Nov 5, 2006
Sunday/Monday
Day 5/6
Ok, they give us multiple warnings about Altitude Illness and I did pay attention. But I guess somewhere along the way, the symptoms get mixed up between what is normal acclimatization, what is a cold or flu (what they call “the crud”) and what is Altitude Illness.
I had a low-grade headache since the day I got to Pole. Ibuprofen had been making the headache go away and I had been drinking tons of water (just not in the evenings). On Saturday morning I was still curious why it was so difficult for me to walk to the main station. It seemed to be getting harder not easier. I was so tired and cursed the new, very large snow pile in my way that increased the distance of my walk. Towards the end of my shift on Saturday, I noticed tasks started taking me longer to get done as my brain wasn’t working right and allowing me to figure simple things out. I was so tired and had woken up the night before gasping for air.
After work I was too tired to walk home so I found a couch in the lounge and watched a movie. My headache grew and grew and now ibuprofen wasn’t helping. I finally made it to my J-way to sleep, but lying down made my head hurt worse so I slept sitting up. I starting coughing and wheezing, but didn’t notice much as my head was bothering me most of all.
As I got dressed Sunday morning to go to work, I noticed that my heart was racing just to put on socks and I was tired beyond any tired I’ve felt before. My head kept pounding and it took me over and hour to get dressed. The walk to the station was a walk from hell and was exhausting beyond anything I’ve experienced! My bag felt like a million pounds. I rested at the foot of the steps before making it to the door. I was early for work so I found a couch and slept for an hour before getting to the galley.
I thought about asking for a day off, but had heard people complaining about how tired they were so I thought what I was going through was normal. Even though my head wouldn’t quit hurting, I thought I could make it through my shift. I then became confused about what to chop and how to do it (it’s not good to be confused with a knife in your hands.) I stopped to get more water to make my head stop hurting. My headache was getting so bad that I started crying and then my friend, Sara, noticed that I wasn’t making complete sentences so she paged Medical and made me go
Once in Medical they had my blood O2 levels at 72 (normal at sea level is 98). They gave me O2 right away and my headache almost disappeared immediately. I thought I was all fixed up, but that was only the beginning. They listened to my lungs and took chest x-rays and diagnosed me with HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) as a complication of Altitude Illness. One of the immediate treatments is Viagra, as it is a vessel dilator, along with albuteral treatments and a few other steroids. They kept me in Medical and on O2 for 24 hours and continued to monitor my lungs. They were mostly cleared up by the next morning, but a few rattles remained. They took every measure possible to make certain I didn’t exert myself in any form.
My friend and fellow galley worker, Eli, showed up at medical about 10 hours after I had arrived. She had been fighting symptoms for as long as 3 days which also included vomiting and nausea. She was formally in the military and thought that she was just fighting the crud. The best way to treat HAPE or any level of Altitude Illness is to get you to a lower altitude as soon as possible. Within 2 hours of Eli being in Medical, they had decided to Medi-evac her to McMurdo on the first flight in the morning. Me? They were waiting to see how I was doing in the morning to determine if I needed to be medi-evac’d as well.
What is Altitude Illness? As you go to a higher elevation in such a short period of time (for me it was sea level to 11,000 ft in 3 hours), your body has to adjust to the decrease in oxygen. In doing that, it gives off more Co2 than usual and your acid/base levels shift. Some people don’t compensate for this very well and don’t adjust. If left untreated with simple O2, you can start to produce a lot of lactic acid and your organs then start to leak and produce fluid. The fluid builds up in the lungs. If it continues to be untreated, you can develop pneumonia and/or essentially “drown” from the fluid. Another complication which is really serious is HACE (high altitude cerebral edema) in with the fluid builds up in the brain. This is definitely a sure way to get immediately medi-evac’d to McMurdo.
The May Clinic out of Rochester is here doing a study on trying to predict who is more susceptible to Altitude Illness. I hadn’t signed up to participate in the study, but Eli did. You can read all about it in this week’s Antarctic Sun and they do an excellent job explaining all about Altitude Illness.
Now before everyone yells at me for not taking the Diamox you should know that Diamox isn’t a miracle pill that prevents Altitude Illness. It has been proven to help in the transition, but it’s not foolproof. Eli took her full prescribed dose of Diamox and still got very sick. The symptoms worsen extremely fast. Everything escalated very quickly within 12-24 hours before making it to Medical.
They decided to medi-evac both of us out and that was quite the site! (I'm the one in the green coat & red hat.) I was feeling better and am not used to this level of attention, was quite embarrassed, and couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about. Really, I felt fine! They flew in a flight nurse and a paramedic from McMurdo who had never been to the Pole and were very excited! (glad I could help them see the Pole) They were taking pictures of the Pole and us. They had outfitted the LC-130 with military stretchers, packed tons of emergency gear on board, and cleared half the plane for us to be comfortable in. The other half of the plane was Winter-over passengers returning to NZ, thank goodness Eli and I knew most of them. The doc and PA at the Pole were also taking pictures of the medi-evac situation, I’m guessing for training purposes. I felt as if the paparazzi were after me. We were both ambulatory and walked to the plane although they made us keep our O2 masks on for the entire trip.
We checked in at Medical and given a full evaluation. They kept Eli for another night for observation and sent me to the dorms with strict instructions to only be up for meals and bathroom otherwise bed rest and daily check-ups until they give us the ok to work again.
Sunday/Monday
Day 5/6
Ok, they give us multiple warnings about Altitude Illness and I did pay attention. But I guess somewhere along the way, the symptoms get mixed up between what is normal acclimatization, what is a cold or flu (what they call “the crud”) and what is Altitude Illness.
I had a low-grade headache since the day I got to Pole. Ibuprofen had been making the headache go away and I had been drinking tons of water (just not in the evenings). On Saturday morning I was still curious why it was so difficult for me to walk to the main station. It seemed to be getting harder not easier. I was so tired and cursed the new, very large snow pile in my way that increased the distance of my walk. Towards the end of my shift on Saturday, I noticed tasks started taking me longer to get done as my brain wasn’t working right and allowing me to figure simple things out. I was so tired and had woken up the night before gasping for air.
After work I was too tired to walk home so I found a couch in the lounge and watched a movie. My headache grew and grew and now ibuprofen wasn’t helping. I finally made it to my J-way to sleep, but lying down made my head hurt worse so I slept sitting up. I starting coughing and wheezing, but didn’t notice much as my head was bothering me most of all.
As I got dressed Sunday morning to go to work, I noticed that my heart was racing just to put on socks and I was tired beyond any tired I’ve felt before. My head kept pounding and it took me over and hour to get dressed. The walk to the station was a walk from hell and was exhausting beyond anything I’ve experienced! My bag felt like a million pounds. I rested at the foot of the steps before making it to the door. I was early for work so I found a couch and slept for an hour before getting to the galley.
I thought about asking for a day off, but had heard people complaining about how tired they were so I thought what I was going through was normal. Even though my head wouldn’t quit hurting, I thought I could make it through my shift. I then became confused about what to chop and how to do it (it’s not good to be confused with a knife in your hands.) I stopped to get more water to make my head stop hurting. My headache was getting so bad that I started crying and then my friend, Sara, noticed that I wasn’t making complete sentences so she paged Medical and made me go
Once in Medical they had my blood O2 levels at 72 (normal at sea level is 98). They gave me O2 right away and my headache almost disappeared immediately. I thought I was all fixed up, but that was only the beginning. They listened to my lungs and took chest x-rays and diagnosed me with HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) as a complication of Altitude Illness. One of the immediate treatments is Viagra, as it is a vessel dilator, along with albuteral treatments and a few other steroids. They kept me in Medical and on O2 for 24 hours and continued to monitor my lungs. They were mostly cleared up by the next morning, but a few rattles remained. They took every measure possible to make certain I didn’t exert myself in any form.
My friend and fellow galley worker, Eli, showed up at medical about 10 hours after I had arrived. She had been fighting symptoms for as long as 3 days which also included vomiting and nausea. She was formally in the military and thought that she was just fighting the crud. The best way to treat HAPE or any level of Altitude Illness is to get you to a lower altitude as soon as possible. Within 2 hours of Eli being in Medical, they had decided to Medi-evac her to McMurdo on the first flight in the morning. Me? They were waiting to see how I was doing in the morning to determine if I needed to be medi-evac’d as well.
What is Altitude Illness? As you go to a higher elevation in such a short period of time (for me it was sea level to 11,000 ft in 3 hours), your body has to adjust to the decrease in oxygen. In doing that, it gives off more Co2 than usual and your acid/base levels shift. Some people don’t compensate for this very well and don’t adjust. If left untreated with simple O2, you can start to produce a lot of lactic acid and your organs then start to leak and produce fluid. The fluid builds up in the lungs. If it continues to be untreated, you can develop pneumonia and/or essentially “drown” from the fluid. Another complication which is really serious is HACE (high altitude cerebral edema) in with the fluid builds up in the brain. This is definitely a sure way to get immediately medi-evac’d to McMurdo.
The May Clinic out of Rochester is here doing a study on trying to predict who is more susceptible to Altitude Illness. I hadn’t signed up to participate in the study, but Eli did. You can read all about it in this week’s Antarctic Sun and they do an excellent job explaining all about Altitude Illness.
Now before everyone yells at me for not taking the Diamox you should know that Diamox isn’t a miracle pill that prevents Altitude Illness. It has been proven to help in the transition, but it’s not foolproof. Eli took her full prescribed dose of Diamox and still got very sick. The symptoms worsen extremely fast. Everything escalated very quickly within 12-24 hours before making it to Medical.
They decided to medi-evac both of us out and that was quite the site! (I'm the one in the green coat & red hat.) I was feeling better and am not used to this level of attention, was quite embarrassed, and couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about. Really, I felt fine! They flew in a flight nurse and a paramedic from McMurdo who had never been to the Pole and were very excited! (glad I could help them see the Pole) They were taking pictures of the Pole and us. They had outfitted the LC-130 with military stretchers, packed tons of emergency gear on board, and cleared half the plane for us to be comfortable in. The other half of the plane was Winter-over passengers returning to NZ, thank goodness Eli and I knew most of them. The doc and PA at the Pole were also taking pictures of the medi-evac situation, I’m guessing for training purposes. I felt as if the paparazzi were after me. We were both ambulatory and walked to the plane although they made us keep our O2 masks on for the entire trip.
We checked in at Medical and given a full evaluation. They kept Eli for another night for observation and sent me to the dorms with strict instructions to only be up for meals and bathroom otherwise bed rest and daily check-ups until they give us the ok to work again.
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