First and foremost, I want to make it clear that my situation has NOT been conclusively connected to my safari experience; however, it seems the sequence of events leads back that way. Regardless of the origin of my problem, there is a lesson to be learned whether it happens at home or abroad. As a health care professional, I should have known better, but here is my story:

In the weeks before my safari to the Zambezi Valley with Shumba in August 04, I pulled a major boner, when I got a giant blister on the ball of my foot. It was pretty nasty, and by the time I left for Zimbabwe, it was already bleeding profusely if I spent too much time on my feet. I made sure to pack extra socks and two 10 packs of gauze bandages, and antibiotic ointment.

By day three, I had run completely out of bandages, and started using strips of t-shirt and tissue paper to soak up the blood in my boots. The wet boots, sweaty socks, shower floor and lack of first aid supplies did not help things. I didn’t want to look like a pussy, so I pretty much kept it to myself for the balance of our trip. I walked, stalked and did my best to hide it, and by the end of the safari, I was feeling pretty crappy. I blamed it on my being fat, lazy, and recently diagnosed diabetes.

By the time I got home it was a bloody, diseased mess as big as your palm, and I was told I had a 30% chance I’d lose my foot if I did not, A) lose weight, B) get my blood sugar under control, and C) get a specially made walking cast.

Talk about a wake up call!

As detailed here previously, I went on a low carb diet, hired a personal trainer and started losing weight rapidly. Unfortunately, my foot did not improve. I was tested for all kinds of bugs and it was determined I needed to lose more weight, change my diet, and keep refitting my walking cast. My white blood cell count was too high, and I was running an intermittent fever, and had an ultrasound for internal infections. I had my gall bladder removed and things got much better…

I never did seem to really get back to normal (whatever that is), and I felt like crap the next few months. I finally lost 105 pounds total, going from 6’7†340# to 235. I am as thin as I was in high school. I did start feeling better in late summer 05, but by Fall of this year, I just felt like something wasn’t right. I blamed it on stress, age, diet, blah, blah, blah, (as we all do in our mid-40’s I guess.)

Finally, just after the SCI event in Reno it hit me. I was out-of-sorts that whole time, and wondered what was up. I was hanging with the AR guys, Christer, Don Heath, Leon Du Plessus and all the other really fun guys, but just didn’t feel like talking. Something was wrong, because I should have been hammering them for some kind of deal, or challenging them to a fight!!!!!!

With Christer from Sweden (CCHunter), a couple other friends from Zim in company, things went bad. We had planned a trip to the desert to shoot Shumba’s .50 Cal and other fun toys, so we all loaded up and drove to the Mojave, but after tweaking my ankle real quick the night before, my blood started to boil.

My fever was 102 orally, and although I managed to draw a handgun to keep Christer and Shumba from taking a rectal reading, I ended up having blisters popping up on my foot later that day. I tried to be a tough guy, but my wife, daughter and Christer finally talked me into going to emergency to check things out. Ultimately, I spent ten days in the hospital while they did blood cultures and tried to figure out what was wrong.

It seems I have a serious bacterial infection that has managed to get into my bone marrow to the point it weakened my bones and caused a fracture that led to the discovery of the infection causing all my grief. The specialists think it took at least a year to get this bad. I was on industrial strength antibiotics in the hospital and will be spending the next six weeks on a portable IV pump, with a cardiac catheter pumping the stuff right into my boiler. I am feeling remarkably different, and in fact, wonder if this has been f-ing with my head for a long time. My blood sugar, BP and everything else are normal right now.

Anyway, the bottom line is this: I did NOT bring enough first aid supplies to treat my wound! I did NOT tell anyone how bad things were because I wanted to be a tough guy, when there may have been other supplies in camp, had I just asked!

The tropical disease specialist said the only time they usually see this particular bug is in scuba divers who cut their feet on coral reefs. I HAVE been to Mexico, and to Alaska twice while my wound has been festering, but the doctor thinks it may have been something I got in my wound in the Zambezi while I didn’t take good care of it.

Next time you go on a safari, or a trip outside the country, or for that matter hunting or fishing ANYWHERE, be sure you take FIVE TIMES the amount of first aid supplies you think you’ll need. Worst case, you leave them with your PH. Talk to your doctor if you have any pre-existing conditions that might cause you problems, including a bad tooth, or even heart burn. Discuss and consider if you might be a good candidate for antibiotics before you even leave, and make sure they are appropriate for the area you will be visiting.

And when you get home, if something doesn’t feel right, don’t be a tough guy and ignore it. It might just save your life. Finally, the single most important thing you can do from a preventive standpoint is to try and get into the best shape possible before you go. Not only in your own opinion, but also in the opinion of a professional.

Hopefully this will end up on the Hunt Reports Forum as an anchor. Learn from MY screw up!

Glad you've gotten to the bottom of your troubles, Mark. Even happier that you're feeling better.

Thanks for the words of wisdom, especially to a croud like us that tends to be a bit self-reliant and thick skulled!

The same old thing with guys: "It'll never happen to me."

Sounds like good advice, and a happy ending. That's a real winning situation.

quote:

Originally posted by dustoffer:
The same old thing with guys: "It'll never happen to me."

Glad you are better.That was quite an ordeal. This week I learned that men are the number one buyers of GPSs for autos because we don't like to ask for help.Yo must be an ex army ranger or navy seal who doesn't know when to say you have had enough.You certainly sound tough enough to be one. Nearly 40 years later I am glad I marked thru my application for ranger school and changed it to flight school. You don't need to be a CPA to figure that one out and I still had plenty of adventures. Good hunting and best of luck.

Sounds like a defination of what can happen when we don't
pay our respect to Murphy's Law!

Jesus Mark...

I saw you at SCI and you seemed a little off to me barely talked and I tought ahh...must just a been out partying last night...

But I am not innoncent here either...I have now had pneumonia two years in a row from letting my self get run down...

Take care lets all go see Kyler again...

I have a friend that took several ace bandages, gauze patches, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and band-aids and was arrested for importing medical supplies. Be careful how much of anything you take to Africa. His fine just happened to be the exact amount of cash he had in his wallet. Go figure.