thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3687
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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Medical Meltdown
En route home from BOLA in March we made our usual nightly stopover in Catavina before the run to the border.
Doug is a pretty quiet guy, mid-50's, second trip with us. He travels with his brother-in-law and it took him a couple of trips to really warm up to
the gang and the circumstances.
While we knew that Doug had a diabetic condition, no one really took it too seriously, since his brother-in-law clearly knew how to keep the situation
in hand.
What none of us realized was that heading out of LABay, Doug had had a few more Pacificos than was prudent, given his condition. Then, when we
arrived at Catavina we made a hike up to the cave paintings.
Doug indicated that he probably should not exert himself further, but I (much to my later deep regret) insisted and so he cheerfully charged along
with us, me helping him up through the rocks and around the cacti.
We returned, Doug puffing a bit, but otherwise elated, to have dinner at one of the local places across from the Parador.
Having discovered that we still had a case of wine along, well we toted that into the place, set up bottles for the other tables, for the proprietor
(corkage, you know) and then the 13 of us knocked down another 8 bottles or so, Doug going right along with the flow.
He has one of those 'self-administering' belt packs and after eating decided how much he needed to inject.... obviously, in hind-sight, this
calculation was seriously flawed.
When we got to the campsite, backing various rigs into place, Doug suddenly slumped down in the seat of the truck.
Two of our guys have relatives with serious diabetic conditions and one had the presence of mind to grab a plastic bottle of orange juice out of a
cooler and start pouring it down Doug's throat.
He got about half of it down before Doug went completely comatose.
The next 90 minutes was the longest time span I ever spent.
We just stood in a semi-circle around the truck while a couple guys cradled him, kept him upright, talked to him and gently patted and poked at him.
My personal observation was that we had lost him. It was truly a terrible and a helpless feeling.
The clock ground on, the sky got dark, the stars came out, and Doug looked absolutely finished.
Most of us eventually retreated to a very quiet and somber campfire, waiting further word from the truck.
(I had my pickup poised to race with him to El Rosario, but that is easily a 90 minute drive, in the dark, a bit too much vino for dinner myself, full
well knowing that if the drive was in order that Doug would probably not survive the trip, nor would El Rosario provide the needed treatment in his
condition)
Finally, and at long last, word came down, "Doug is responding, looks like he is coming around."
We all dashed up and formed another semi-circle, sure enough, he was starting to get some color, his eyes were open, things were coming around.
The next morning, at day-break, Doug looked like the worst hang-over ever invented, but he was moving on his own, and even grinning a bit.
By the time we got him back to Northern California, it was just a bad memory, he was fine.
But, those long, long moments at Catavina will stay with all of us.
Doug was real close to checking out on all of us.
Had no one given him the quick jolt of juice it is almost certain that he would not have made it. It was that close.
And, the scariest part of all, his brother-in-law said, "The last words his wife gave me when we left home were, 'Don't you guys kill my husband!' "
Doug plans to come again next year, I think we all learned a valuable, and nearly a costly lesson.
***Sure does make you appreciate life a little more***
Baja Arriba!!
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Packoderm
Super Nomad
Posts: 2116
Registered: 11-7-2002
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Did my post get zapped for mispelling Meno? I don't think Stephanie has spelled Packoderm correctly even once. Actually, I thought my post was the
most minor of transgressions; but still, I don't care about the zapping - doesn't hurt me a bit.
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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I was a little surprised too.
Where is stefannie anyways?
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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thebajarunner
We were with a small group of other families camping in remote places in Baja a few years back. A hundred miles from telephones, etc. Suddenly one
of the pre-teen boys is prostrate in a back seat of one of the vehicles. He was in the same condition as your older friend, almost dead, and no one
in the group except his mom and dad knew he was diabetic. He was out for a while and the rest of us were very woried. Eventually the boy came around
and everything was back to normal. I got all over his parents, close friends, because they hadn't told us beforehand. Glad everything turned out
well in both cases.
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BajaVida
Senior Nomad
Posts: 541
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Motown, Califas
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Mood: muy cool
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from a good source---I understand that only 7 bottles of wine were consumed
a Baja bird told me
No se apure y dure.
Don\'t hurry and you\'ll last longer.
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4863
Registered: 2-2-2003
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Both those stories are horrendous,
as far as the possible outcome. Thank goodness that they both turned out OK.
Not all of them do though. And I'm not going to bring any particular incidents up.
But, this is Baja. There probably isn't going to be an Emergicenter nearby or even a telephone to call an ambulance that happens to be out of gas at
the moment.
Perhaps it is irresponsible of the parents to not inform all parties, neighbors, friends, people down the beach, and perhaps Fonatur of a possible
life threatening illness that one of the "adventurers" is unfortunate enough to have.
This is Baja.
I recommend before coming here, yall contact an attorney, get medical records of all parties venturing into this "wilderness" and sign papers to
keep everyone out of trouble.
Otherwise, here come the lawsuits. Just like staying at home ain't it ?
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Skeet/Loreto
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4709
Registered: 9-2-2003
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Another Suggestion
"Do not Drink if you are Diabetic!
"In God I Trust"
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