While bowhunting I was hit with a bout of pneumonia. Our camp was at 9700 feet and we were hunting at about 10500 or so. At first I thought it was just a chest cold so I put up with it for a couple of days and nights. Too long really. It got so bad that I couldn't sleep laying down due to the fluid in my lungs, and even the smallest physical effort left me totally exhausted and out of breath. I finally wised up and drove myself the 40 miles to the nearest hospital. They put me on oxygen, IV antibiotics, and did an EKG and a CT scan to rule out cancers, hantavirus, etc. They detemined the cause was bacteriological. After 8 hours I felt great and, against the doctors advice, drove back to camp hoping to resume my hunt. No chance. I stuck it out with oral antibiotics for about a day and a half, and got my butt back to the hospital. They told me that my O2 level was 74, which they said was pretty low. After 2 more days of IV's, with portable oxygen, I was able to return to camp, collect my gear, and go home.

I gleaned a few lessons from this episode. If an ailment seems worse than the usual it probably is. The altitude definately affected the severity of the illness. So even though I've hunted this high all my life it still pays to be aware of the effects it can have, particularly on lung ailments. It was amazing how much better even fluid-filled lungs work at 4500 feet compared to 10500 feet. I'm going to try to lay in a supply of Levaquin or some other antibiotic in my hunting camp's FAK (although I'm not sure my Doctor will give me any more now that I'm getting over it.) And finally, the next time the doctor says: "I really want to keep you here for a couple of days" I am going to listen.