Actually, almost everything was cancelled on Saturday. After hiking 11 long miles in the 90-degree heat carrying a 30 pound backpack, my body said, "No More!". Now, mind you, I exercise fairly often (albeit it has sluffed off in recent months), and I play sports several times a week.
I was light headed and somewhat nauseated. So, a buddy stayed with me, and the other three were going to go forward further and get the car to come back and pick us up. Around 5:30, after eating a PB&J sandwich and some trail mix, I had to lie down. Nothing appeared too serious. We were still 5 miles short of our destination. In fact, only 1 guy made it the entire way, and that was without his backpack.
At 6:56 the car rolled up and things were looking up. Until 20 minutes later, en route to our starting vehicle, I got really sick. I had to get out of the car and wait for the guys to come back to pick me up. I was puzzled since I had drank 350 oz of water in the 6 hours that we were hiking, and I had eaten almost an entire pack of jerky. Again, someone stayed with me, which was awfully important. I laid down and knew I wasn't getting back up. I told my friend to call 911 - my heart was racing.
I thought it would take forever for the ambulance to show up, since we were in the woods, but the 10 minutes actually did feel like 10 minutes. I had my shirt cut off and ice packs hit me immediately. So did the oxygen tank, which felt good, but I started to tremble. My legs were shaking uncontrollably, and I was, to say the least, scared shitless. I thought that perhaps my ego was about to end me. This would prove to be a little overdramatic, however, since I am typing this less than 48 hours later.
It was a 25 minute ride to the hospital due to the windy roads and our location in the forest. My heart dropped when the paramedic pulled out the defibrillator, but when I inquired about it he ensured that it was just precautionary, and he needed to use the monitor that the machine had. Since I was able to talk, had an IV hooked up, and my pulse was down in the 80's, my mind was in a better place, even though my legs couldn't stop shaking.
We got to the hospital and I kept taking more of the IV. The ER staff didn't seem too alarmed or rushed with me, which was comforting. My girlfriend arrived teared, but I was able to call her by the nickname I usually do and I think that calmed her a bit.
All told, I wound up taking 3 IV packs and later they were able to find that my potassium and sodium levels had dropped to an unacceptable level. And, as I drank more water, it only made things worse.
I was discharged around 11:30pm and have been fine ever since. But - it was a scary experience, again being reminded that things can change very dramatically in a very quick instant.
Please never forget this, and, if you read my story, make sure you tell everyone who matters to you that you love them. Do it as much as you can.
