Facts

Facts


Why I don’t ‘Do’ Camping

1.17.2010 | 3 Comments

I was supposed to go camping this weekend, but unfortunately, it just didn’t happen. I did, however pull all my (unused) camping gear out of storage. Of course I’m too afraid to actually open the boxes and go through it all because I am *sure* there are at least 72 big, fat, hairy, angry, heart-stopping, fast-moving, building-jumping, super-sonic, radioactive, big-fanged, growling, snarky spiders-with-a-penchant-for-Robyn-Tasting-Flesh in there. So I will gladly keep the lids closed until I have someone here who has a lesser fear and/or bigger, heavier shoes.

However, I do have to open the boxes before Tuesday because that is when the Delta Cable camera crew will be coming by to film me going through the camping gear. My reaction to seeing a spider is something I’d really rather NOT have caught on film, thanks. I’ve just got to be brave. Or maybe drunk. Or quite possibly both.

Stupid scary British Columbia spiders! I hate them! HATE THEM! Well, at least there aren’t any spiders in Africa! *whew*

…hmmm, you know, maybe I’d better double check just to be sure…

*Googles “Africa Spider”*

Let’s see, let’s see… here we go! First article up is from National Geographic… and what does it say here…


“African Spider Craves Human Blood, Scientists Find”

What? That’s not right. That can’t be right… can it? Maybe I should just stop while I’m ahead. Maybe I should just walk away from the computer and NOT let my curiosity get the best of me. Yeah, that’s a good plan. A really good plan. Yep, just going to get up and walk away… right now… here I go… really…


*Do NOT do a Google Image Search, do NOT do a Google Image Search, do NOT do a Googl…*


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!

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Vaccinate Me!

1.06.2010 | 0 Comments

Let’s see… Yellow Fever vaccination? Check. Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Polio vaccinations? Check. Hepatitis A vaccination? Check. Hepatitis B vaccination? Check. Fantastic! I don’t have to get any more needles before I go to Tanzania! That’s great because I *loathe* having needles. It scares the living daylights out of me for some reason, so I am very happy to avoid any further needl… hold on a second here…

Awww, man! Typhoid!? Are you kidding me!? Wait, wait, wait… maybe I can get away with not having this vaccination! Can Typhoid Fever be that common? Let’s have a look… hmmm, “endemic” in Tanzania. That’s not a word you want to see, is it? Ok, ok, but really, just how bad could Typhoid be, anyway?

Classically, the course of untreated typhoid fever is divided into four individual stages, each lasting approximately one week. In the first week, there is a slowly rising temperature with relative bradycardia, malaise, headache and cough. A bloody nose (epistaxis) is seen in a quarter of cases and abdominal pain is also possible. There is leukopenia, a decrease in the number of circulating white blood cells, with eosinopenia and relative lymphocytosis, a positive diazo reaction and blood cultures are positive for Salmonella typhi or paratyphi. The classic Widal test is negative in the first week.

In the second week of the infection, the patient lies prostrated with high fever in plateau around 40 °C (104 °F) and bradycardia (Sphygmo-thermic dissociation), classically with a dicrotic pulse wave. Delirium is frequent, frequently calm, but sometimes agitated. This delirium gives to typhoid the nickname of “nervous fever”. Rose spots appear on the lower chest and abdomen in around 1/3 patients. There are rhonchi in lung bases. The abdomen is distended and painful in the right lower quadrant where borborygmi can be heard. Diarrhea can occur in this stage: six to eight stools in a day, green with a characteristic smell, comparable to pea-soup. However, constipation is also frequent. The spleen and liver are enlarged (hepatosplenomegaly) and tender and there is elevation of liver transaminases. The Widal reaction is strongly positive with antiO and antiH antibodies. Blood cultures are sometimes still positive at this stage. (The major symptom of this fever is the fever usually rises in the afternoon up to the first and second week.)

In the third week of typhoid fever a number of complications can occur:
•Intestinal hemorrhage due to bleeding in congested Peyer’s patches; this can be very serious but is usually non-fatal.
•Intestinal perforation in distal ileum: this is a very serious complication and is frequently fatal. It may occur without alarming symptoms until septicaemia or diffuse peritonitis sets in.
•Encephalitis
•Metastatic abscesses, cholecystitis, endocarditis and osteitis

The fever is still very high and oscillates very little over 24 hours. Dehydration ensues and the patient is delirious (typhoid state). By the end of third week the fever has started reducing (defervescence). This carries on into the fourth and final week.

…Tomorrow I have an appointment at 2:45 at the Travel Clinic on Georgia St. downtown.

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Ladnerite in the Mist

1.05.2010 | 1 Comment

I am going to climb a mountain. Well, I’m going to walk up one, anyway.

I haven’t done anything like this before. In fact, I can probably count the number of times I’ve gone hiking, and I know I haven’t been camping more than half a dozen times. Don’t get me wrong, I know what I’m getting into. I’ve watched videos about climbing this mountain. I’ve submitted questions about the climbing of this mountain to semi-popular websites. I have bought (although not yet read) books about this mountain. I feel about as prepared as someone who listens to a song on the radio and then starts hiring roadies to prepare for a world tour.

In August of 2010, I am going to fly to Tanzania, Africa and climb Mount Kilimanjaro as a way to raise money for the Delta Hospice. The Hospice holds a very special place in my heart, and it is my absolute honour to take on this journey to fund raise on their behalf. But this will be no simple journey. Oh no, this will be a flat-out epic.

Aside from the parent-induced membership in Brownies and Girl Guides, I have managed to avoid the outdoors quite sufficiently for about 30 years. I am the anti-camper. I do not like being cold. The sound of rain drops falling on a tent is nearly trauma-inducing. I would rather be in prison than a sleeping bag. (Some of you more astute readers may be able to pick up the subtle hints I am dropping in regards to my views on outdoor life).

To climb Mount Kilimanjaro means that I will need to… oh, man… camp for 10 days.

And so, purely for your entertainment, I am going to allow you into my world as I train for this adventure. For the next seven months, I will allow parts of my life to become an open book, and permit you to laugh, cry and shake your head in total disbelief as I attempt to turn myself from Robyn the Indoor Princess, into Robyn the Sobbing Mess of Outdoorsy Semi-Competence.

And so it begins…

Bring it on, Kilimanjaro!

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Makes Sense to Me

1.05.2010 | 1 Comment

I am 5 ft, 7 in (170cm) high.

Kilimanjaro is 19, 340ft (5895m) high.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex was 43ft (13m) high.

From my observation, it would be safer for me to climb a Tyrannosaurus Rex than to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Something to consider.

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