And because I was unable to help myself and needed medical attention, I had to make a plan and carry it out. I couldn’t administer first aid because I didn’t have the tools. My heartbeat was not slowing down, and I was in real trouble. And finally, make a plan and carry it out. Next, protect the patient and check for other injuries.
Then approach the patient safely, perform emergency rescue and urgent first aid. I remembered from backcountry first aid courses the steps to take when encountering an injured person. Though I still couldn’t breathe, I could think more clearly. I noticed how beautiful it was under towering ponderosa pine, the sky eggshell blue and the sun high in the sky. The acronym STOP spells it out: Stop, Think, Observe, and Plan.Įven gasping for air, I was able to stop and listen to the water gurgling in the stream. I knew that the most important thing to do in an emergency is to stay calm. Shame welled up in me-that this could have been prevented or at least managed, that I’d pushed myself too hard and wasn’t eating right, and that I’d allowed myself to get in a situation where I was utterly alone. I wrote Richard again, telling him that I was gasping for air and that it was still 30 miles to a road. She said, “if you’re in a situation where you’re in danger, don’t let (the thought that you should be responsible for yourself) prevent you from calling (for help) because…if you wait, you could make the mission a lot harder for us (and) your chances of surviving may not be as good.” I did that, but kept thinking back to an interview I conducted on the Walking Distance podcast with Rebecca Olson, a Search and Rescue volunteer in the Cascades. When I used my GPS to contact my husband, Richard, he at first encouraged me, suggesting I look around for a place to set my tent and wait it out. Messages through satellite are not fast and sometimes come out of order. Anxious and insecure, I wondered if this was what a heart attack felt like. But there was nowhere to stop, so I lumbered four miles to a backcountry cabin at Rock Creek Station. I was dizzy and on the verge of passing out with wave upon wave of nausea. My body felt like lead and I could hardly breathe. I’d experienced this phenomenon before, but this time was much worse. It was actually on flat ground when my heart skipped a beat and started racing.
Miles of blowdown in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
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