Today marks the most eventful swimming trip I've had. I'd been doing well having my hours climb slowly as I put in the work to meet my goals and had a new swimming buddy join me today. Towards the end of the swim though she began to feel a bit short of breath and we slowly got out of the pool.
It was clear that something was wrong and with her medical history I was pretty concerned as she wasn't really able to talk and breathe at the same time. We called the lifeguard over who arrived just in time to witness my friend collapse into me... as the softest surface in the pool she did well to hit me rather than the hard stone floor.
I was conflicted, I knew that she had these episodes and that fainting was something she dealt with on a daily basis and that her protocol was not to call an ambulance. But heck, if someone is unconscious I am going to have to call the "Heals on Wheels". Fortunately the lifeguards are bound by some dark secret oath to call them if people are in dire circumstances so that removed any doubt for me.
The paramedics showed up a little while after my friend regained consciousness and fitted her with heart monitors and did their best to deal with my rather horrid sense of humor (Which is honestly so bad in a crisis). I was so glad that she ended up being ok but overall it was a pretty freaky experience.
The lifeguards were great and helpful but my take away from this is that if you feel at all ill while in the pool... get the hell out of there. That would have been so damn hard to extract an unconscious person from the water.
A big thank you to the paramedics and the staff at Huia pool. :)
