Found in Austin

I had an interesting weekend in Austin. Friday afternoon we got out of class at noon. I coaxed the team to head back to the Guadalupe river to rent tubes and float down the river. A good time was had by all. So much fun in fact that we decided to go back on Saturday afternoon.

We went to a different place this time. Canyon Lake.

There has been so little rain this summer in Texas that they are not letting water out of the dam at Canyon Lake. The water levels were a bit low, so not as much fun as Friday.

As we neared the end of the loop, another group of toobers (I'd spell it tubers, but I'm not from Texas) starting screaming and freaking out. One of the guys in the groop had gone unconcious on his tube after taking a drink of his beer which had a yellow jacket wasp in it. The wasp bit his tounge, and he had a bad reaction. I helped to pull his tube across the river and him up out of the water and onto a picnic table. He was unconcious, and when I checked not breathing. He had a pulse. Strong and fast. I tilted his head, plugged his nose and gave him a breath. It didn't go in, so I re-adjusted and gave him a breath that did go in. Almost immediately he took a big breath and snapped to conciousness. Almost immediately he blacked out again. I checked for breathing again and found none. I remember a girl at the end of the table on the phone with the 911 dispatcher.. I was calling out what I was seeing (unconcious, not breathing, strong pulse), and that I was a firefighter.. the 911 dispatcher wanted to know where from. Canada didn't help I guess.... The guy came to again after one more breath. and this time was a bit more lucent. He started asking how he got out of the water, and what happened. he complained about his tounge hurting. he started to black out again and I held his head while he collapsed and helped him down to the table again. I was checking again for pulse and breathing. In my mind I couldn't believe that this guy was actually not breathing. I stopped to be sure. Listen for breath, watch for chest movements. Right about then, a guy standing next to me identified himself as an EMT-B, and I considered turning things over to him. I think he' s the guy who offered an anti-histamine pill one of the times the guy was lucent... I told him no at that point as I wasn't sure about giving him anything and remembering the don't do anything more than you are trained to do. I didn't tell him the reason why, I just said no. One more breath and the guy came to again and sat up and started talking. Just about this time, the almbulance arrived. I helped to walk the guy over to the bus, and started to give patient history, but the emt was focused on his assesment. I went back to the water and gathered my beer mitt, and climbed back into my tube and went on my way.

I'm feeling a bit weird about the whole thing. Its kindof freaky. The guy's name was Shawn... or Shane. He is 28 and shaves his chest. (I know that because he has stubble on his chest).

I am glad I was trained and able to help. I'm damn sure I'll pay closer attention in my CPR course this fall.

Double Trouble in Austin

This is from last night (August 23) at Zilker Park. Blues on the green hosted by 107.1 KGSR. Lots of fun, great atmosphere.

Some pics to follow.