"had come out of the water shivering and wobbly, and was coughing. Her kayaker said she'd started coughing later in the race. At this point I had no worry -- she has had hypothermia in previous races. She sat down for a while and was shivering uncontrollably, so we moved her to the sun. She complained of not feeling well, didn’t look good, and was semi-responsive to people’s questions. I suggested calling 911. It was a weird situation because though she didn’t seem to be doing well, she also didn’t seem to be about to pass out or anything like that. The ambulance came, and took her to hospital. It turned out she had pulmonary edema – her lungs filled up with water (from her body). I don’t know what her oxygen level was upon arrival but it was so low they were ready to intubate her."
I asked my friend what would have happened if she hadn't gotten to the hospital as soon as she had, and he said it wasn't clear.
I then suggested that given the danger she was in, he had probably saved her life by requesting the ambulance when he had. He demurred, and said that if he hadn't done so, someone else undoubtedly would have.
I told him I thought he very well could have saved her life, or at least saved her from brain damage or some other permanent injury, and that he should file that away for their next argument.
Again, he demurred and said he was just happy she was okay.
I know that if I were in his situation I'd use it to my advantage. (Have you ever seen a movie where the hero saves the girl's life and then doesn't get her?)
Granted, this woman is already his girlfriend. But saving her life has got to be good for some kind of leverage.
Were I in my friend's position, I don't think I'd even be subtle about it: "Hey, I just saved your life. As far as I'm concerned, at this point, I basically own you."
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19 comments:
"I saved you from hypothermia and now you wont even give me my share of the bed cover".
Steven --
Ha!
What's your view on the Scottish vote today? I assume most of the English are con. (I honestly have no feelings on the matter.)
your post reminded me of a co-worker of mine, he actually noticed our boss was choking , luckily the boss's office had glass windows and he saw him choking and knew how to do the Heimlich maneuver.
he definitely saved his life, but he never made an issue of it. But his job position was secured and I assume he got a nice bonus that year.
Anon --
What a lucky break for your coworker (as well as your boss).
since you mentioned Scotland, I just read an article in the WSJ about the election. It appears the Scottish will choose to remain part of the UK
what surprised me most was Scotland is allowing 16 year olds to vote. I still believe 18 young, but 16 year olds should not be allowed to vote.
I am surprised the Prime minister allowed Scotland to vote on this matter. Supposedly the referendum would not have been held if he did not authorize the election. It is unclear if the referendum passes what the next step would be. The scottish want to continue using the pound as their currency, but the English oppose allowing an independent Scotland from using the pound. Could the UK actually stop another nation from using the Pound ? Why would they care ?
Jova --
That's the first I'd heard of the 16-year-olds being given the vote. Surprising.
I suppose the PM allowed the vote just because there'd been so much discussion of the matter and sentiment was so high in Scotland -- and also probably because he figured it would be voted down.
I'm beginning to get increasingly leery -- and cynical -- about the results of elections. There are just too may which are obviously fraudulent. In both Iran and Afghanistan, the loser seems to have "won" the last vote. In Russia, I think there was extensive fraud, though I'm not sure it tilted the outcome. I even think there was extensive fraud in the last Presidential election here in the US, though I'm not saying it made the difference. (All those wards in Philadelphia reporting 99% turnout with 100% of the vote going to Obama? Please.)
I don't know the answer to your question about the pound. I suppose if it's two separate countries, the newer country does not have the right to use the currency of the other country, any more than Mexico should be allowed to print dollars.
Your friend doesn't have quite the sense of humor you have maybe?
I would of made some wise crack myself....maybe calling her an attention seeker (knowing full well she could be brain damaged)
Andrew
Andrew --
He's got a sense of humor, but he's also the kind of super-nice guy to whom these cracks might not occur. Don't know if you've read back far enough (to the summer of '09) to see the old posts I did on "The smartest guy I ever met," "The toughest guy…." etc). I was going to write one about this guy called "The nicest guy I ever met," but somehow I couldn't quite make it work.
The girlfriend was very fortunate to have her boyfriend with her - he did save her life. For this woman, her boyfriend sounds like a keeper.
-birdie
Birdie --
He's a great guy, I can attest to that. Actually, one of those guys who's too nice for his own good.
Hi John. Mixed feelings. Just waiting to see what happens.
I don't think all of England is con. i think it depends on the part of England. The South-east, around London, are mostly con. The north is more mixed. Cornwall in the south west, who have their own separatist movement, are mostly pro.
I feel English and British but if I was abroad and somebody asked me what country I'm from, I think I'd say England. It might be interesting if Scottish independence leads us to develop a stronger sense of ourselves as a country.
Out of curiosity, how much of this can you understand?
I asked another American and he said 15-20%
I can understand it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5XyecKONu8
Steven --
Thanks re: your answer.
I was going to start off saying 60%, but then towards the second half I had to move it down to 40%. The interesting thing is, even getting only half the words, I could get the gist of what he was saying, how life around the gangs is so tough, etc. But it did almost sound like a foreign language.
How about this Scouse (person from Liverpool, as I am) boxer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGb9ULcP1Yk&t=0m43s
My accent is not this thick and we're from different parts of the city but it will be interesting what you make of it.
My dad's fiance's daughter (basically my step sister), her boyfriend is best friends with this lad..he's about to fight for the British title. Looks promising.
Steven --
That was something, I was expecting to hear John Lennon or Ringo Starr, but that was much thicker.
Once again, I got the gist of what he was saying with only about 50% of the words. I wonder if he or that Scottish lad would have a hard time understanding an American accent.
He would understand American just as well as me....ie perfectly.
You might be surprised how like this my accent is. I put a video on youtube once, wishing somebody happy birthday. Some Americans said they couldn't understand me very well. If I can dig it up, I'll link you.
You probably don't realise quite how much exposure to American culture we grow up with. TV programmes, movies, toys, music, books, now the internet...you could say its part of our everyday life. My childhood was saturated with American stuff from jaws and robocop to the turtles and WWF wrestling, even country music! Its kind of strange how familiar a country can be to you that you've never visited.
I don't know any English accent I can't understand...maybe hardcore Jamaican.
Steven --
Funny, I have a hard time with thick Jamaican accents too. Though when I was in London last summer I didn't have a hard time with any English accents. Of course, it was also surprising how few English agents I heard. Mostly I seemed to hear Russian, Greek, Indian, etc. accents.
Thank you for the post, and also for what you wrote in the comments. I’m not sure I’m really that nice a guy – I’m sure some people would disagree….
Ed
Ed --
But that's exactly what a nice guy would say.
Your response fits, perfectly, because it's the exact opposite of all those sociopathic inmates looking for pen pals who talked about what nice, giving, caring people they were.
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