurate portrayal of death by hypothermia. Makes me shiver just to think about it.
@mirymom1 from
Balancing Act
Glad you got out of the problem though Yolanda. Very scary and so easy to lose things like fingers and toes in such experiences.
Too easy, hope your Saturday is lovely!
I have, it's masterful writing! Hi, Samantha!
Thanks, Deborah, the cold is scary.
I've had one close call with hypothermia. I came close, but fortunately managed to warm up before it took hold, but I will never forget the experience and I never want to repeat it!
Susan A Eames from
Travel, Fiction and Photos
That was a close call Yolanda! Sometimes when least expected innocent encounters can bring unnecessary difficulties. Thanks for multiple visits, Ma'am!
Hank
I can understand why. I learned my lesson that night too. Hi, Susan!
Hi, kaykuala, my pleasure!
Yikes, you're lucky you didn't lose any of your fingers!!
That seemed so sad to me, that bit of story
I really feel sorry for Steven!
Eight hours to warm up, that must have been miserable.
And thanks for the nightmare comment on my Frozen post. That's one of the best compliments I've ever had!
After reading Jack London's "To Build a Fire," I like to keep my exposure to super cold temperatures to a minimum. I'm glad you survived. I cannot imagine what it would feel like.
That must have been a horrible, frightening experience, Yolanda. I'm shivering just thinking about it and am so glad you survived relatively unscathed. Being hyper-sensitive to cold, I can't imagine going through something like that.
Feeling it now, after reading your descriptive passage. Poor Stephen! I hope he survives, too.
Hi, Yolanda! Returning a visit. Hypothermia is scary stuff; I'm glad you are okay from your ordeal. That must have been terrifying.
Good luck with the challenge; and Happy Blogging!
Man, I hate being cold. I mean I get that eventually you don't feel it, but this seems like such total and complete misery to me. In fact I think I'm going to go turn the heat up.
I dislike intense cold or heat. I also have Raynard's Syndrome/Disease (excessively reduced blood flow in response to cold or emotional stress, causing discoloration of the fingers, toes, and occasionally other areas). I got it in my twenties, and it was made worse when I drove my old beater then with no heater. . .I have had it since then. I get it more sporadically now. I don't think I'd want to go any further north to live and I chose Southern British Columbia as it has a median mild climate. Hypothermia is something to be aware of especially if you live in the north country.
Wow. That's taking research to the extreme! Seriously, glad you ended up okay. That is a scary situation.
Yolanda, coming from such a hot climate, my body can't even imagine feeling extreme cold.
Hypothermia, even a touch of it, would be the death of me, for sure...
I'm glad that your experience hasn't resulted in any negative long term effects...
Writer In Transit
I was very lucky!
Yes, very sad!
I had every blanket in the place on, and could not stop shivering!
I just remember standing on the mountainside screaming at the top of my lungs. It was foolish and stupid, but it made me feel better!
Thanks, Debbie, it was a frightening experience that I learned from, thankfully I had the opportunity.
Thanks, Catherine, it was!
True, lots of folks quit feeling the cold and remove their clothes. Some though just fall asleep!
I've heard of Raynards, how horrible. I'm glad you're in a warm climate!
Hi, Kimberly, didn't know it was research at the time. :)
Hi, Michelle, I learned not to take such chances. I drove a friend back to his job site during the middle of winter, a drive of almost 3 hours one way. In a car that couldn't retain heat, it was too small in those temperatures to do so. I was scrapping ice off the inside of the windshield just to see. On the way down, with him in the car it was fine. But on the way back, all alone, the car was to light to make it up those icy mountain roads. Stupid, really! If not for a Good Samaritan in a jeep - who pushed me the rest of the way up that mountain and then followed me home. I wouldn't be here.
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