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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



 
 
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Old 6 May 2008
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Nanaimo BC Canada
Posts: 71
you asked
Waiting a life time to finally take that first big adventure. We planned for 18 months to travel from our home in Canada to Panama, me and four friends. We all arrange to take five weeks away from our loved ones and our work to make the trip. Due to leaving in January we make arrangements to drive the bikes down to Phoenix in November and then fly down and pick them up January to do the trip.

I spent the better part of a year working out, loosing weight, going to Bikram Yoga three times a week to get used to physical exertion in high heat and humidity environment (just try to image a 50 year old office worker – male – in a yoga outfit sweating profusely). We all did as much pre-planning, bike selection, riding schools etc to make sure we – all four of us – were up to the task at hand.

Things were working out great. We all got along. We were riding lots and making decent time and coping with the joys of riding in a different country with different cultures and languages than our own.

But as we were in southern Mexico and getting ready to head for Guatemala over a couple of days I started not feeling right. I was not sleeping, was very “flushed” in the face and generally a little more anxious than usual.

Then by chance I happened to check my pulse rate during dinner on night and noticed that it was doing some funky shit – like missing a beat every few seconds. I phoned home to my wife who is an emergency room nurse and discussed the issue. Upon her advise I found a local doctor who spoke a little English to match my pathetic Spanish. During his examination he asked what medication I was taking for my high blood pressure. None, I told him, as I don’t have high blood pressure. Nope I did have high blood pressure which at that time was 150/90.

In the mean time my wife was doing some research and found that the next town, about 4 hours away, had a full service hospital. So next day I go to the next town, check into the clinic there and meet an exceptional doctor who spoke excellent English. At that point he used words that scared the hell out of me. Words like “stroke”, “heart attack”, “dangerously high blood pressure”. Words that really make a middle aged man take notice. It seems that by then my blood pressure was up to 180/100 and I was in need of medical attention ASAP. Also my ride was over at that point as they could not guarantee that the medicine would not bottom out my blood pressure causing me to pass out – not a good thing while riding a motorcycle in a foreign country !

My wonderful wife made arrangements for me to fly home within a couple of days to seek long term medical attention back here in Canada. My riding partners carried on to Panama without me and had a very successful trip in my absence

To answer your question the worse thing that could happen is that I did not go to start with! To sit and dream and never try would have been the worse thing. To go and not succeed is devastating but as much and not to go at all.

As a side note, I was treated wonderfully by the Mexican medical system for a nominal cost. Much better in some ways than our Canadian system. I have been home for four months and I am finally seeing the specialist this week. All indications are that the irregular heart beat and high blood pressure was caused by air pollution poisoning and at this point I have no long term affects from the trip. As my regular doctor pointed out to “what do you expect. You work in an air conditioned office, live in a place that has excellent air quality and then go to Mexico and ride for 12 hours a day inhaling all that air pollution and vehicle emissions. And you didn’t think you would get sick”.


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