why.’
19
IN ONE OF his more lucid spells, he recalls reading about a simple method of diagnosing hypothermia. It gives him an odd sense of déjà vu, although he can’t recollect ever having put it to use before.
He tries to touch his little finger with his thumb, but can’t do it. He tries again. His hand won’t respond; his claw-like fingers are lifeless. None of them will move, let alone touch one another. He can’t even raise an index finger. The message has frozen somewhere on the neural pathway from brain to hand. He quickly abandons the attempt, unable to remember at what stage of hypothermia he would become incapable of this movement.
There are three stages. He has often read up on hypothermia and how exactly it causes unconsciousness, which is followed by a slow death as the brain gradually shuts down.
The loss of one or two degrees Celsius of body heat triggers involuntary shivering and numbness in the hands. He can’t tell if he has gone beyond that stage. He tries to focus his fuzzy mind on the question as he struggles in vain with the simple action of touching his little finger to his thumb. The capillaries in the outer layer of his skin have contracted to reduce heat loss in a classic defence mechanism. Goose pimples are another such mechanism.
He remembers having gooseflesh, as if it were weeks ago.
He also recalls being assailed by a bizarre impulse to tear off all his clothes, but how long ago that happened is a mystery to him. He associates this urge with progressing from the first to the second stage of hypothermia. It felt as if the heat were rushing to his skin and extremities, making him suddenly boiling hot, though this could have been a delusion. He has read about cases where the victims stripped themselves, convinced they were suffocating. There are two theories explaining the symptom: one is that the region of the brain that regulates body temperature malfunctions and sends out the wrong messages to the skin; the other is that the muscles which cause the blood vessels to contract in order to prevent heat loss and ensure the blood supply to essential organs, such as the brain, simply stop working. This releases a flow of blood to the skin and as a result the victim experiences an unexpected hot flush.
During this second stage, when the body temperature can drop by as much as four degrees, the lips, ears and fingers turn blue.
During the third stage, the body temperature falls below thirty-two degrees Celsius. Shivering ceases, speech and thought are impaired and the victim feels drowsy. The skin turns blue and mental functioning and sensations become increasingly irrational. Eventually, the organs fail and clinical death ensues. Yet brain death is not instantaneous as the cold impairs cell deterioration, slowing the damage to the cerebral tissue.
He has read studies about the human ability to endure cold; about victims of shipwrecks in the Arctic winter who managed to survive the most extreme conditions; about people who were given up for dead after being lost in Iceland’s frozen interior but survived against all the odds. And now he has proof that such accounts are true. In recent days he has seen with his own eyes how the will to live can exceed all expectations.
He tries once again to touch his little finger to his thumb, but to no avail. He can’t even feel his hand, let alone see if it is turning blue and developing frostbite.
Some of what he knows about man’s ability to endure the most hostile conditions is linked to the missing-person case he has been investigating since he came out east. His knowledge of the subject has progressed as he has dug up more about the locals, about their strange family ties, friendships, lies, and Matthildur’s fate.
Earlier he could see the sea of stars spreading over the night sky. Now he can see nothing.
He knows that the scratching he can hear from below the ground is imaginary; the distant cries that reach his ears exist only in his
19
IN ONE OF his more lucid spells, he recalls reading about a simple method of diagnosing hypothermia. It gives him an odd sense of déjà vu, although he can’t recollect ever having put it to use before.
He tries to touch his little finger with his thumb, but can’t do it. He tries again. His hand won’t respond; his claw-like fingers are lifeless. None of them will move, let alone touch one another. He can’t even raise an index finger. The message has frozen somewhere on the neural pathway from brain to hand. He quickly abandons the attempt, unable to remember at what stage of hypothermia he would become incapable of this movement.
There are three stages. He has often read up on hypothermia and how exactly it causes unconsciousness, which is followed by a slow death as the brain gradually shuts down.
The loss of one or two degrees Celsius of body heat triggers involuntary shivering and numbness in the hands. He can’t tell if he has gone beyond that stage. He tries to focus his fuzzy mind on the question as he struggles in vain with the simple action of touching his little finger to his thumb. The capillaries in the outer layer of his skin have contracted to reduce heat loss in a classic defence mechanism. Goose pimples are another such mechanism.
He remembers having gooseflesh, as if it were weeks ago.
He also recalls being assailed by a bizarre impulse to tear off all his clothes, but how long ago that happened is a mystery to him. He associates this urge with progressing from the first to the second stage of hypothermia. It felt as if the heat were rushing to his skin and extremities, making him suddenly boiling hot, though this could have been a delusion. He has read about cases where the victims stripped themselves, convinced they were suffocating. There are two theories explaining the symptom: one is that the region of the brain that regulates body temperature malfunctions and sends out the wrong messages to the skin; the other is that the muscles which cause the blood vessels to contract in order to prevent heat loss and ensure the blood supply to essential organs, such as the brain, simply stop working. This releases a flow of blood to the skin and as a result the victim experiences an unexpected hot flush.
During this second stage, when the body temperature can drop by as much as four degrees, the lips, ears and fingers turn blue.
During the third stage, the body temperature falls below thirty-two degrees Celsius. Shivering ceases, speech and thought are impaired and the victim feels drowsy. The skin turns blue and mental functioning and sensations become increasingly irrational. Eventually, the organs fail and clinical death ensues. Yet brain death is not instantaneous as the cold impairs cell deterioration, slowing the damage to the cerebral tissue.
He has read studies about the human ability to endure cold; about victims of shipwrecks in the Arctic winter who managed to survive the most extreme conditions; about people who were given up for dead after being lost in Iceland’s frozen interior but survived against all the odds. And now he has proof that such accounts are true. In recent days he has seen with his own eyes how the will to live can exceed all expectations.
He tries once again to touch his little finger to his thumb, but to no avail. He can’t even feel his hand, let alone see if it is turning blue and developing frostbite.
Some of what he knows about man’s ability to endure the most hostile conditions is linked to the missing-person case he has been investigating since he came out east. His knowledge of the subject has progressed as he has dug up more about the locals, about their strange family ties, friendships, lies, and Matthildur’s fate.
Earlier he could see the sea of stars spreading over the night sky. Now he can see nothing.
He knows that the scratching he can hear from below the ground is imaginary; the distant cries that reach his ears exist only in his
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