The Round Stable

Was sitting in my bedroom looking at stuff online when I heard one of my dogs yelping in the backyard. Went out to see what she was going on about, saw my mom trying to get our other, bigger dog out of the pool using a pool hook thing. Saw the dog make it to the stairs and then seize up and slide back into the water. Went rushing to the stairs and into the water to try and drag her out.

Yeah, that was a mistake. Next few minutes were nothing but a haze of pain, agony and being fucking electrocuted like something out of a torture scene in a movie. Everytime I tried to grab the side of the pool or the metal hand rail by the stairs to drag myself out, it just made it worse. At some point, my mom got the idea to turn off the electricity for the pool pump, and after that point, the pain subsided enough that I was able to scream out "ELECTRICITY" to let her know I'd been being shocked, and I was able to drag myself out of the pool. Bit my tongue and scraped up my foot at some point during all this.

We eventually managed to our dog out using a combination of the pool hook and me physically grabbing her and dragging her out of the deep end because she was too scared to swim to the stairs. I dragged myself inside, took a shower to try and rinse myself off, then went back out to try and help my mom and dad find the dog again (she was hiding). And I've spent the last two and a half hours resting and trying to recover and trying not to give into the fear that I might die.

My arms are still a bit shaky (my left more than my right; lucky that's not my dominant hand), but the worst part is my calves are so cramped up, I feel like I've been running nonstop for a full week without rest. I'm better now than I was earlier, but for awhile there, it was painful to try and even get on my feet from a sitting position, and it hurt to even walk.

I'm honestly not even sure why I'm making this post. I guess I just want to talk about it, or at least have it written down somewhere. On the one hand, I don't want to alarm people or freak anyone out, but at the same time, I don't wanna just bottle it up inside. I already talked about it a bit in a goon discord channel, but I wanted to put it in writing, too, I guess. I dunno.

At any rate, just take it from me - no matter how bad a day you think you're having today? Mine's been worse.

i'm deeply sorry you were traumatized like that.

How was the water electrocuted in the first place??

My dad relayed what happened to the local pool company, and as best they can figure, it was a grounding issue. The power going to the pool pump wasn't being grounded properly and so the current was getting into the water.

Yeah, my dad went out a little while ago and it looks like the grounding rod was loose, so it wasn't diverting the current properly. Probably because of all the rain we've had here the last few days.

That's super scary and good job not dying and holy moly that's dangerous and I hope they manage to fix the grounding issue gosh dang.

Advice from someone who is both an electrician and a former Red Cross volunteer: Get yourself checked out by a doctor ASAP and mention the nature of the injury. Getting shocked in itself is unpleasant, but it can also lead to internal burns or other injuries that are not readily apparent but can become an issue sooner or later.

Holy shoot, that's scary. Hope you feel better.

Going to be heading down to an urgent care center here in a few minutes to get checked out.

Holy crap, I hope you and your dog are going to be all right.

I have a grounding rod story.

Friend of mine is a crazy tinkerer type. Just to give you a brief picture of his shenanigans: He made a generator by taking the engine out of a scrap car and an absurdly big alternator from some kind of mining truck. He flashed the ECU of the car engine and told it to make sure it held constant RPM while under the variable load of the energy demand. He also turned an inflatable pool into an outdoor hot tub by ratchet strapping a combi boiler from a house to a nearby tree, then hooking it up to a bottle of propane. He took the heat exchanger from a car and then used a pond pump to circulate the pool water through the heat exchanger . It took 8 hours to heat the pool, but once it was hot it stayed hot. This guy is the best

Anyway this guy built his own HAM radio in his shed. Because he's running a wire from his house to his shed, he's got a grounding post in the shed. I don't fully understand why it's needed but he says bad things happen if he doesn't have the post. Anyway one day he woke up and heard a buzzing from the shed. He went over to investigate and found his grounding rod was the source of the noise. Long story short he does some investigatory work and decides he needs to call the power board about what is going on. They explain to him that the power boards's grounding rod closest to his house was stolen that night and that his shed is probably grounding the entire neighborhood right now.

Went to the urgent care center in town and they said I needed to actually go to the ER at the hospital since they weren't equipped to check me out for all the stuff they'd need to check for. So now I'm sitting in a hospital bed with an IV in one arm and an automatic blood pressure monitor thing on the other, bored out of my skull.

Well, according to my blood test results, I have some muscle damage, so they want to keep me over night.

Hope everything turns out okay, holy shit. That sounds scary as hell. I'm glad your dog was safe, too.

I hope your dog is okay, too! She's a lot smaller than you and probably has the same muscle hurting issues!

That's really rough. Luckily electrocution generally stops being bad as soon as the electrocution itself stops. The muscle damage is likely akin to overexertion - i.e. it's messed up because of the uncontrolled flexing. But you got really lucky - 110V AC going through pool water is very close to a potentially lethal current through your body.

I’m glad it was just muscle damage. It could have been so much worse. Hugs

This is a hell of a story and I'm so glad you're okay. Hope you and your dog continue to be all right.

Still sore but feeling better than I was yesterday. They came and took blood again this morning. According to the results, the numbers they were looking at weren't quite where they wanted me to be before being willing to release me, but it was close.

I forget the name of whatever it was they were measuring that let them know I had suffered muscle damage, but when they took blood yesterday morning, it was over 12,000. The results from the blood they took this morning was around 6000. The doctor said she wants it under 5000 before they're willing to discharge me. I'm supposed to be getting blood tested again here in about 2 hours and 20 minutes, so here's hoping it'll have dropped enough by then.

Jesus Christ, that's massively scary. I'm glad you talked about it somewhere, and I'm glad you're in good care.

Just got my bloodwork results back, and the number went back up, it's around 7900 now. So it looks like I'm stuck here another night.

It sounds like getting checked was a good idea though, if they want to keep you at the hospital.

Holy shit. That's one hell of a story. Glad you got checked.

Holy hell. Hoping for speedy recovery!

Well, my blood work from this morning came back and they cleared me to be released, so I'm at home now. Just taking it easy for the rest of the day, still gotta drink lotta fluids and avoid doing any heavy lifting for awhile.

Here's what I was diagnosed with, by the way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis

When I went to the ER on Sunday and they first took blood, my CK level was over 12,000. The doctor said that I could go home when it dropped under 5000. On Monday morning, it had dropped to around 6,000, so I was hoping I might get to go home that afternoon/evening, but then was back up to about 7990 by then, so I had to stay another night. This morning it was back down to around 4700, so they went ahead and let me come home.

I’m glad you’re home. I hope you’re feeling better.

I am, thank you. My calves still get a bit sore at times, especially if I walk around a lot, but on the whole, I'm feeling much better.

Had my follow up appointment yesterday, they took an EKG and sent me over to the hospital to get more blood drawn to make sure my CK levels were still under 5,000 (still haven't heard back on that yet). The doctor said he thought he saw a small irregularity in the EKG, so he set me up with an appointment to see a cardiologist this morning to make sure there's no lasting heart damage.

Went to the cardiologist this morning, he looked over everything and said he didn't see anything outside of the ordinary, but he did schedule me for a stress test on Monday morning just to be sure. So until then, I'm just trying to relax.

Hopefully the irregularity is nothing to worry about! I'm rooting for you!!

Same!

Also, I can give you an idea of what to expect because I had a stress test because of an irregular EKG last year. They’ll have you come in and take off your shirt and lie on your side so they can give your heart an ultrasound or a regular ekg, and they’ll take your blood pressure at rest. They’ll also put some more of those sticky pads on you for ekg readings. Depending on whether or not they think you can exercise, or if they think it is safe for you to exercise, they’ll either plop you on a treadmill or an Exercycle, or give you a drug that brings your heart rate up to simulate exercise conditions.

Now, if you’re exercising, let me tell you that it is going to be strenuous. They’ll push it as far as they can, but you should let them know immediately if you start feeling any pain, numbness, or extreme fatigue, especially with the existing muscle pain in your legs. In my case, they had me on a treadmill going 4 mph at a 15 degree incline for 10 minutes before my left knee gave out. But it typically takes about 7 to 15 minutes. They’ll stop it at any time if something goes wrong, too. After that, they’ll help you lay back down and immediately do another ultrasound or regular ekg. If it’s all good, they’ll let you clean up and go home. If it’s not all good, they’ll keep you there and probably will schedule some more tests.

Also, if you don’t want your clothes to stick to you where they stick the electrode pads on you, see if they have these little orange-oil wet wipes handy. They take the adhesive right off. Do it right before your next shower. You’ll smell a little like an orange for a few days, but it beats sticking to shirts, pajamas, bedsheets, etc.

Good luck! It’s not fun, but it’s also not scary once you’re doing it, other than the obvious scariness of “oh geez I hope my heart is okay.” If you luck out and get cool techs like I did, they might even let you see and listen to your own heart during the test, and explain what you’re seeing and hearing.

W.T. Fits wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 04, 2018 1:50 pm

My dad relayed what happened to the local pool company, and as best they can figure, it was a grounding issue. The power going to the pool pump wasn't being grounded properly and so the current was getting into the water.

W.T. Fits wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 04, 2018 3:02 pm

Yeah, my dad went out a little while ago and it looks like the grounding rod was loose, so it wasn't diverting the current properly. Probably because of all the rain we've had here the last few days.

I know it's been a couple of months, but just to follow up on this - we called a professional electrician out to check on the pool pump and stuff after my accident, and according to them, it wasn't just the grounding rod being loose - part of the problem was that the pool pump was never grounded properly to start with. Specifically, the line leading from the power box out in front of the house that supplied power to the pump was never grounded correctly. So when the grounding rod for the line leading from the pump to the pool went loose, all the current from the power box out front was going directly into the pool. After the accident, we had shut the pool pump off completely and left it off until we could have someone come check it out. According to the electricians, even with the pump turned off, there was still a 90 volt current running into the pool.

So moral of the story: whenever you move into a new house or apartment or whatever (we've lived here for over 10 years and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened), call a professional electrician to check the wiring and make sure everything is set up properly. All it takes is one asshole not doing their job properly and cutting corners for someone to get horribly injured.

Holy moly. It has a current going in EVEN WHILE OFF? That's... goodness gracious.

Well, glad the electrician showed up and hopefully fixed everything. Is your health looking okay too in the aftermath?

Gloomy Rube wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 25, 2018 2:47 pm

Holy moly. It has a current going in EVEN WHILE OFF? That's... goodness gracious.

Well, glad the electrician showed up and hopefully fixed everything. Is your health looking okay too in the aftermath?

Yeah, it's since been fixed, but when they came out to check on it, there was still a current going into the water even with the pump shut off.

And yeah, I'm doing okay. Everything seems to be working as normal, haven't really had any major issues.

I’m glad you’re doing well. Holy crap, that was an accident waiting to happen. That’s an impressive level of both negligence and incompetence right there.