Had a problem on the way home across the Nullabor, (Anaphylactic Reaction) I had to be flown from the bush (Yalata) to Port Augusta by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, we were heading west when I got a rash after setting up the caravan, just had lunch and I stated to pass out so I said to Mrs W we need a hospital and the nearest was 220klms away, so Mrs W quickly packed up and we were heading back to Ceduna (Mrs W driving with the van in tow) I suddenly remembered there was a police station about 21klms towards Ceduna (just after leaving Yalata) so I said to Mrs W to go in there and the copper lead us around to the aboriginal community clinic around the corner and the nurse inserted an iv drip to get fluids in and phoned the RFDS for advice on how much drugs (Adrenaline) to admit, a few hours later and the RFDS aircraft arrived and took us both to Port Augusta hospital for a couple of days,
All ok now, I just have to carry an EpiPen with me all the time in case it happens again, they could not find out what caused it, they suggested it could be food related or a billed up of my heart pills I have been taken for a few years, or it could of been a bite, no way of telling unless they could have got my blood sample to a path lab within 1 hour of it being taken, and there was no hope of that out in the bush, I think it would have been a bite as there were a lot of Marsh Flies about.
Apparently it closes all of your system down one at a time, the last being your throat closes up which makes it very hard to breath, in fact you just stop breathing and call the undertaker. (well somebody else makes the phone call)
Happywanderer said
03:12 PM Apr 6, 2011
Wombat. Just read your two threads, what a time you have had getting home. Sorry to hear about both. Sounds like a bite of some sort but something similiar happened to me a few years ago in Geelong. I was working in a canteen of a large Go Kart meeting. Had been on the cash register all day. By late that afternoon I was covered in welts, bigger than mozzie bites, from head to toe. Rushed to hospital and given shots of antihistamine. Took days for it to go away. Spent days sitting on the cold bathroom floor trying to deal with the itch until it subsided. They think it was from handling money all day, dirty from dirty hands, build up and through my skin. Very unusual but who knows what yours might have been. More likely be soemthing like a bite than food related unless you ate something you were not familiar with. A very scary experience for you. Did they leave your vehicles at the stop where the FDS picked you up and how did you get back there? Good luck with it in the future and hope someone has an answer to you Toyota trouble as well.
_wombat_ said
03:18 PM Apr 6, 2011
Hi HW,
The RFDS did all arrangements for transpost, we left our rig with the manager of the clinic, in his garden, and after treatment in PA we were bused and private car back to the Yalta clinc by the aboriginal community workers, great bunch of people.
Only took a couple of days to get rid of the itch, that nurse knew her job, I am pleased to say, or I my not have been back in here.
tezza said
03:43 PM Apr 6, 2011
Thankfully you are fine and have another experience to relate.
_wombat_ said
03:51 PM Apr 6, 2011
Hi tezza,
yep, all ok now, the only problem I can see with this is that the Yatla clinic is not marked on the Nullabor map, it is really only for the aboriginal community, if I had not decided to go to the police station I would maybe not be here now, it was only that we have travelled the nulla a few times and I remembered the police staion being there, it sits back from the road and can easily be missed.
-- Edited by _wombat_ on Wednesday 6th of April 2011 03:52:05 PM
Beth54 said
04:41 PM Apr 6, 2011
Gawd alright! How scary!
My daughter has an Anaphylactic reaction if she's even within smelling distance of prawns! She thought it was only if she ate them, but at a family dionner out, she was sitting NEXT to someone eating prawns and off she went! Luckily someone nearby was a medical person and someone else had antihistamines. Her throat was closing up!
Apparently it's the iodine she's allergic to.
Oh so lucky you were 'with it' enough to remember the police station, Wombat.
Firefly said
04:47 PM Apr 6, 2011
Wow Wom, thats just soooo close mate, glad you are AOK now though.
Scary stuff for sure.
_wombat_ said
04:48 PM Apr 6, 2011
Beth54
I am sure we would not have made it back to Ceduna, 220 klms away
Gerty Dancer said
06:58 PM Apr 6, 2011
Scary! Are you gonna get an EPIRB now Wombat? So glad you ended up ok!!!
tiger5 said
07:33 PM Apr 6, 2011
Hi Wombat,
It is good to hear that all is well.Must agree with you about the RFDS as i have had to use there service a couple of times.I am now pilot a member($250) a year & give where they are collecting.
_wombat_ said
07:39 PM Apr 6, 2011
Gerty Dancer
no epirb, I have HF radio but the system has all changed and I was in no position to read the new instructions at the time, I have read them now and will know what to do next time. some states require you to just press the red button and others now require you to make a selcall on the HF
_wombat_ said
07:40 PM Apr 6, 2011
tiger5 we have always supported them but did not expect to use them
DellieMay said
10:23 PM Apr 6, 2011
Wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too close for comfort, Wombat. Glad you're ok mate. Just never, never know eh? Cheers Dellie... Take care.
Cruising Granny said
10:40 PM Apr 6, 2011
The Aboriginal Communities have medical centres, the highway is an airstrip, and I think you can get some help at Penong. If all else fails you can call into the roadhouses to get help and the RFDS will still come. Now you know how that system works and all your donations have gone to a good cause.
Good on you Mrs. Wombat! Your experience reinforces my belief that all wives, partners and women should be able to tow the van in good times and emergencies. Even if it's just enough to tow forward to get help. If you want to learn to reverse and park it, that's up to you, but to at least get the feel of how the vehicle behaves with the van hooked on, especially when a road train passes or overtakes your rig. If the old man falls down the step and wrecks his ankle, no need to put the van and vehicle on the truck to go home, he just has to sit back in the passenger seat while you continue your trip. Some of us don't have real estate and furniture to "go home" to. While you received great attention at Yalata, you wouldn't want to stay there too long while your ankle healed.
Vic said
02:08 AM Apr 7, 2011
Glad it all ended well Wombat. Good news for all of us !
Ma said
03:23 AM Apr 7, 2011
Beth54 wrote:
Gawd alright! How scary!
My daughter has an Anaphylactic reaction if she's even within smelling distance of prawns! She thought it was only if she ate them, but at a family dionner out, she was sitting NEXT to someone eating prawns and off she went! Luckily someone nearby was a medical person and someone else had antihistamines. Her throat was closing up!
Apparently it's the iodine she's allergic to.
Oh so lucky you were 'with it' enough to remember the police station, Wombat.
Know how your daughter feels Beth. I am allergic to iodine too
Beth54 said
03:53 AM Apr 7, 2011
Ma wrote:
Beth54 wrote:
Gawd alright! How scary!
My daughter has an Anaphylactic reaction if she's even within smelling distance of prawns! She thought it was only if she ate them, but at a family dionner out, she was sitting NEXT to someone eating prawns and off she went! Luckily someone nearby was a medical person and someone else had antihistamines. Her throat was closing up!
Apparently it's the iodine she's allergic to.
Oh so lucky you were 'with it' enough to remember the police station, Wombat.
Know how your daughter feels Beth. I am allergic to iodine too
The strange part of it is Ma, she didn't become allergic until her early teens. She used to eat prawns when younger.
A few years later, she started getting Psoriasis, and her skin became very sensitive to many soaps and creams etc.
Weird!
Ma said
08:23 AM Apr 7, 2011
I was OK till around my late 20's. Then quite a few allergies raised their rotten heads.
Onedodger said
02:59 PM Apr 7, 2011
Wombat, I have just read your last 2 posts. Question........... Where did you run over that Chinaman?........or did you just ruin a couple of mirrors?
Happywanderer said
04:23 PM Apr 7, 2011
I have just found a book in my bookshelf that I picked up at a garage sale some time back. Haven't read it yet. Called "Hey Doc, Me mate's sick" by George Ellis. All about his time in the RFDS based in Cairns. Now might be a good time to read it. Written back in 1980.
Clare46 said
04:27 PM Apr 7, 2011
Wombat.
I don't wish you any ill will but I sure am glad Murphy is following you. Means I will be safe when I set off in a few weeks.
_wombat_ said
04:53 PM Apr 7, 2011
Thanks guys for all of your concern, it was really bad at the time but now back to normal, well normal for me.
Don't remember running over any chinamen. lol
Sounds like a good book HW.
OK Clare, you are right to go, we cleared the path for you. lol
_wombat_ said
05:08 PM Apr 7, 2011
It was not ALL gloom & doom, I did get to meet some nice Nymps at the golf course
Gerty Dancer said
05:14 PM Apr 7, 2011
Thank Gawd!!! Now we KNOW you are well, Wombat!!
_wombat_ said
05:20 PM Apr 7, 2011
Gerty Dancer
Yep, it did not stop me from seeing. lol
robell said
07:55 PM Apr 7, 2011
Glad your ok mate, must have scared the hell out of you. I have an allergy to VEGEMITE would you believe, they can't find out what ingredient causes it but it aint good. Errm, where was that golf course mate, like the look of the fairways.
gubby said
08:26 AM Apr 8, 2011
Great to know your OK mate, I was just wondering if the problems occured after that golf course.... By the way what was the par of that hole???
_wombat_ said
08:33 AM Apr 8, 2011
Welcome to the site gubby, nah the problems were b4 the Nymphs, that was just to cheer me up. lol Par 4
gubby said
08:53 AM Apr 8, 2011
Thanks for the welcome mate. Hope to see you on the road somewhere.
blaze said
09:55 AM Apr 8, 2011
gubby wrote:
Thanks for the welcome mate. Hope to see you on the road somewhere.
so you have been to stanley gubby, by the way welcome
Had a problem on the way home across the Nullabor, (Anaphylactic Reaction) I had to be flown from the bush (Yalata) to Port Augusta by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, we were heading west when I got a rash after setting up the caravan, just had lunch and I stated to pass out so I said to Mrs W we need a hospital and the nearest was 220klms away, so Mrs W quickly packed up and we were heading back to Ceduna (Mrs W driving with the van in tow) I suddenly remembered there was a police station about 21klms towards Ceduna (just after leaving Yalata) so I said to Mrs W to go in there and the copper lead us around to the aboriginal community clinic around the corner and the nurse inserted an iv drip to get fluids in and phoned the RFDS for advice on how much drugs (Adrenaline) to admit, a few hours later and the RFDS aircraft arrived and took us both to Port Augusta hospital for a couple of days,
All ok now, I just have to carry an EpiPen with me all the time in case it happens again, they could not find out what caused it, they suggested it could be food related or a billed up of my heart pills I have been taken for a few years, or it could of been a bite, no way of telling unless they could have got my blood sample to a path lab within 1 hour of it being taken, and there was no hope of that out in the bush, I think it would have been a bite as there were a lot of Marsh Flies about.
Apparently it closes all of your system down one at a time, the last being your throat closes up which makes it very hard to breath, in fact you just stop breathing and call the undertaker. (well somebody else makes the phone call)
I was working in a canteen of a large Go Kart meeting. Had been on the cash register all day. By late that afternoon I was covered in welts, bigger than mozzie bites, from head to toe. Rushed to hospital and given shots of antihistamine. Took days for it to go away. Spent days sitting on the cold bathroom floor trying to deal with the itch until it subsided.
They think it was from handling money all day, dirty from dirty hands, build up and through my skin. Very unusual but who knows what yours might have been. More likely be soemthing like a bite than food related unless you ate something you were not familiar with. A very scary experience for you. Did they leave your vehicles at the stop where the FDS picked you up and how did you get back there?
Good luck with it in the future and hope someone has an answer to you Toyota trouble as well.
The RFDS did all arrangements for transpost, we left our rig with the manager of the clinic, in his garden, and after treatment in PA we were bused and private car back to the Yalta clinc by the aboriginal community workers, great bunch of people.
Only took a couple of days to get rid of the itch, that nurse knew her job, I am pleased to say, or I my not have been back in here.
Thankfully you are fine and have another experience to relate.
Hi tezza,
yep, all ok now, the only problem I can see with this is that the Yatla clinic is not marked on the Nullabor map, it is really only for the aboriginal community, if I had not decided to go to the police station I would maybe not be here now, it was only that we have travelled the nulla a few times and I remembered the police staion being there, it sits back from the road and can easily be missed.
-- Edited by _wombat_ on Wednesday 6th of April 2011 03:52:05 PM
Gawd alright! How scary!
My daughter has an Anaphylactic reaction if she's even within smelling distance of prawns! She thought it was only if she ate them, but at a family dionner out, she was sitting NEXT to someone eating prawns and off she went! Luckily someone nearby was a medical person and someone else had antihistamines. Her throat was closing up!
Apparently it's the iodine she's allergic to.
Oh so lucky you were 'with it' enough to remember the police station, Wombat.
Wow Wom, thats just soooo close mate, glad you are AOK now though.
Scary stuff for sure.
I am sure we would not have made it back to Ceduna, 220 klms away
Scary! Are you gonna get an EPIRB now Wombat? So glad you ended up ok!!!
Hi Wombat,
It is good to hear that all is well.Must agree with you about the RFDS as i have had to use there service a couple of times.I am now pilot a member($250) a year & give where they are collecting.
no epirb, I have HF radio but the system has all changed and I was in no position to read the new instructions at the time, I have read them now and will know what to do next time. some states require you to just press the red button and others now require you to make a selcall on the HF
tiger5 we have always supported them but did not expect to use them
Cheers Dellie... Take care.
If all else fails you can call into the roadhouses to get help and the RFDS will still come. Now you know how that system works and all your donations have gone to a good cause.
Good on you Mrs. Wombat! Your experience reinforces my belief that all wives, partners and women should be able to tow the van in good times and emergencies. Even if it's just enough to tow forward to get help. If you want to learn to reverse and park it, that's up to you, but to at least get the feel of how the vehicle behaves with the van hooked on, especially when a road train passes or overtakes your rig.
If the old man falls down the step and wrecks his ankle, no need to put the van and vehicle on the truck to go home, he just has to sit back in the passenger seat while you continue your trip.
Some of us don't have real estate and furniture to "go home" to.
While you received great attention at Yalata, you wouldn't want to stay there too long while your ankle healed.
Glad it all ended well Wombat. Good news for all of us !
Know how your daughter feels Beth. I am allergic to iodine too
The strange part of it is Ma, she didn't become allergic until her early teens. She used to eat prawns when younger.
A few years later, she started getting Psoriasis, and her skin became very sensitive to many soaps and creams etc.
Weird!
I was OK till around my late 20's. Then quite a few allergies raised their rotten heads.
I have just read your last 2 posts.
Question........... Where did you run over that Chinaman?........or did you just ruin a couple of mirrors?
Wombat.
I don't wish you any ill will but I sure am glad Murphy is following you. Means I will be safe when I set off in a few weeks.
Don't remember running over any chinamen. lol
Sounds like a good book HW.
OK Clare, you are right to go, we cleared the path for you. lol
It was not ALL gloom & doom, I did get to meet some nice Nymps at the golf course
Thank Gawd!!! Now we KNOW you are well, Wombat!!
Yep, it did not stop me from seeing. lol
Glad your ok mate, must have scared the hell out of you. I have an allergy to VEGEMITE would you believe, they can't find out what ingredient causes it but it aint good. Errm, where was that golf course mate, like the look of the fairways.
Thanks for the welcome mate. Hope to see you on the road somewhere.
so you have been to stanley gubby, by the way welcome
cheers
blaze