“I have never been so terrified in my life,” Madsen, of Walnut Creek, said of her harrowing experience.

Madsen’s daughter, Diane Weber, of Walnut Creek, said doctors at John Muir Medical Center-Walnut Creek Campus were [...]]]> Shirley Madsen, who turned 90 Thursday, survived three days trapped in her bathtub by drinking water from a rubber duck.

“I have never been so terrified in my life,” Madsen, of Walnut Creek, said of her harrowing experience.

Madsen’s daughter, Diane Weber, of Walnut Creek, said doctors at John Muir Medical Center-Walnut Creek Campus were amazed at her mother’s ability to recover from days of little sleep or water, and no food.

The potentially fatal episode began when Madsen returned from a seniors’ bus trip to Cache Creek Casino Resort on the evening of May 27. “I love the Indian casino. They have such wonderful buffets,” Madsen said.

But she skipped the buffet before boarding the bus for home.

“I only had an egg and a half of a pancake for breakfast,” Madsen said. “When I got home I was trying to decide whether to have dinner first or take a bath.”

The spunky woman chose the latter, not expecting that she would be too weak to get out of the tub, and unable to reach anyone for help.

“When I tried to get out of the tub, I just didn’t have the strength to lift myself out,” she said.

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