Thursday, January 08, 2009

Chilled to the Bone

A remarkable case of hypothermia to a core temperature of 60 degrees that survived.

-Wes

3 comments:

Rogue Medic said...

Impressive. You don't expect someone to get that cold, that quickly, without being submerged in water. Dropping to 60 degrees, but recovering suggests that her body was cooler than what one would expect, when her heart stopped (80 - 84 degrees). Maybe her lack of fat was part of the reason.

Anonymous said...

Heard this today on NPR. What a story. Those darned Norwegians! Took care of a couple in the ICU years back. They were drunk and passed out in a sauna. Bad burns. We thought for sure one would die...but no, the next day they were demanding more drink!
~cat

Anonymous said...

Wes and Rogue-- I'd say she wasn't too dependent on body fat. The story says she's 6 ft tall and about 120 lbs. At her age there's little excess body fat. I'd say it's more likely her over all physical condition was better than most women her age. It's more than likely it was her stubborn Norwegian constitution and common sense of layering herself that made it possible for her to last that long. She's lucky the EMT's and ED knew exactly what to do. She's one very lucky lady!