I'm feeling quite sad today... yesterday Li and I were actually supposed to check in for 10 days into Nabucco's Nunukan Island Resort for some chilling out and scuba diving. The island is a tiny island in the Maratua Atoll which is located east of Kalimantan about 3 hours away by speed boat from Berau. The island is in an area which is supposed to be one of the top dive spots in the world and I've always wanted to go diving there.
Instead of diving around the Maratua Atoll we are now sitting in a hotel in Balikpapan (Indonesia) and flying out to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) tomorrow. Unfortunately I cannot... well, I'm not supposed to dive for at least 4 weeks after I've been diagnosed with a mild case of type 1 decrompression sickness (DCS) after my last dive on Nusa Lembongan (Indonesia).
What happened? Well, I don't really know. I have about 160 dives under belt and never had any problems in relation to DCS. I've even done a few dives in the past that were beyond a normal dive profile, i.e., requiring deco stops, etc. All the dives I've done in the past few weeks in Australia and Indonesia were all fairly shallow dives with a normal dive profile (no rapid ascends, no forced deco stops, etc.) including safety stops.
About two hours after the last dive when I was back at the hotel I started feeling unwell with pain and swelling in my upper abdominal area and with something that looked like a rash or bruises on my chest and belly. At that point we had no idea what that was and decided to call a doctor which turned out to be total waste of time. The local doctor had no clue about diving and diagnosed me with a stomach infection and prescribe me lots of antibiotics and pain killers... and told me to not eat any fried rice and chilli for the next few days.
I had the suspicion that it was diving-related, because I remembered that I had a very mild form of one of the symptoms at least twice before after diving the previous days. At that time it was so minor that I dismissed it as just a sore muscle... but because I kept diving I made it worse. Only after talking to a doctor from the London Dive Chamber (via phone/email) he confirmed that my symptoms are consistent with the symptoms of a mild form of type-1 DCS. His recommendation is that I shouldn't be diving for at least 4 weeks.
I already felt better 24h after the dive and the DCS symptoms were mostly gone (i.e., recompression treatment was not required)... if you are a diver you will probably understand that I was very tempted to ignore the doctor's advise and only give it few days to recover. Especially given that my next dive was already planned on Nunukan island 5 days later and we already had all the flights booked. Well, it was a very hard decision, but I decided to play it safe and follow the advise from the doctor although it destroys my dream of going to Nunukan for scuba diving. Yes, we can always go another time, but given that we are currently in Indonesia anyway it would have been the perfect opportunity.
I should have more opportunities to dive in Thailand in a few weeks and I will definitely go diving again. Especially now that I can enjoy diving together with Li. Nevertheless I'm still wondering how I got the DCS symptoms given that I had no accident or any other issue during the dives, and certainly never had any issues for all my previous dives. Given that I also had trouble with high-altitude sickness on our round-the-world trip maybe I should limit my future activities to just chilling at the beach bar or hotel pool. :-(
Showing posts with label lars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lars. Show all posts
Saturday, 21 March 2015
Thursday, 25 December 2014
The Inca Trail - and how it became Hell on Earth for me!
Li and I did the Inca Trail, the classic 4-day version of it. Check out Wikipedia if you don't know what the Inca Trail is. In a nutshell, the Inca Trail involves hiking through the Andean mountains from about 2600m up to 4200m and down to 2700m at Machu Picchu, and all that via either a rocky or muddy trail, or big Inca steps/stairs. During the night you stay in one of the camp sites, i.e., camping. On the 4-day Inca Trail you hike about 43 km with the second and third day being the most challenging ones.
From my previous comments you may remember that I've been having trouble with altitude sickness. With the help of some medication it seemed to be OK (not perfect, but OK) and I thought I would be able to do the Inca Trail without too many problems. In hindsight that assumptions couldn't have been more wrong, i.e., I shouldn't have done the Inca Trail at all.
The first day wasn't too bad as you stay at an altitude of about 2600-2700m for the whole day, but it was already a little challenge for me. If I would have known that the second and third day of the Inca Trail would become the most painful and horrible two days of my life I would have returned after the first day, but unfortunately I didn't.
The second day (also known as the "challenge day", because you have to go up
from 2700m to 4200m) didn't start very well at all. It rained fairly heavily
during our first night and some water leaked into our tent and the lower part of my sleeping bag got completely wet (including my socks and feet). I woke up
in the middle of the night because of that, but there wasn't much I could
do apart from trying to sleep in the wet sleeping bag. The anti-altitude sickness medication I've been taking (including drinking lots of Coca tea) didn't seem to help much, because I ended up feeling absolutely shit! Strong headache, nauseous, extreme difficulty breathing, stomach ache/cramps and twice a bit of nose bleeding. It was very painful to reach the top at 4200m, but I somehow managed to do it. I arrived about 2h after the first one from our group arrived. I'm very grateful that they waited that long giving us the opportunity to do a nice group picture.
In addition to the altitude sickness I've always been having problems with my knees and I had to take some Ibuprofen to help with that on the way down. I think our guide mentioned something about 7000 Inca steps. Again I was the last one to arrive at the camp site and immediately after arriving I started feeling very sick and started vomitting, followed shortly after that by diarrhea. I'm assuming this was caused by altitude sickness, but it could have also been caused by a stomach bug. To be on the safe side I started taking Antibiotics in case it was due to a stomach bug.
If I would have been able to stop at this point and take a taxi back to the hotel I would have gladly paid a thousand dollars for that, but at the end of the second day you are basically in the middle of nowhere. Either you go back which means a two-day hike (going back via the peak at 4200m) or you continue which means a two-day hike to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu. Only if I would have really gotten ill, i.e., an edema (HAPE/HACE) from the altitude sickness they would have called the helicopter which would have cost around 10000 dollars.
On the third day I still felt extremely bad due to vomitting and diarrhea. I tried to eat something, but couldn't eat much which resulted in me becoming very weak (in addition to the same altitude sickness problems I've had the day before). I continued the trek, but around lunch time my body basically gave up and I felt like a sloth walking around the Inca Trail. Every step became a challenge....
As it was getting late to reach the camp for the lunch break they ended up putting me on a stretcher and 5 of the porters carried me for the last 45 minutes to the camp site for the lunch break. Not a very pleasant experience, because I was too tall for the stretcher and it actually hurt being squeezed onto it. Also, in addition to feeling sick anyway I started feeling a bit motion sick on the stretcher. After arriving at the camp site I was able to eat some food and after
a bit of rest I felt slightly better. Don't get me wrong, I still felt absolutely horrible, but just slightly better and I was able to continue the trek... I really really didn't want to, but being in the middle of nowhere there was simply no other option. It basically felt like running a marathon while having the flu in
combination with vomitting and diarrhea. I continued - very slowly - trying to reach the camp site for the night. I would have managed to reach the camp site on my own, but at some point the guide was worried that it would get dark before I reached the camp site and they put me on a stretcher again and carried me the last 30 minutes. Again, not a very pleasant experience. While it was hard for the porters to carry me on the stretcher they seemed to kind of enjoy it as it was something different and doesn't seem to happen that often. Of course
they got an extra tip from me for this after the Inca Trail.
I managed to eat a bit more food at the camp site and a bit of sleep before we had to get up at 3:15am on the fourth day. I felt a bit better on that day mainly due to the fact that we were back at an altitude of about 2700m. I managed to get to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu (the end of the Inca Trail) in a fairly good time, but it was still a bit of a challenge for me.
Most people enjoyed the stunning view of Machu Picchu at that time, but I was simply happy that I managed to survive the Inca Trail without ending up in the hospital. I didn't even feel a sense of accomplishment.
A big thanks to Li who stayed with me all the time and my apologies to the other group members (and to Li), because I've obviously been a bit of a spoilsport during the trip. It's hard to enjoy the Inca Trail, the beautiful landscape and Machu Picchu when you are in pain and feeling absolutely horrible.
If I could turn back time I would have never booked the Inca Trail
(or the trip to Peru at all), because it simply became the worst 4 days
I've ever had in my life.
I hope the rest of our 8-month trip will be less painful... and yes, I'm definitely going to avoid any kind of high-altitude activities.
From my previous comments you may remember that I've been having trouble with altitude sickness. With the help of some medication it seemed to be OK (not perfect, but OK) and I thought I would be able to do the Inca Trail without too many problems. In hindsight that assumptions couldn't have been more wrong, i.e., I shouldn't have done the Inca Trail at all.
The first day wasn't too bad as you stay at an altitude of about 2600-2700m for the whole day, but it was already a little challenge for me. If I would have known that the second and third day of the Inca Trail would become the most painful and horrible two days of my life I would have returned after the first day, but unfortunately I didn't.
The second day (also known as the "challenge day", because you have to go up
from 2700m to 4200m) didn't start very well at all. It rained fairly heavily
during our first night and some water leaked into our tent and the lower part of my sleeping bag got completely wet (including my socks and feet). I woke up
in the middle of the night because of that, but there wasn't much I could
do apart from trying to sleep in the wet sleeping bag. The anti-altitude sickness medication I've been taking (including drinking lots of Coca tea) didn't seem to help much, because I ended up feeling absolutely shit! Strong headache, nauseous, extreme difficulty breathing, stomach ache/cramps and twice a bit of nose bleeding. It was very painful to reach the top at 4200m, but I somehow managed to do it. I arrived about 2h after the first one from our group arrived. I'm very grateful that they waited that long giving us the opportunity to do a nice group picture.
In addition to the altitude sickness I've always been having problems with my knees and I had to take some Ibuprofen to help with that on the way down. I think our guide mentioned something about 7000 Inca steps. Again I was the last one to arrive at the camp site and immediately after arriving I started feeling very sick and started vomitting, followed shortly after that by diarrhea. I'm assuming this was caused by altitude sickness, but it could have also been caused by a stomach bug. To be on the safe side I started taking Antibiotics in case it was due to a stomach bug.
If I would have been able to stop at this point and take a taxi back to the hotel I would have gladly paid a thousand dollars for that, but at the end of the second day you are basically in the middle of nowhere. Either you go back which means a two-day hike (going back via the peak at 4200m) or you continue which means a two-day hike to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu. Only if I would have really gotten ill, i.e., an edema (HAPE/HACE) from the altitude sickness they would have called the helicopter which would have cost around 10000 dollars.
On the third day I still felt extremely bad due to vomitting and diarrhea. I tried to eat something, but couldn't eat much which resulted in me becoming very weak (in addition to the same altitude sickness problems I've had the day before). I continued the trek, but around lunch time my body basically gave up and I felt like a sloth walking around the Inca Trail. Every step became a challenge....
As it was getting late to reach the camp for the lunch break they ended up putting me on a stretcher and 5 of the porters carried me for the last 45 minutes to the camp site for the lunch break. Not a very pleasant experience, because I was too tall for the stretcher and it actually hurt being squeezed onto it. Also, in addition to feeling sick anyway I started feeling a bit motion sick on the stretcher. After arriving at the camp site I was able to eat some food and after
a bit of rest I felt slightly better. Don't get me wrong, I still felt absolutely horrible, but just slightly better and I was able to continue the trek... I really really didn't want to, but being in the middle of nowhere there was simply no other option. It basically felt like running a marathon while having the flu in
combination with vomitting and diarrhea. I continued - very slowly - trying to reach the camp site for the night. I would have managed to reach the camp site on my own, but at some point the guide was worried that it would get dark before I reached the camp site and they put me on a stretcher again and carried me the last 30 minutes. Again, not a very pleasant experience. While it was hard for the porters to carry me on the stretcher they seemed to kind of enjoy it as it was something different and doesn't seem to happen that often. Of course
they got an extra tip from me for this after the Inca Trail.
I managed to eat a bit more food at the camp site and a bit of sleep before we had to get up at 3:15am on the fourth day. I felt a bit better on that day mainly due to the fact that we were back at an altitude of about 2700m. I managed to get to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu (the end of the Inca Trail) in a fairly good time, but it was still a bit of a challenge for me.
Most people enjoyed the stunning view of Machu Picchu at that time, but I was simply happy that I managed to survive the Inca Trail without ending up in the hospital. I didn't even feel a sense of accomplishment.
A big thanks to Li who stayed with me all the time and my apologies to the other group members (and to Li), because I've obviously been a bit of a spoilsport during the trip. It's hard to enjoy the Inca Trail, the beautiful landscape and Machu Picchu when you are in pain and feeling absolutely horrible.
If I could turn back time I would have never booked the Inca Trail
(or the trip to Peru at all), because it simply became the worst 4 days
I've ever had in my life.
I hope the rest of our 8-month trip will be less painful... and yes, I'm definitely going to avoid any kind of high-altitude activities.
Thursday, 18 December 2014
Free Wi-Fi is everywhere, but it's shit.
Basically every hotel and every restaurant in Ecuador and Peru offers free Wi-Fi. That's very useful and usually good enough to check emails or Facebook (if it's actually working at all).
However, when trying to upload our photos to Facebook and to my server it is usually not sufficient. I back up pictures from the camera and smartphone to our laptop, but I'm trying to also backup/sync the photos to my server, but with all the pictures we've been taking we are talking about many GBytes of data, and that's too much for the crappy free Wi-Fis we've encountered so far. I'm not even shooting pictures in RAW format, but JPG only to not create too much data.
I would happily pay for good wired Internet, but all the hotels we've stayed at so far only offer their free Wi-Fi.
I've fallen about 1300 photos behind, and a few hundred photos I'd like to upload to Facebook.
Hopefully we get some good Wi-Fi in Rio or Buenos Aires...
Friday, 21 November 2014
Altitude Sickness
Quito is the second highest capital of the world at around 2800m. We didn't really do much sightseeing on the first day, because I was really struggling with the high altitude and was showing signs of altitude sickness.
On the second day I started feeling better... but I even felt a difference going from about 2400m (La Mitad del Mundo) back up to Quito today.
Li was perfectly fine and didn't even notice anything regarding the high altitude.
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
The Walking Dead
In hindsight it was a bad idea to work up to the last day before starting our trip. We spent Sat+Sun packing everything and getting ready for moving our stuff into storage on Monday morning.
The last weeks have been very busy and I didn't find time to properly pack my backpack until Monday morning about 5am. I only got two hours of sleep until we started moving our boxes and other belongings into the van from the storage company.
In addition to moving our stuff into storage we also had the flat handover on the very same day. Let's say it was a very busy day and we didn't manage to get much sleep on our last day in London either having to get up at 5am on Tuesday for the flight to Ecuador.
I felt like one of the Zombies from "The Walking Dead", and an 11 hour flight isn't making that better... but I guess I have 8 months now to recover from that.
Saturday, 8 November 2014
Our Travel Blog
Many of our friends asked if we are going to have a travel blog. Well, this is it.
Not sure if we will have the time to update it frequently, but we'll try to share some stories from our trip.
Well, less than 10 days to go until we leave... and I should really start packing now. ;-)
Not sure if we will have the time to update it frequently, but we'll try to share some stories from our trip.
Well, less than 10 days to go until we leave... and I should really start packing now. ;-)
Anti-Malaria pills and vaccinations...
Stocking up on anti-Malaria pills for the long trip... at least I'm almost done with my vaccinations (only one left). I started a bit late and had to squeeze 11 vaccinations into the last few weeks.
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