Wednesday, September 21, 2011

WTF??!!

Ever have one of those moments when your life is chugging along like normal and all of a sudden you see, hear or read something that makes you go ... WTF?!  Did I just see/hear/read that right?!

Well, it happened to me as I flipped through today's paper and, quite frankly, I didn't don't know what to make of it.

So let's play a little game and see if anyone else sees anything [glaringly] wrong with this picture?
FURUDAL, Sweden — Mike Danton played the hero in his opening game of the Swedish league.

The former NHL player, who served five years behind bars for a failed murder-for-hire plot, rushed to the aid of IFK Ore teammate Marcus Bengtsson, who was convulsing on the ice after a hard hit in Sunday's season-opener.  
~  ~  ~

According to Danton's blog, Bengtsson took a late hit with about 14 minutes left in the game against Soderhamn/Ljusne. He lay on the ice suffering convulsions for six or seven minutes.

``As his eyes continued to roll into the back of his head, his mouth finally opened a bit,'' wrote Danton, who is captain of the Swedish team. ``It was at that time that I jammed my fingers into his mouth and clawed his tongue.''
Anybody? Anybody at all?

Now don't get me wrong, I've been rather impressed with this guy for a while now. I'm not a big hockey person by any stretch of the imagination but I followed with interest the story of this former NHL player after he was released from prison for conspiracy to commit murder following an attempted murder-for-hire plot.

What grabbed my attention was that following his imprisonment, he returned to Canada and enrolled at Saint Mary's University in Halifax. Where, yes, he played hockey. But where he also committed himself to his studies, working towards a degree in psychology and maintaining an A average.

So back to today's story ... can anyone tell me what caused my jaw to fall to the floor?

Let's try this ... does anyone know any basic first aid? You know, like the kind Danton says he picked up learned in prison?

First aid for seizures is pretty basic and straight-forward.  It's not like you need any specialized skill to help in such a situation.
1.Stay calm

2.Prevent injury
During the seizure, you can exercise your common sense by insuring there is nothing within reach that could harm the person if she struck it.

3.Pay attention to the length of the seizure

4.Make the person as comfortable as possible

5.Keep onlookers away

6.Do not hold the person down
If the person having a seizure thrashes around there is no need for you to restrain them. Remember to consider your safety as well

7.Do not put anything in the person's mouth
Contrary to popular belief, a person having a seizure is incapable of swallowing their tongue so you can breathe easy in the knowledge that you do not have to stick your fingers into the mouth of someone in this condition.

8.Do not give the person water, pills, or food until fully alert

9.If the seizure continues for longer than five minutes, call 911

10.Be sensitive and supportive, and ask others to do the same
Anybody? Anybody at all?

How about the FACT that you are NEVER suppose to put anything (including your hand) in a person's mouth during a seizure?

Not only is such a move dangerous to the idiot person trying to "help" (picure somebody in the midst of a seizure suddenly chomping down on your hand and not letting go - that's right, I said Not. Letting. Go.), but it can actually harm the individual who is seizing - jaw and face muscles often tighten during a seizure and if this happens when something is in their mouth, they may break and either choke on or swallow the object or, if you're lucky, maybe they will only break their teeth.

Come on, people, the only thing you accomplish by sticking anything in a person's mouth during a seizure is to obstruct airflow, which is potentially life threatening. 

Sound like a plan, Stan Mike?

Now I know it seems like no TV producer out there in La La Land can get this straight, but still ... Really?

It's too bad, really. Dalton could have actually been helpful and useful had he turned Bengtsson on his side (as other players did later), to prevent saliva from blocking his airway and help him breathe more easily. Trust me, Mike, if the guy was having trouble breathing, it wasn't because of his tongue.

And he could have helped people with epilepsy in general by explaining to the media after the fact exactly why he HADN'T tried to put his hand in the poor man's mouth!

So tell me, please, what kind of first aid course, supposedly certifying you in "first aid response" teaches a person to "jam their fingers" into the mouth of a person convulsing and "claw their tongue"?

And how, exactly, is it possible for this story to get international coverage without anybody picking up on the fact that it was only by virtue of simple dumb luck that our "hero" didn't seriously hurt himself or the other player?

So, yeah, as I was saying ... WTF??!!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

RE:WTF, OMG!! Didn't Sesame Street
not air the episode when Katie Perry appeared in a low cut dress
stating it was too impressionable for the children who watch the program. What impression will WTF
give.

tam said...

Ummm. WTF...is the poster above talking about?

Anyway, I too read that article and said the same thing...WTF!!!! And for Danton to be all "woohoo, I'm a hero!" Please. First aid training in prison ain't all it's cracked up to be, is it?

Michelle Morgan-Coole said...

Yup, obviously not, Tam. Apparently neither is the education of reporters. Or the general public.

About Anonymous ... it took me a while to find a clue but I think I got it now. What he/she/it is saying that Katie Perry in a low cut dress wasn't suitable for our kids and now Sesame Street is going all WTF on us, right? Who will save the children?! Yeah, somehow I doubt that pic actually came from Sesame Street, you know ...

tam said...

Yeah...but....it's just a picture. Your post has nothing to do with Sesame Street....

WTF??? ahhh, screw it. It's lunch time - I think I'll go have a drink. (of H2O...WTF were you thinking...that I'd have a real drink for lunch...come now!)

:)

Michelle Morgan-Coole said...

If we went to lunch togther we could. I'm just saying ...

tam said...

funny thing happened in our house Thursday morning...well, not funny haha but funny ironic.

Our little pug had a seizure - and it was the first time hubby has ever witnessed a full-on one. So there was hubby, running around the bedroom at 5:00 am flipping a gasket. Yelling, "turn the lights on, turn the lights on!" and, "How can I open his mouth..I gotta stop him from swallowing his tongue!"

I looked at him and said, "relax Danton, lay Stanley on his side and just talk to him, he'll be fine"

Hubby looks at me and says, "why are you calling me Danton?"

LOL

(by the way, the Pug SS is not as stupid as one would think - I later found a couple of his anti-seizure pills under the bed - I thought he was taking them like a good little boy, turns out he'd take them, wait til I walked out the door and then spit them under the bed. What a dog!)

Michelle Morgan-Coole said...

LOL Too funny ... i'm thinking Danton might just be your hubby's new name from now on. Well, assuming I remember, of course, which, given my memory lately, he's not at much risk. :D

Spitting out the seizure meds ... sounds a lot like a typical kid to me!

doorkeeper said...

I thought WTF meant Welcome to Facebook.......

snicker.......

Did anyone but me (mother of the sports-injury victim) notice that this guy seized for 6-7 minutes because he was playing a GAME? That someone hit him hard enough to CAUSE A SEIZURE???? No more hockey for me.....

doorkeeper said...

Hey, can I write this up for ViewsHound (with proper attribution, of course) or do you want to?? If you start writing for them, please use me as your reference....there's a contest right now for recruiting new writers to that site.
Anyway....what an incredible piece. Thanks for linking to the news stories, I read most, and WOW what an idiot that reporter is. At least, uneducated (on sz) and LAZY (to not research). sigh.

Michelle Morgan-Coole said...

Go for it my dear ... just make sure you give me some linky love! Always nice to see you drop by BTW, but would be even nicer to see you drop my more often ... ;-)