Testing Times – Part 1
11 Dec 9:20 am by Nathan Welch Category: The Expedition
Eish! What a 3 weeks it’s been since departing Atalaya. Anyways we are currently in Iquitos – so many stories, challenges & experiences to share so lets get into it. Grab a beer or a cup of coffee (if its a bit early in your neck of the woods), strap yourself in & enjoy the ride…
The journey from Pucallpa to Iquitos took us a smidgen over 9 days (about 9 days & 1 hr) seeing us arrive here just after 12.00 midnight on 6 December. It’s a pretty significant milestone for us considering we traveled over 1100km in that time & were put under the pump. The mighty river has again tested us. Different types of challenges to that we experienced in the whitewater but challenges none the less.
Righto, lets start with our most pressing challenge at present – Phil. Big Phil was obviously feeling there was not enough action in his life so he created his own show. Welcome to the ‘Dr Phil’ show or should I say the ‘Patient Phil’ show. The Big Fella has been very ill over the last 10 days or so. Whilst he is up & about & seemingly on the road to recovery as we speak, it has been a tough personal journey for him. He has ‘gutsed’ out a mystery virus that hit him 5 days out from Pucallpa. Phils existence from this period consisted of constant headaches, nausea, crippling aches & pains to pretty much every part of his body, kidney pain & an alarming swelling to his glands. For about 5 days all he was able to consume was water & was unable to move other than to try & ease his aching joints. It was a very concerning time for the team to see our Dr Phil become the patient.
In the end we had to jab the Big Fella up. We cannulated him & delivered a quickfire dose of Dextrose & Thiamine to get his hydration, electrolytes & basic sustainence up. It had been 5 days at this stage since he had consumed solid food.
Even in his sickly state, ‘Dr Phil’ was directing traffic with the drip & giving me instructions on how to most effectively cannulate him. Ahh, the consummate professional – anyone would think this chap is a paramedic or something.
5 days out from Iquitos when we could see Phil was not good, Marko & myself ordered Phil to bed & rest, & then we paddled our bottoms off. We changed our shifts into 6hr stints & paddled around the clock to mission into Iquitos in just over 9 days.
We then missioned into the town proper to find a hospital. The first one we found would not accept foreigners, but after using our spectacular Spanish speaking skills we eventually deciphered the name & address of a hospital that would accept him. Marko then assisted Phil to the hospital where there was a long wait. Marko actually had to queue in line for Big Phil as standing for him was just too much. Eventually a consultation saw some blood tests taken & seemingly Malaria & Dengue fever removed from the potential possibility list. Another visit early the next morning (Friday) proved frustrating when Phil was told to come back in a few hours for another consultation. This consultation bared no positive result with Phil again being instructed to return to the hospital on Monday for more blood tests despite the boys pushing hard to get things happening earlier. In one last desperate measure to get some answers & get Phil on the road to recovery, Marko found & escorted him to a private Doctor. Unfortunately it proved to be another fruitless exercise where we found the doctor to be a little too blase’ about Phil’s condition & he brushed over the symptoms by prescribing some general antibiotics & paracetamol – all of which we have ready for action in our first aid kit anyway.
Marko & myself basically split our time monitoring Phil – Marko would be with him during the day & spent a lot of that time waiting in hospital queues & researching other doctors & possibilities whilst I would sleep in the same room as our patient at night to ensure he remained conscious & did not deteriorate. The fact that no medical expert had dealt with the immediate issue of Phil not eating actual food in close to a week & that his next appointment was a couple of days away, forced us into the position of cannulating & setting up a drip – so it was, that our hostal room became a hospital (as we mentioned above).
Thankfully the next morning Phil felt a little better & even had small meal later in the day. From here he has steadily been on the improve & currently, whilst not firing on all cylinders he is certainly up & about. A special thank you to Holly – our newest team member who organised for Phil to have a more comfortable stay in an air conditioned hotel. This has taken the edge off the sweltering humidity of Iquitos & has just made life that little more bearable for our patient. Thanks Hol for the feminine touch.
So by the time you’re reading this hopefully we will have some blood test results to shed some light on Phil’s mystery illness & we hope too see him continue to improve. To give you an idea of how testing the last 3 months have been we can use our patient Phil as a working example – he has lost an amazing 18kg over this period with a significant portion attributed to his hellish last 2 weeks. Obviously we will continue to monitor him closely & we will update as soon as we can with the outcome. On that note we might just leave you all to mull over the 3 new posts (see below if you haven’t read em already). It’s a lot of info to digest & we know Phil is on the minds of family, friends & our supporters, so we will continue the Testing Times post in a few days, with an all inclusive update on Phil´s condition.
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Hola!
Phil, so sorry to hear you’ve been ill but stoked to hear that it sounds like you’re on the mend! Glad to hear you’re keeping the nurses on their toes and practicing their spanish – good on ya boy! Hang in there and beat the bugs, I have no doubt you’re stronger than all the little critters in South America combined!!
C’mon Z, be the ball, do it for the colony!!
Tons of love and get well wishes!!
Comment by Jess — December 12, 2007 @ 3:50 am
Hello Adventurers!
Liked the posts. Good reading. More exciting here though. If you believe that last statement then your dumber than someone who can’t talk. Buffy must be the strongest huh? Never sick. He does share ~50% of my genes so on second thoughts he must be just lucky. Big Phil you take care or Fritz will kick you’re ass. Nath, little chappy, I think you should do some squats for those legs – there getting smaller than Saunder’s. Do you have time in Iquitos to visit a gymnasium or spa? – 10kg should do it. By now this comment will have been annoying and misinterpreted so I ask Nathan to translate the humour knowing the dryness of it. Holly good luck with tres amigos!
Nostrovia!!!!
Comment by Matthew Franz Kalch — December 12, 2007 @ 8:52 am
Postscript – Nath..I’ve worked my way up to 5kg.
Comment by M. Franz Kalch — December 12, 2007 @ 9:06 am
Double Postscript – Nath…Pounds(lbs) not Kilos(kg)
Comment by Matt Kalch — December 12, 2007 @ 9:08 am
Phil, hope you’re feeling better and able to eat at least! Laat weet ons wat die toetse wys. Mamma stuur baie liefde en ons bid almal dat jy gou reg is.
Mark & Nath, thanks for the excellent care you’re taking of my little brother! Much appreciated by us all.
Comment by Marné — December 12, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
Hi Boys, great news to hear Phil is on the mend. We hope his health continues to improve so he can continue and finish this adventure.
It would be an injustice if Phil’s health stopped him reaching the finish line.
So people lets generate all positive energy for Phil.
Now that Holly has joined the crew for the next four weeks we would expect that a proper kitchen and seperate toilet facilities would have been built on the raft.
Boys you may even be the first to raft the Amazon towing your own mobile loo.You can imagine the news headline ‘Water Dunny Conquers the mighty Amazon’.
Holly we trust your adventure on this leg of the journeys is as exciting and memorable as the past legs.
We wish the team all the success and best wishes for the next leg of this journey.
Cheers Bill & Toni.
Comment by Bill Welch — December 13, 2007 @ 2:45 pm
Hi fella’s!! Another day in the office for you guys battling bugs and the mighty river huh? I’m here battling paper cuts, go figure. Buff you look like you’re doing well buddy I was gunna say it must be the mixture of Scot and ya dads family genes that keep ya going but as ya bro said maybe you’re just lucky. All the best mate. My thoughts are with ya cuz.
Comment by Dave Whitson — December 13, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
I’m feeling a gazillionth of your pain re being out of email contact. I’ve been facebook offed!! Can’t even point the hordes of your fans in the right direction!! If any of you have access to the mighty book, please could you tell the kids that there are 3 brand new juicy posts with photies that tell some insane stories!! Wishing you all the fastest of recovery times and beautiful interactions with the locals while you’re there!
Comment by Jess — December 14, 2007 @ 6:50 am
The 3 Wizards. Hi Phil, sorry to hear you have had a
bout of outs. I’m sure the other 2 guarded you closely
from reading the report. It’s as well they paid attention when you went over the 1st aid plan it seemed 2 help them to perform. I must say, you people
put in a few days of pure shit, while the man was crook. Trust the bird to think of the best way to assist a sick mate. Loosing weight like that is not good Phil, mustle tone is affected, & the ability for the brain to respond is also affected.{There is a brain isn’t there}There must be. So mate stick to your guns, dont let your body rule your mind, & keep saying to yourself,”I AM IN CHARGE” Grumblebum told me I am.
Comment by Grumblebum — December 18, 2007 @ 10:11 pm
G’day me lads
I am once again trying to get a message of support to you guys. Since my messages very early in the piece, for some reason I have not been able to get mt messages through. I have been following your journey and I my admiration and respect for you is boundless. I am so very proud of you all and of you especially Nathan. I am not a person who has many ‘heroes’ as such in my life but Welchie, you would be one of the few.
It would be impossible to recap all of the messages I have tried to send over the last three months but if this message goes through then be assured of my close interest, support and admitation. You folk are witness to the strength and resilience of the human spirit and I’m sure that you are an inspiration to many others in facing the challenges that their lives present to them.
If for some reason this message gets through and others don’t, be assured of my presence with you as you continue on your adventure
John
Comment by John (JD) Pyke — December 20, 2007 @ 9:09 am