Australian goes to Canada, passes out drunk, gets insane frostbite

An Australian woman has posted photos of her extreme frostbite online after falling asleep in the freezing temperatures of a Canadian winter after a massive night out.

The woman, who identified herself to Mashable as Emma Quirk from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, posted an entire gallery on Monday to imgur under the name "thebassistsmuse" showing the horrible state of her fingers after her late night blackout in Price Albert, Canada.

In typical true blue form, she humorously documents her night out in December to her followers from getting "ninja drunk" on shots, leaving her jacket and mitts in the bar, and telling her friends she was going outside for a cigarette. She says the last time she was seen was 2:30 a.m.

 

The final photo. Muse is in the middle.

"I'm an Australian and I'm really fucking stupid," Quirk writes candidly. "I got way too wastey-pants one night in a new town trying to make some friends and settle in. I was blackout drunk by midnight, with no phone, no money and no idea where I was and I couldn't find my way home."

Quirk eventually passes out in -30 degrees Celsius before being found at 5:45 a.m. curled in a ball outside a nursing home. The next thing she remembers is waking up to a nurse saying she will be lucky to keep her hands.

 

The first photo after blackout shows frostbite and moderate hypothermia.

 

As the frostbite takes hold, the fingers swell.

"High off my tits on morphine, still pretty drunk and alone in another country getting that nice little tidbit of information was pretty fucking terrifying," Quirk wrote, before joking her doctor's name is "Dr Freezin'," otherwise known as Dr Randy Friesen.

Frostbite is localised damage to the skin from freezing conditions. It is caused when the blood flow constricts and moves away from exposed areas in an effort to preserve core body temperature. Quirk's injuries ranged from frostnip to 3rd and 4th degree frostbite, she noted.

 

The finger blisters keep on growing.

 

The day before the blisters were popped.

Quirk's fingers swelled into massive puss-filled orange blisters, which were eventually deflated by the specialist, leading to instant relief. "The weight was immediately palpable. My fingers became a quarter of the weight. And it was a huge relief, akin to a damn good cuppa tea," she wrote.

Quirk told Mashable her prognosis is positive and that she is keeping her fingers. "I now have full range of motion and almost all feeling in my fingers," she said in an email. "In fact, you can barely see any scarring at all. My fingernails all fell off and they are slowly growing back, but people can hardly believe it's me based on how incredibly my hands have healed."

Though, she wasn't concerned if she did have to lose a finger or two, writing on imgur: "If I lose them I wanna make a sweet custom made prosthetic. Just like Margot Tennenbaum in The Royal Tennebaums [sic]."

The young adventurer, who has been living in Canada for four years, urged others in different climates to be aware how quickly things can go wrong in different climates.

"People especially in my age group don't realise how serious a simple night out having too many can become in harsh, unknown climates," Quirk said. "I haven't really had a big night since. Its definitely been a bit of a reality check. Drinking to that point is never something I've aimed for, but has been a reckless accident. This is a huge reminder of how terrifying recklessness can be."

 

The recovery.

 

The fingers after the massive blisters were popped. The doctor was wearing a face mask and apron.

Quirk praised the doctors and nurses who had looked after her, and with her don't-give-a-damn attitude said she had failed on her mission to dominate the Canadian winter.

"Everyone wanted to check out my sweet blisters and find out how long an Aussie can withstand the cold before almost dying," Quirk wrote. "Apparently 3 hours is pretty piss-weak."