I reread with interest the excellent and varied posts on the Top 10 Trip Busters.  I guess I've been lucky so far.  I can't recall any trip that was a "bust" due to death, injury, loss of stuff, or even someone in the party being a big-time turdball.  

But Sparatan2's well written and accurate words about pre-existing medical conditions got me wondering.  I can't recall ever getting sick on a trip in the past 37 years.  Never once.  Never giardia, the flu, migraines, etc.  Just a few cuts, bruises, and strains now and then.  Closest I ever came was last summer as I rolled into Duluth to spend the night before the next day's launch.  Came down with acute pneumonia that delayed the trip for a couple weeks.  (thx again Westwood for your wonderful hospitality during that ordeal).  

Has anyone gotten so sick during a trip you had to actually "bust" your trip and come out early?  If so, what happened?

I drank out of Mudro...got some symptoms, stayed on the trip.  Was on a loop through Northern Light with resp disease and sore throat so bad I considered ending it all....stayed on the trip.

I've met several who have had stroke and heart attack and fracture on their trips.  They all came out ASAP, and lucky, all of them were not traveling solo.  I guess going solo, you just accept you may die form something simple like appendicitis.  Couldn't imagine trying to paddle 20-30 miles out alone with fractured femur, congestive failure from a MI, or bowel infection, rupture, or partial paralysis from stroke.

I've been sick a few times on trips.  Never enough to bust the trip.


Story Time

Back in the early days when we would have 6-man trips, before people got lives, we did have one situation.  Dave is known to be slow to get moving in the morning.  In his defence he does work evenings so his regular routine starts 8 hours later than most peoples'.  However, it has often been a point of contention when everyone is waiting hours for one person to shake-a-leg.

I was sharing a tent with him one night and he was violently ill all night long.  At one point I had to ask if he was getting his head outside the tent while he puked his guts out.  Thankfully yes.  In the morning it was a bit of a dance to avoid the splatter zone.

In the morning with 5 of us having coffee & breakfast I declared we were not moving that day.  Poor Dave would be in no condition to travel.  The others cried foul, some in jest some because of Dave's history.  As if on queue Dave's head came out the tent and he let loose a gut-full.  Where he got all that puke from I'll never know.  Dave looked up at us with mucousy vomit hanging off his goatee, "What are YOU lookin' at."  He retreated to the tent and was not seen for a few hours yet.

We did not travel that day.

I know of one guy who had a tree fall on him while he slept.  The pictures of the bruises were brutal.  The tent was a write-off.  The trip continued.

 I've never been sick enough to end a paddling trip, but did have one minor health crisis on a backpack trip :'(

First year the Pukaskwa National Park opened in Ontario.
It located on the eastern shore of Superior.

We ( another guy) and me had planned to hike the new trail that skirts the water from North to South.

 Nearly half-way thru I woke up in the morning in agonizing pain. Vomiting/ severe abdominal pain, especially in lower back area and fever. We had filtered all water and in those days we ate freeze dried food. We had aspirins but even maximizing the dose didn't help. I laid in camp all day and we discussed my buddy packing light and going back to Native village and getting them to run a boat down to pick me up.

Next morning I got up and felt great :-? Walked around, ate breakfast, even did some calisthenics. Decided it was a 24 hour thing and headed out. That and the next day everything was fine. Then it happened again, even worse this time. Same symptoms and same down time.

When I recovered we decided to head back as we hadn't reached mid-point and figured picking what we knew was better than going forward.

Made it home to MI, but was feeling poor. I was having trouble urinating by then.  Went to doctor and it turned out I was passing a kidney stone  :-?
The doctor said he thought it was thru the kidney ducts and working it's way out. That was a Friday. Come Sunday morning and I'm straining to urinate when all of a sudden I "break free" and hear something clicking off the side of the commode :P

There in the bottom, lay a kidney stone the size of a navy bean :'(
I retrieved it and brought it back to doctor for my check-up.
He said it was a pretty big one and that passing a kidney stone is as close to experiencing the pain of childbirth as a man could get.

I don't know about that, but if it's even close to being true, I understand why birthing mothers want/need those drugs ;)

yup, ureteral pain on a trip would be cause for suicide indeed solo

I have passed a big kidney stone and also a 9 1/2 lb. baby boy.  The kidney stone was worse.  ;D  

I had food poisoning on a hiking trip once.

After a quick dinner in Banff*, my wife and I hit the trail for a long-weekend backpacking trip, and set up the first night's camp about 6 km in.

My wife spent most of that night in the outhouse, but felt ok the next morning, so we continued. A few km's later, it hit me, and the rest of the day was hike a bit, duck into the bushes, repeat until done. At least there *were* bushes, and no shortage of water for rehydration. That trip wasn't busted, but a bit more serious problems for either of us and it might have been.

Since then I have made sure never to underpack when it comes to TP!

*the restaurant was Melissa's; it's still there.

Joe's post reminded me of my first trip. One morning the last of our group's pot of oatmeal was mostly prunes that no one else wanted. I was hungry and never had a prune before. They kept me occupied....

Also on that trip, one girl's father (back home) had a heart attack and the family had her picked up and flown out. That itinerary thing can work both ways.

I always forget that they can come and get you. Route, tent color, canoe color ... type questions aren't just idle chitchat. At least I guess they can still fly in for emergencies or taking a spot or whatever would be useless.

I used to feel nauseated for the first day or two of many trips....until I realized I was dehydrated.  Now I chug lots of water, and haven't had symptoms since.

Prouboy

Puckster wrote on Jan 12^th, 2011 at 1:38am:

I used to feel nauseated for the first day or two of many trips....until I realized I was dehydrated.  Now I chug lots of water, and haven't had symptoms since. Prouboy

Been there.
Also protein.  One trip my food was essentially without protein.  After a few days I had a constant nagging headache.  We caught/ate some fish and the pain went away.  Now all my home-made dehydrating gets a spoon of granulated tgp.

Puckster wrote on Jan 12^th, 2011 at 1:38am:

I used to feel nauseated for the first day or two of many trips....until I realized I was dehydrated.  Now I chug lots of water, and haven't had symptoms since. Prouboy

You can't over stress the importance of staying well hydrated when your doing any kind of exercise/work.  Dehydration can cause mental confusion/loss of focus, not good when your reading a map or contemplating pushing on in risky situations.

Simple rule, drink till you pee clear. Works unless your taking meds/vitamins that might color you urine. Then you need to look for enough volume on the outflow ;)

solotripper wrote on Jan 12^th, 2011 at 4:46pm:

Simple rule, drink till you pee clear. Works unless your taking meds/vitamins that might color you urine. Then you need to look for enough volume on the outflow ;)

And if you need an alternate measurement (for reason that might include those listed above), you might try the pinch test.  Pinch the skin on the back of your hand when you know you are hydrated.  Watch how quickly your skin "rebounds" to the point it looks normal again.  This is your baseline.  In the field, repeat the test.  If your skin is not rebounding as quickly as normal, you are dehydrated.  Continue to take in fluids until you return to your baseline.

But, don't assume that you are hydrated as you sit there behind the keyboard.  It is not uncommon for us to be slightly dehydrated during our daily lives.

dd

I usually pinch myself to know that I'm really in Q, not just dreamin'... ;D Now I can check for hydration at the same time. Isn't multitasking fun?