On Tuesday evening Bruce, Delmence and I went to a Kili talk at Cape Union Mart. Both Bruce and Delmence are doctors, which fills me with great relief, knowing that I will be well taken care of in case of emergencies. Even though Bruce is a doctor of the more "hairy" variety, he can still use a needle and administer medicine. Unfortunately he might just have to get used to some verbal abuse if ever he brings a needle close to me!
So on our way to the talk, Delmence pulls out her list of medicines for us to take with on our Kili trip. Being the thorough doctor that she is, she did her research and made sure that we will be prepared for every eventuality. This ranges from nausea, diarrhoea, cramps, altitude sickness and, well, not to bore you with the detail I might just say the list goes on... Adding up to 188 pills per person, I kid you not!!!
I am one of those people who hate drinking pills. Jan usually breaks them in smaller pieces for me just so that I will swallow them. So here I am, debating with myself: do I want to drink a pill (or eight) per day for nausea, or am I willing to risk being sick? Which brings me to the story of a group of Cape Union Mart staff who went on a Kili trip a few years ago. Two guys, who did not get on before the trip, decided to share a tent (or more likely were told to by their boss ). Things went ok between them until summit morning. The one guy got sick, threw up outside their tent, right into the other guy’s shoes. When they woke up a few hours later, ready to summit, the vomit was frozen in the shoes, and the guy who was not sick, could not summit.
Oh dear oh dear. I don’t know if the lesson to learn from the above story is to drink more pills, perhaps it is to not leave your shoes (most important possession on this trip) outside!
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