Heatstroke at Graduation

phisigduchesscv · #1 05-21-2005, 07:22 PM

Yesterday was graduation day for me (I've finished my masters). YEA!!! Yesterday also just happened to be the hottest day in Los Angles this year. Graduation started at 10:00 a.m. which required all the graduates to line up by 8:45. Graduation is at the Home Depot Center on campus so everything is outdoors. Picture all the graduates in black robes, some with stolls on, plus all of us masters degree candidates had our masters hoods around our necks. We were roasting. Plus the stadium grass with covered with this white plastic platform to make it easy for the wheelchairs but it also reflected the heat back up to us. Thank goodness I had brought a bottle of water plus they had water in the stadium too. Even with drinking the water though right near the end (4 hours total with assembly time) my heart started racing and I started feeling nauseated. I ended up having to leave before they said to move the tassels from the right to the left.

Once I got in to the stadium tunnel one of my friends helped me get my robe and masters hood off and over to a restroom where I was able to run cool water on my hands and splash it on my face and neck. That helped a little bit but I still was pretty shaky. I finally met up with my parents and boyfriend, Daryl, after 15 minutes of resting in the coolness. Daryl took my pulse and at that point it was still 96 beats/minute. I went home kept drinking water, took a cool shower, and went to bed. I was still pretty sick last night though - mom wanted to take me to the hospital and I wouldn't let her.

It turns out a lot of people had to see paramedics, including volunteers, because of the heat. The campus is already thinking about what they need to do next year to prevent this from happening again.

The worst part what was supposed to be a very happy day turned out just physically being miserable. I was so sick I couldn't even meet up with my sisters to take pictures afterwards so I'm really bummed about that too.

Oh well, I'm starting to feel better today and I'm officially an MPA graduate of CSUDH.

Carolyn

SAEalumnus · #2 05-21-2005, 08:04 PM

Sorry to hear the weather was lousy, but congrats on your Masters!

chideltjen · #3 05-21-2005, 10:14 PM

My graduation was similar. It was about 95 degrees at noon and all we got were ice chips. My grandparents were hit hard.

What made it worse is that our really bad Commencement speaker would NOT stop talking and his speech was terrible. It was a rough afternoon.

Glitter650 · #4 05-21-2005, 11:29 PM

At my graduation it was about 63 and MISTY, my hair frizzed, I wasnn't happy. The next weekend I went to my friends grad party, it was 95 and gorgeous.

honeychile · #5 05-22-2005, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by phisigduchesscv

Once I got in to the stadium tunnel one of my friends helped me get my robe and masters hood off and over to a restroom where I was able to run cool water on my hands and splash it on my face and neck. That helped a little bit but I still was pretty shaky. I finally met up with my parents and boyfriend, Daryl, after 15 minutes of resting in the coolness. Daryl took my pulse and at that point it was still 96 beats/minute. I went home kept drinking water, took a cool shower, and went to bed. I was still pretty sick last night though - mom wanted to take me to the hospital and I wouldn't let her.

Carolyn

First, a big congratulations on receiving your Master's Degree!!

But, as someone who has a genetic tendency towards heat exhaustion/heat stroke, PLEASE seek medical attention the very second you realize this may be happening!! Your body acts in odd ways, and in my case, my electrolytes get so messed up, my heart is affected! Just because you feel cooler doesn't mean you're feel better!

BetteDavisEyes · #6 05-22-2005, 02:37 AM

Many congratulations on your accomplishment!

I graduate from Long Beach this Thursday but luck for me, I pulled the 9 am time slot so it shouldn't be too bad for me. It is going to suck though for those who graduate at 1 & 5 pm.

CSUSigEp · #7 05-22-2005, 05:12 AM

they have to do night graduations instead

#8 05-22-2005, 05:29 AM

So sorry it was horrible, but congratulations on your new degree! That's quite an accomplishment!

Before our new arena was completed in 1996, commencement was held at the outdoor baseball stadium. The ceremony started promptly at 10am, but with an average of 1500 graduates walking, it was at least a good 3 hours before it ended. They had people walking out of their seats during the ceremony to go get water because the artificial turf basically did the same thing the white platform did to you guys.

I was lucky because my ceremony was in UHM's state of the art, totally air-conditioned arena. Local tradition requires the graduates to receive leis at the completion of the ceremony, and that was still done at the baseball stadium. My feet were killing me, but we were instructed not to take off our shoes because the turf would literally burn our feet.

I'd do it all again in a heartbeat though. That was such a great day.

phisigduchesscv · #9 05-22-2005, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by honeychile
First, a big congratulations on receiving your Master's Degree!!

But, as someone who has a genetic tendency towards heat exhaustion/heat stroke, PLEASE seek medical attention the very second you realize this may be happening!! Your body acts in odd ways, and in my case, my electrolytes get so messed up, my heart is affected! Just because you feel cooler doesn't mean you're feel better!

Thanks everyone for their congratulations.

BetteDavis Eyes congratulations on your graduation. I'm surprised The Beach has their graduation the week after CSUDH. I thought they were at the same time.

Honeychile, if this happens again I'm definitely going to seek medical attention. My body still feels a little off even today and it's been 2 days since the ceremony. The worst part was feeling my heart pounding, that is a very scary feeling.

Tom Earp · #10 05-22-2005, 03:51 PM

Scary Yes, Degree in Hand YEA!

Grab and go to air of Pub, down a libation or two and Kick It Back and Just think, Screw Ya All, I Got a Sheep Skin! I am a Master of My Universe.

Hell, I guess if at 63 to become a Greek Advisor, I now have to get a Masters.

Private I · #11 05-22-2005, 04:00 PM

FSU does graduation in the Civic Center, something about not wanting to ruin the grass at the stadium, which I always thought would be a much cooler place to have it.

Then again, I'd rather avoid a heatstroke, sorry to hear your day was spoiled!

Then again, I graduate in December so I won't have to worry about the heat at that point...