lessons learned

[wildWoman]

I had to be medevaced out last week because of severe internal bleeding, which didn't make itself felt until I just keeled over one night. After 5 days in the hospital, I'm back out in the sticks now, still pretty weak and wobbly, but a bit smarter again...
-a human companion is invaluable in the wilderness
-always carry plenty of gear and means of communication with you because if you're too weak to move, that is what your life may depend on
-always have a back-up plan and people to call on in case you need to airlifted out but need somebody to stay at the home front
-the land sometimes provides...the day after I got back, my partner shot a moose: fresh liver, heart and meat!
-and thank goodness for Canada's beat up public haelth system because I wouldn't have been able to pay for all this.

[nell67]

So glad you are ok WW,what on earth happened???

[Sourdough]

WOW, sure glad you made it. Did they chopper you out....? I can not imagine a world without WildWoman.....:):):)

[Riverrat]

Glad to her you are ok...don't mean to pry, but can you tell us what happened? Man, just never know eh?

[Gray Wolf]

Get well soon, I'm glad you're out of the hospital.

[crashdive123]

Glad you're doing OK. Take care.

[wareagle69]

wtf glad your on the mend wildone not enough pilgrims like you around. now lets look at what you learned, great point about always being able to stay in comunication with either your home base or haveing a sat link with the local town for emergencies such as this, man the ol man must have been going nuts wondering what was going on but still haveing to stay back cuz of the critters i can empathize with that i'm in the same boat. be safe young lady.

[rebel]

I'm sorry to hear you had a health problem. I hope your on the road to a full recovery.

Remote lifestyles are neat but come with a price. I think about folks with sailboats in the middle of the ocean and needing medical attention. I guess the key is risk management. You have to ask yourself does the desired outcome outweigh the risk. Another question, does putting someone else at risk outweigh my desires.

[Fletcher]

I've been wondering where you were. Hope your feeling better soon.
Moose liver is so good and the best ribs that ever had four legs underum

[klkak]

I had to be medi-evaced out last week because of severe internal bleeding, which didn't make itself felt until I just keeled over one night. After 5 days in the hospital, I'm back out in the sticks now, still pretty weak and wobbly, but a bit smarter again...
-a human companion is invaluable in the wilderness
-always carry plenty of gear and means of communication with you because if you're too weak to move, that is what your life may depend on
-always have a back-up plan and people to call on in case you need to airlifted out but need somebody to stay at the home front
-the land sometimes provides...the day after I got back, my partner shot a moose: fresh liver, heart and meat!
-and thank goodness for Canada's beat up public health system because I wouldn't have been able to pay for all this.

I am so glad you are OK. I agree with you 100%. I believe in my heart that I owe my life to many of the things you listed.:)

[wildWoman]

Thanks folks...I'm sure my serious forum addiction helped me pull through ;)
Turned out to be a bleeding stomach ulcer that I had no clue I even had...no pain, no nothing, was feeling comlpetely fine until I collapsed. Anyone with ulcers out there: over 85% are caused by a bacteria, Heliobacter pylori, and can be treated with antibiotics that kill off the bacteria. Might want to consider it...
No chopper, hopeak, got a Beaver instead. Bad timing, what with hunting season under way, it took an hour and a half for the air ambulance to get a hold of a commercial pilot. Ironically, as we sat and waited, a floatplane flew low over the cabin, headed (we assumed) to the mineral exploration camp south of here. We tried to flag him down but no luck. Later in the hospital, as I was talking to one of the nurses, he told me that they had admitted somebody else from our lake that day - that plane had medevaced someone out from the mining outfit! Jeez, could have even "planeshared"!
We've been thinking about getting one of those satellite emergency messenger thingies (like "spot") for a while; would make sense because I spend half the winter alone out here and we do lots of stuff in the woods without each other. This episode makes those things look quite appealing. You can use them to just check in with friends and send an "I'm ok" signal, or request emergency help, plus it transmits your GPS coordinates. On the one hand I hate all this technical crapola, on the other hand I'm too attached to this life to just chuck it if there's something like that that might save my behind one day...
Anyone have one of these things??

[rebel]

I'm sorry but, my wife has to do med-evacs (not by choice) for folks who live in places not accesible to emergency treatment. She has to put her life on the line in a helicopter (whistling outhouses) for azz holes who think they deserve special treatment because they choose to live in a remote place. So, knowing that and your attitude about free med care make you a taker and not a giver. I had more respect. As always, time will tell.

[Rick]

Jeeez, Rebel. Kinda harsh. The other side of the coin is also viable. Your wife does what she does because she wants to. If she felt her life was in danger because of her job it would behoove her to find something else. And, Canadian health care is what it is. Not much difference between it and Medicare it terms of choice. That's what you have so you use it. It's not like WW can change the kind of health care she has. As for living in the sticks, I see MediVac all the time at crash scenes or industrial accidents. A chopper is often the faster form of transportation if you are in the sticks, in a roll over on the interstate or a trench collapse in the middle of the city. Those brave folks set down where ever folks need help.

[crashdive123]

I don't want to speak for WildWoman, but I'm guessing she would have much rather preferred to stay in her cabin enjoying her daily routine, and NOT be flown out to a hospital due to a potential life threatening illness........just a guess.

[wareagle69]

that ain't right rebel
lets see my best friend had to be medevaced out from getting tramppled by a bull we live far out in the middle of no where but he runs a dairy and beef farm so all you city folks can eat, is his lifestle choice selfish? and just cuz we get free healthcare don't mean squat sometimes i wish i was back in the states cuz all our good doctors go there for the money leaving us with the idealists to care for us who would you rather have working on your loved ones? that ain't right bro living free should not be a punishment

[rebel]

Your right. I was wrong and my apologies to WW and everyone.

1. It bothered me that WW had to wait for help.
2. It upset me that WW watched help fly over and they couldn't stop.
3. I've lost two friends to chopper malfunctions and I don't like my wife being in them.

Again, I'm extremely SORRY WW.

[wareagle69]

see now my respect has gone back up for you my friend way to man up son

[rrsnook]

WW i have an epirp for when i go offshore fishing however i have never been in an emergency situation where i had to use it. I do feel better that i have it just in case.

[trax]

Glad you're ok Wildwoman.

[trax]

Hey Rebel

Not trying to pick on you bro, but one thing you should realize about Canada is that once you're north of ohhh, the 54th parallel or so, medevacing is far more common than people in the south realize. We just don't have the medical services in the north that we have farther south and there's a dire shortage of roads (which I think is a good thing). A lot of communities depend on air travel for everything. Something like 90% of our population lives within 200 miles of the American border.

[rebel]

It's cool.

The article was by chance. I didn't go looking for it.

I thought I would share the information as presented to me.

[pgvoutdoors]

Wish you well and a quick recovery.

[trax]

I had to be medevaced out once because the town I was in couldn't stitch together a severed tendon in my left hand, it was about a 200 kilometer trip by road so they tossed my on a plane. Wasn't a special medevac flight mind you, but I didn't have to pay for the plane ride either.

[rebel]

Trax I'm glad you and WW had things work out in your favor.

[homejoy]

I'm thinking of getting a Fast Find 210 personal locator beacon for just such emergencies. My husband and I are over 60 and probably should just stay in town rather than going out to the cabin. But we don't want to do that.

In talking to the rescue people, we asked about helicopters but there aren't any that run at night around here (central British Columbia) -- not even a float plane. We are willing to pay but they don't exist for hire, apparently. They also require a lot of cleared space to land. As to the "free" medical, we do pay taxes. Just a comment: I don't know anybody who has had to wait for cancer surgery and all the stuff they are telling you down there. Our system is simple compared to the US system (could be because we have 1/10 the population?) but it works for me and everyone I know. Oh, I do know a rich family who sent someone off to the Mayo Clinic but she died anyway.

[Jay]

Glad you're ok WW. Take care.
j

[Ole WV Coot]

Glad you are doing OK. You don't have to live in the sticks, they are necessary all over the area I live in. These hills get rough sometimes and lots of territory I roam over covers many acres of "nothing to not much" and sometimes it is necessary to take a GPS reading and ride several miles to get a cell phone signal. I lost a few folks way back when to gunfire, accidents & agent orange problems later in life and they did it because they wanted to. Keeping calm & having a way to call for help plus folks that want to help folks they don't know makes us decent people.