{"id":143313,"date":"2016-10-21T12:39:43","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T12:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=143313"},"modified":"2016-10-21T12:40:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T12:40:31","slug":"travelling-world-hera-van-willick-collapsed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/10\/21\/travelling-world-hera-van-willick-collapsed\/","title":{"rendered":"Travelling the World with Hera van Willick: …And Then I Collapsed"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday night at 11 p.m. I pick up my laptop to finish my blog. All of a sudden my sight gets blurry, I feel dizzy and think I\u2019m going to faint even though I don\u2019t understand why. Suddenly I \u2018revive\u2019 but everything seems to have lost its solid shape. The room is moving, mirrors itself, I see the floor, close up, light dark, it spins, when I close my eyes I\u2019m home, when I open them I see a room lost in time and space.<\/strong><\/p>\n

SOMETHING IS WRONG!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alarm bells are ringing in my head and I decide that I should find someone who can call for help. I remember where to find the door and stumble into the hallway of the apartment building. I knock on the first door, no-one answers. A man walks by and I see how my appearance scares him, I realize I\u2019m on the floor. I knock on some more doors and finally someone answers. I try to explain what\u2019s happening and sink back on the floor again. Suddenly a woman sits down next to me, takes my hand and calls 911..<\/p>\n

We must have sat there for about half an hour. I try really hard to \u2018stay conscious\u2019, and not give in to the feeling that my head wants to go \u2018black\u2019. I shake my head to stay awake. I\u2019m thirsty! All of a sudden my mouth feels incredibly dry and my tongue feels thick. But since I have no clue how I ended up in the situation (am I intoxicated?) I don\u2019t want to drink anything before there\u2019s medical help.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ambulance<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When, after a police officer, \u2018finally\u2019 the ambulance staff arrives they start off by testing my heartbeat, blood pressure and blood sugar level. Nothing alarming there.<\/p>\n

We stumble down the stairs, into the night and into the ambulance.<\/p>\n

\"4413131\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

The hospital<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While I\u2019m waiting on a stool in the hospital I see some people (nurses) consulting about me, at least that\u2019s what I hope, something needs to happen. I see myself as I\u2019m sitting there on that stool and how I do the things you see \u2018crazy people\u2019 do. I touch stuff and I look around me with a hazy eyes while I see everything with immense intensity. I see EVERYTHING! Not just a wall with some brochures, but:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

brochurs<\/strong>BROCHURESBrOcHuReS<\/em>brochursBROCHURESBrOcHuReSbrochurs<\/em><\/strong>BROCHURESBrOcHuReS<\/p>\n

brochurs<\/em>BROCHURESBrOcHuReSbrochursBROCHURESBrOcHuReS<\/strong><\/p>\n

brochursBROCHURES<\/em>BrOcHuReSbrochurs<\/strong>BROCHURESBrOcHuReSbrochursBROCHURES<\/em><\/strong>BrOcHuReSbrochurs<\/p>\n

BROCHURES<\/em>BrOcHuReSbrochursBROCHURES<\/strong>BrOcHuReS!<\/strong>!!<\/em><\/p>\n

I make sounds I can\u2019t control and don\u2019t look at all like the Hera I know.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m aware of all that\u2026 but I can\u2019t do anything about it.<\/p>\n

The doctor<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019m put on a bed and told that the doctor will be with me soon. It takes to long for my likings and I feel secluded behind the curtain, so I stumble up and have a behind the curtain. I don\u2019t want to be alone. I want to be \u2018with the grown ups\u2019 en see what\u2019s happening. Luckily no-one pushes me to go back to the bed.<\/p>\n

Not much later the doctor comes to see me and I have to tell the whole story of what happened again. I keep talking. My mouth says everything that I think or feel without my approval and when they install the drip I wail like a child. Finally I get to drink some water. The doctor says something about \u2018dehydration\u2019 and that he won\u2019t be there this morning but he will be there again the next.<\/p>\n

WHAT??!<\/p>\n

In a wheelchair they roll me to a different bed and soon after I drift off into a deep dreamless sleep (thank god).<\/p>\n

Waking up<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I wake up with a fierce headache and know immediately where I am. Apart from that everything is still hazy. I feel intoxicated, but the blood work proofs that that\u2019s not the case. I\u2019m not that scared anymore, probably the pills they gave me are to thank for that, but I don\u2019t understand even the slightest bit of what happened. I act like a stranger, but I could tell my own phone number backwards in a split second and remember every bit of my itinerary of the last 4 months. In the corners of my eyers curtains are mountains, a bottle is a tower, until I focus on them and they turn back into their real shape. But also my humor is still there, I can make jokes. In the morning Shaun visits me, the cyclist with whom I would start riding the Icefields Parkway this morning. The only familiar face in Jasper. It feels good to hold his hand for a bit. I\u2019m still there. He\u2019s here, it\u2019s real and it\u2019s gonna be okay. \u2018Will you take our picture?\u2019<\/em> I ask him. Don\u2019t ask why\u2026<\/p>\n

\"The
The day goes by in a whirl and because it\u2019s \u2018Thanksgiving\u2019 there\u2019s no care apart from the nurses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"From
From the dirty window I see the snow topped mountains.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Exploring
Exploring the hospital with my new found company\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Action<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the morning Dr. Joseph is back. I\u2019m \u2018lucky\u2019 to get to talk to the \u2018tele-psychiatrist\u2019 already in the morning through some kind of Skypecall. Later that day I get to talk live to a socialworker\/therapist. This hospital is in the town of Jasper, within Jasper National Park, there are no specialists here.<\/p>\n

That day I recover quite a lot and together we try to put the puzzle of what happened together to get to some kind of diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Severe dehydration that led to hallucination and a severe panic attack.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the cold weather of the past week I must\u2019ve drunk to little water and too much coffee. Cold air dehydrates too, you pee but you don\u2019t feel thirsty. Had I been 20 years older this degree of dehydration could\u2019ve been catastrophic, dr. Joseph tells me. Apart from that I know my own mind and that I\u2019m vulnerable for dissociation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Catching
Catching some fresh air instantly feels good.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Getting dismissed\u2026 quickly please<\/strong><\/h3>\n

During my second day in the hospital I feel more and more like myself again. Slow, tired, woolly, headache\u2026 but not as lost and hazy as I felt before. Apart from that, the financial catastrophic consequences of this situation were becoming clear.<\/p>\n

\u2018Optimistic\u2019 and maybe a little naive I thought it would be enough to be insured for 2x the Dutch health care rates. I thought that\u2019d be quite a bit and I would take on whatever bit would be left\u2026<\/p>\n

It turns out: a hospital in Canada is about $4000 U.S. per night, while in Holland it\u2019s more like $ 400. Add a ambulance ride at $ 400, E.R. visit at $ 580 and you start to understand why I was in a rush to get out of there. When dr. Joseph realised I would have to pay for most of this myself he said he wouldn\u2019t charge me much for his work. That turned out to be $ 700 U.S. Later I understood that that is indeed unusually \u2018cheap\u2019.<\/p>\n

SHIT!!<\/p>\n

\"2444424\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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