I was working for an asphalt company in 1986 and working down in Lawton, Oklahoma. We had covered up about a half mile of Sheridan Av. there on post and everybody was interested in getting a portion of the road open asap...but we had to get it striped first. It was the week after July 4 weekend and the temps were running in the low 100s. Pretty typical for Lawton in July.
I was running down through there with a helper, cloth tape and a piece of Kiel. We had an offset stake and needed to define (1) the 4" solid yellow on the outside (2) the outside lanes' 4" white skip (3) a 4" solid yellow that wound up 2" from CL...and then mirror the whole thing the other side of CL. Having done it a million times before it was old hat as I barked the distances my help needed to hold on the offset stake.
I remember the wind picked up and I could feel my t-shirt pressing between my shoulder blades and it felt hot, like it had just come out of the clothes dryer. I realized my shirt was making me a little uncomfortable and itchy. The next station I couldn't make all the numbers add up in my head...lemme stop for a second...let's see here...I felt my heart pounding in my neck.
I remember my helper asked me if I was ok and I turned to look at him...and he was running toward me. I saw spots and heard the ocean roar and then the hot asphalt came up and rested against my face. It was night-night time for Paden...When I came to I was up at the job shack on the tailgate of a pickup and an ambulance had just pulled up with a very irritating siren. I tried to raise myself up and failed miserably; I had no equilibrium and no strength...
I was faintly aware of a gurney ride and I remember the ceiling panels in the hospital hall were zooming from my forehead toward my toes. The people around me sounded like they were in a well. All their fussing was pissing me off and my head was pounding...I tried to say something and a nurse hollered "he's awake" as our eyes met. Then I saw more spots and heard her announce "he's out again"....
...........................
"Heat stroke" can become a serious condition quickly. I was fairly young and healthy. I worked outdoors every day in the heat and had since I was 16 or 17. I had been doing everything "right" like frequent breaks and lots of water. Why it happened to me that particular day had a simple explanation. My body ran out of water. After the incident I realized that my shirt feeling "hot" where it touched my skin was a sign. It should have been wringing wet. And when the wind blew, it should have felt at least a little cool from the perspiration evaporating. That wasn't happening because I wasn't sweating. The doctor told me the EMT measured my temperature at 104å¡ during the ambulance ride (I was in the ambulance?).
After about 18 hours of IV fluids and some lousy food I was back on the streets. I took a day or two off after that because I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I was sore and achy like had been shoveling wet concrete for two days straight.
Do yourself a favor in this stifling heat we're having. Take enough breaks to make it seem silly. Once you're sick of drinking water; drink one more. Even if you think you know what you're doing and hydrating, it can still sneak up on you. Make sure you're not out by yourself somewhere. I was lucky there was someone there when I checked out.
Heat stroke is something to avoid, believe me. B-)
One of my grandmothers suffered a severe heat stroke while she was still a young woman. Her brain was affected. Heat is nothing to joke about. It can impact many more people than just the one with the problem. My Dad never had a "normal" mother. My memories of her compare to something similar to Alzheimers.
Good post. Heat stroke & heat exhaustion, one should know the signs. Sounds like you had a heat stroke which is dangerous. Very early in my survey life, I saw someone with heat exhaustion. It was the best physically fit person on the crew. We were rushing to run a line of on a Friday morning. Soon as the line was run, it would be a wrap for the week, so everyone was pushing. I saw him lose all color in his face and looking for a tree to support him. After getting him water and cooling him off, we booked out for the day.
I see it in in youth soccer a lot as a coach and spectator. Leagues have now incorporated short water breaks during games usually one per half for few minutes. There are some guidelines but it is the center refÛªs call. The ref is also very susceptible too. I had one young boy once that went down, Kind of scary at the time but being young, he revived quickly.
But speaking of Heat Index...strange you should post this today because in the last few days, I have noticed something odd. I mentioned it to one person, but they gave me a look like I was some old person babbling on about the weather. WeÛªre under heat advisory warnings here for the last few days. It is supposed to end this evening. The rule of thumb or what I noticed for many years here was that the temp and heat index would vary about 7å¡-to 10 å¡. But in the last few days the difference has been about 15å¡ according to these new weather apps. Yesterday was not as humid as other days, but the heat index was 14 +/- difference so if it is 90 then the HIndx is 105. In the old days the weather folk would have said 97-98. Right now the weather app is telling me it is 80 but feels like 87 with a humidity of 96%. I found it strange that this HIndx differential has now doubled. I donÛªt want to sound like an old person talking about weather conspiracies. : )
The favorite saying here is. ÛÏItÛªs not the heat, it is the humidity , stupidÛ as seen on many tee shirts.
It took me years to acclimate to the heat when I moved here. I think my cells had to go through some cycle. I used to sweat like I took a shower but now sweat very little( Disclaimer: I do not put out the exertion levels of the past).
drink water, takes breaks and look out for the other person too.
In the last several years, I have done a lot of work in the Seymour, Wichita Falls area. Geographically, Lawton would be very similar. The humidity wasn't as high as East Texas but the heat was just unbearable some days. I went out to Lubbock one day and it dawned on me why it was so hot.
There is about 2000 foot of elevation drop in 150 miles from Lubbock to Seymour and a 20-25 mph wind is considered "a nice breeze". If it gets to 95 degrees in Lubbock by noon and the wind is blowing East, It will be 106 in Seymour by 6 pm without any additional heating. That's using 5.5 degrees per 1000 foot of drop.
I moved my Gooseneck trailer yesterday morning. Before I got home last night, my wife decided She would fill in the holes from the dogs digging where it was parked. This morning She woke up with a headache and her blood pressure was 170/90. It doesn't take much.
I have a 13 year old Australian Shepherd that has decided in the last 2 weeks that he is an inside dog.
I don't blame him, I wish I was an inside dog!
James
Yep, I was thinking about you guys in the SW this morning watching the news. I know some of you freak out when we talking about working in the winter... 30s, no prob, just a coat, 20s, add an extra pair of socks, 10s, usually smaller jobs, back to the truck every hour or so 0s, it better be damn important, and it is gonna take twice as long as normal, -0s equipment just doesn't respond efficiently, and neither do people.
So, with heat over 100, do you pace your field crews, or even bag work in the middle of the day? Vacationing down in Mexico sometimes you wonder where all the workers go from 12-3, and we chuckle about a siesta, but they really have the right idea to hide in the heat of the day and work when you are more efficient.
I had a run-in with heat early in my surveying career. It was around 105å¡ that day, we were staking a subdivision in some rocky hills, and there was no air movement to cool things down. As we were packing up my party chief looked at me and asked, "Are you okay?" He had me sit down in the shade and brought me some water, but I remember not being able to tell if I was hot or cold. After 15 minutes or so I was better, though still shaky and nauseous for the rest of the afternoon.
Ever since then I've been susceptible to the heat -- when it gets over 100å¡ or so I'm prone to getting headaches and nausea no matter how much water I drink. The only workaround I've found is to limit my time in the sun on hot days.
You know it's a bit warm when....
"Back in the day" there were more pickups, vans and utility vehicles WITHOUT a/c than with. And survey vehicles were no exception. I never had an air-conditioned field vehicle until the mid-nineties. Honest.
Pickups use to have vents under the dash you could open and at least get some air moving through the cab. It was hot air, but it was moving. And if you were lucky enough to be riding "shotgun" you had a window you could hang out of and do the "dog in the wind" thing.
But vans were coffins. Cold in the winter and hot in the summer. If you were a passenger in the rear of a van there were only two places you could get air; with your face pressed against the wall of the van at the bottom rear of either the driver or front passenger window. While there was moving air there, it also meant you had your nose in either the driver's left armpit, or the front passenger's right armpit...because they had their arms hanging out the open window. Vans were hot.
But we had the water jug back there. And we made use of it. Somewhere along the way we had gotten in the habit of pulling our t-shirts off and up, leaving the neck around your forehead. This made the t-shirt a makeshift hat that also looked like the headdress of an Egyptian pharaoh. And if you soaked it cold water first, it made a pretty good personal air conditioner...although I'm sure it looked rather odd.
These were days that we all looked (and acted) like a bunch of hippies. The boss was always keen to provide his "surprise pop inspections" of us on job sites. He would always climb in the back and sniff around like a hound, trying to catch us smoking weed. He had good reason to do that, by the way. And with the AM radio blaring Lynyrd Skynyrd he was always suspicious.
One hot day near quitting time we were just fixing to leave the site. There were five of us in the van with three in the back. Four of us had our wet t-shirts up on our head pharaoh style when the boss flagged us down. We pulled over and he walked up beside the van and threw open the sliding door on the side...and just stood there looking at us. He didn't know what to say. He had never seen such a sight...all he said was, "I don't wanna know." Shook his head and shut the door...
He never asked why we all looked like that...we never told him, either. B-)
I got my start surveying as a teen in Saudi Arabia during my summer breaks off from school. I kid you not the temperatures could reach 130 F +. We'd start work at first light and go until around 11:00 am and then break for about 4 hours to avoid the hottest part of the day taking siesta in the shade and then back to work until sundown as things started cooling off. Unlike the Midwest this was extremely dry heat and sweat would evaporate so quickly I'd never get damp but by the end of the day my skin would look like frosted corn flakes, but with salt instead of sugar. My point is drinking a lot of water isn't enough working in high temps it's just as important to up your salt intake. I guess the experience affected me enough that I swore I'd never live in a desert again and finally settled in a place where a heat wave is when the mercury approaches 80.
Many years ago I worked for an engineer doing layout on highway jobs. Our old Chevy 1/2 ton van pooped the bed, so he bought us a new one, a brand new black Dodge window van Deluxe with every possible whistle & bell. Just the thing for muddy, dusty, sloppy construction sites - ("I got a great deal, and I can use it for the family on weekends.") One day he "happened" by while I was in the bus prepping a cut sheet for the pipe guys; 90å¡ & 85% humidity, 15 knot breeze stirring up the dust. Needless to say the windows were closed, engine running & the AC (a new experience in a work truck) was on high.
Knocks on window. "Hey-what're ya runnin' the damned motor for? Gas is over a buck a gallon, ya know!"
Told him the dust was getting the new van all dirty inside, so we kept the windows up & ran the AC.
"Just leave the windows open, and DON'T run the damned motor"
"OKaaaaay you're the boss."
Brought the bus to the barn at the end of the day. The nice charcoal gray interior was now pretty much beige. Next morning El Jefe allowed as we could run the AC when needed. Well, we pretty much decided that we always needed it.
When you're sweating a lot, I've seen recommendations for 1 unit of Gatorade for each 2 or 3 units of water. Salt helps, but you need some potassium to balance it and the sports drinks have it.
Bill93, post: 377801, member: 87 wrote: When you're sweating a lot, I've seen recommendations for 1 unit of Gatorade for each 2 or 3 units of water. Salt helps, but you need some potassium to balance it and the sports drinks have it.
The studies that I have seen use a minimum of 3 quarts of water per quart of Gatorade (PowerAde, etc.). The summer of 2010 I was one of the safety officials on the BP oil spill cleanup. We spent more time worrying about het stress than anything else. When the heat index reached a certain level the workers could only work 15 minutes and take a 45 minute break. That's assuming they didn't have to wear Tyvek, then it was only 10 minutes per hour.
Andy
My goto thirst quencher is FOCO coconut drink.
Andy Bruner, post: 377806, member: 1123 wrote: The studies that I have seen use a minimum of 3 quarts of water per quart of Gatorade (PowerAde, etc.). The summer of 2010 I was one of the safety officials on the BP oil spill cleanup. We spent more time worrying about het stress than anything else. When the heat index reached a certain level the workers could only work 15 minutes and take a 45 minute break. That's assuming they didn't have to wear Tyvek, then it was only 10 minutes per hour.
Andy
Gatorade is good but Powerade is cheap sugary Swill brought to from the coca cola corp. that's why it cost less and it attracts a consumer looking to save a few quarters.
H2O and Gatorade is the way to go here in Deep Dixie. Buy the mixes to add to cooler like the big boys do.
Robert Hill, post: 377810, member: 378 wrote: Gatorade is good but Powerade is cheap sugary Swill brought to from the coca cola corp. that's why it cost less and it attracts a consumer looking to save a few quarters.
H2O and Gatorade is the way to go here in Deep Dixie. Buy the mixes to add to cooler like the big boys do.
I don't care for Gatorade, but that's just a personal preference. I remember the days of salt tablets. Although they are not very popular, they are still available. But generally speaking they only provide two nutrient salts sodium & chloride. Electrolyte balance in the human body is fairly complex but potassium, sodium and chlorides are some of the major components. Gatorade has a lot of the trace nutrients you need to keep a proper balance, I just don't care for the taste.
This time of year I keep a couple of quarts of Pedialyte in the fridge. It does not have a particularly pleasant taste, and some say Gatorade is more palatable, but it's got all the stuff I need. A mixture of two to one Pedialyte and sparkling water is good recharge for me. And staying hydrated is something that needs to start way before you get out there and sweat your ass off...keep your fluids up constantly particularly at night.
When I worked in the field, I drank lots of water and some Gatorade during the hotter days. My body simply could not absorb the needed liquids quickly enough. I would be suffering from heat exhaustion at the end of every week during the summers.
Its so hot, I feel like I'm a walking air conditioner!
...tee shirt workin' like a swamp cooler...will have tiger 'salt' stripes tonight...
DDSM
There are several items that actually help in this miserable heat , here are 2 I use everyday.
1. Togg Frog towels which stay cool for a few hours around your neck or head.
2. Camel Back backpacks, put in ice water and take a drink whenever necessary.
Stay safe and smart
Randy
