Once upon a time- A Scuba Diver's Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Survival Story

"Once Upon a Time"

(A Scuba Diver's Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Survival Story)

by

Stephanie Scott

[Around 1976, Stephanie Scott had the misfortune of dealing with carbon monoxide poisoning while scuba diving in British Honduras. This is the story of her ordeal and surviving this near fatal accident.]

Once upon a time (isn't that the way all good stories begin?), only a few years after I was certified as a new scuba diver, I signed up to go on a group dive trip to the tiny tropical island of Eden Isle, located in the clear, turquoise waters just off the coast of British Honduras [became the independent country of Belize in 1981] in Central America. I was around the ripe ole age of 26 years - foot loose and fancy-free, and working full time. It was vacation time and I was headed out on an adventure of a lifetime! I was excited! I was charged! I would be diving on the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere - 185 miles long - second in size only to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia! I wanted to be under water and was ready for the challenge. Our group had been told by the dive master of the trip that we'd have the opportunity to dive in one of the world's three largest Blue Holes - something so new and foreign to me I wasn't even sure why I should be excited about making this dive, except that the old pro's ears all perked up when they heard the news, so I figured it must be something great! I'd been on a number of other dive trips to salt water and each one had proven to be different than the one before...they were all awesome and unique to me. I loved the great visibility, unlimited variety of new things to see and do in each new and unexplored part of the world. I had only recently begun to perfect my underwater photography skills and was looking forward to taking home some prize-winning pictures to share with all my land loving friends and family.

When our flight landed in Belize City I was immediately horrified as I peered out of the airplane window and noticed the strong presence of a military - jets, tankers, jeeps, tents, small camouflaged makeshift hangars and other camo hiding places lining both sides of the runway - and guns, oh my gosh, guns and cannon-like machines! I'd heard of drug traffic in certain parts of the Southern continents, but "Geeze Louise!" what part of the briefing for this trip did I miss? I was to learn that the British Army was in place to secure this area, but that trouble had pretty much subsided and we could expect our trip to be eventless in the sense of any kind of uprising. Whew! That was a big relief!

After going through the normal procedures with Customs and Immigrations, our group of about 24 people were all finally cleared to be in this new country. We loaded all our bags (and on a scuba trip there are bags! - normal clothes, dive equipment, and for some of us, the extra camera equipment) into taxi cabs and taxi vans. Our parade of vehicles zipped up and down the threadlike streets and headed into one of the shopping areas in Belize City. We were on a quest to find a little "wood carving" shop that specialized in a variety of wooden sculptures. We'd been told to place our orders upon arrival into Belize, and pick up our "goods" at the end of the week. The carvings would be made out of Ziricote, a very hard, dark wood, sanded and then polished by local artists while we were off in diving paradise. I ordered a dolphin, one of my favorite sea creatures.

From there, we headed down the narrow roads to the town pier, where we were to meet the two old boats that would take us on the water portion of our ride for the next 1 1/2 hours - North of Belize City, past Ambergris Caye, to the small island of Eden Isle, which was to be our home away from home for the next week. I remember it was early evening when we departed from the tattered dock and headed out to sea. The feel of the wind blowing my hair and the spray of salt water coating my lips with the taste of the ocean only made me more & more excited to be a part of this trip and heightened my anticipation of the diving to come. As the trip progressed, the ocean calmed and the moon slid effortlessly up over the horizon while we skimmed along. By the time we arrived at Eden Isle, we were greeted by the glow of lighted torches randomly situated on the tiny island. We could make out silhouettes of the little thatched-roofed cabins scattered amongst the tropical palms. We walked down the long pier, carrying only our small bags, and slid our bare feet and toes onto the soft sand ----- ahhhhhhhhhhh, the life!

We went to check in and get our cabin assignments, then supper was waiting for us in the larger dining hut. Everything was so peaceful, so calm. The evening breeze was gentle, the smell of salty air and the sounds of the waves lapping quietly upon the shoreline made me feel totally laid back. Excitement sparked among all the divers - after a long day of travel - by air, by land, by sea - we were finally here, relaxed and happy to be at the place where our next week would be filled with new adventures and new friendships. If we only knew then just what a week it would be!!!

(Part 2)

At the first light of dawn, I hopped out of my bed, jumped into my clothes and was out the door for some early morning exploration. The sand outside my cabin was warm and soft to my bare feet and toes. I stretched really big and stood under the tall palms and took in my surroundings. The tiny island was chattery with the sounds of the birds. The only other person I saw was a local man raking the sand around the cabins. The ocean was basically motionless, with just very gentle waves lapping up onto the smooth sandy beach. It was early enough that the sky didn't even have much color yet, but I could tell it was going to be a fabulous day! I walked out to the beach and a little way down the shoreline. I love watching sea gulls and all the ocean birds swooping towards the water or just soaring overhead. My feet made scrunching sounds in the wet sand, and I was so close to the waters edge that my footprints would fill up with water behind me. The tranquility of the morning was exhilarating and it made me feel so happy to be there.

After saying my "good mornings" to God and this peaceful new world, I ventured back past the cabin area and on down toward the little dive hut. The long pier jutted out into the water and two boats were tied to the pilings. They seemed to have an invisible finger wagging my direction saying, "Come on aboard. Let us take you diving." I knew that time would come later in the day - and I knew the wait would be well worth it. When I got to the diving hut a couple of local boys were there filling scuba tanks. At the dive shop where I worked part time and assisted with dive classes, our tanks were filled from an electric compressor. That's all I'd ever seen. However, at the hut the compressor was gas driven. It was quite loud and the smell of exhaust was a bit nauseous in comparison to the early morning fresh air, so I moved upstream of the fumes and watched these dark-skinned boys for a few minutes. They had the tanks submerged in water during the filling process, and they were watching the gauges, so I wandered off feeling they obviously knew what they were doing.

By this time others had started stirring and before long our group had gathered for breakfast. Our trip dive master was Jim Fuller, and he gave us the run down for the day. Since the local dive masters didn't know us, they had requested our first dive of the week be made in front of the resort, using the pier as our starting point. The water depth was only 20 - 30 feet, they could observe our entry into the water from the pier, and they could watch our diving in a shallow environment. This was nothing new to me - many dive resorts had this same policy. It allowed everyone to get the proper weight on their belts and for those who hadn't been diving regularly, they could get the feel of things again. I realized the visibility wouldn't be so great that close in to shore, and I figured the scenery wouldn't be the best, BUT, I always had the theory that it was always better to start out with a dive which couldn't be described as perfect because that way you always had something better to look forward to.

I was actually quite surprised to find there was a nice variety of fish and underwater creatures to see in this inland dive area. I buddied up with a diver named Tom Rioux who I had dived with before in Lake Travis during open water check out dives and who had been part of dive group on previous salt water trips. We were both experienced divers, and in 25ish feet of water, our tanks of air lasted quite a while. After about an hour of exploring, we went into a bit of a silly stage. We turned underwater flips, we floated around up-side-down, we laid on the ocean floor and had air ring blowing contests with other divers joining in. We played lip reading games by pulling our regulators out of our mouths and "talking" to each other. When we failed to understand what the other was saying we would write notes on underwater slates which we carried attached to our buoyancy compensator. The dive area was largely sand as we were too shallow for the big sponges and larger formations of corals.

After the dive, we all headed back to shore for lunch, with the promise from the satisfied local dive masters that our afternoon dive would be off the boats in deeper water. Yes! From that point on, with the exception of the day we would dive the Blue Hole, we would be making two boat dives in the morning and one more in the afternoon. At least one night dive was planned for the week. Night diving is absolutely awesome!!! We would be allowed to snorkel around the pier as much as we wanted.

We all met in the dining area and had a wonderful lunch! It seems we had some kind of chicken, but I know we also had rice and beans and fruit - that seemed to be the norm on the island menus in this area. Actually, there was no menu per say, we just ate what we were served - and that was just fine with me!

After lunch, I loaded film into my camera, checked to make sure everything was secure on my camera setup and headed to the boats for my first dip into the deeper water off Eden Isle. Our group went out on two boats. One almost looked like an oversized fishing boat and I would guess held 6 people, but the other was a flat bottom dive boat, with a level deck and room for all the rest of the divers. Each boat had a captain and a dive master on board.

I was on the larger boat. I'm the kind of diver who, unless I have someone inexperienced to watch over, is the first person off the boat in almost all instances. I figure why waste time above the water when I can be at least "in" the water or "under" the water! Before the anchor was even dropped, I was completely ready to make my entry, with the exception of donning my fins and moving my mask from around my neck to my face. I set my bottom timer to zero, listened to the dive master's briefing, waited for the boat captain's nod, then stepped up to the back of the boat, put on my fins, adjusted my mask, told everyone on the boat "see ya!" and made a giant stride entry into the water. Someone on the boat handed my camera gear down to me and I floated on the surface waiting for my slow poke dive partners. I made sure the seal on my mask was good, blew salt water out of my snorkel, and just laid face-down gazing toward the ocean bottom, roughly 80' below.

The visibility was great! With the exception of the loss of reds and oranges and yellows, the bottom seemed an arms length away, and appeared to be a huge overgrown garden! Within just a few minutes my two dive partners, Tom Rioux again, and Jim Fuller, had joined me. After some chatter and then a final "OK" signal amongst us, we were ready to begin our descent. We set the bezels on our watches, switched from snorkels to regulators, and started letting air out of our buoyancy compensators to slowly began a direct descent, not following the anchor line, but just dropping in a totally controlled manner and looking around in awe as we gently approached the bottom. Underwater, you can actually "trim" yourself much in the same manner as one would trim an aircraft. I could trim myself to become totally neutral in weight with the slightest touch of the air valve on my compensator. I could stop myself from a descent on a dime!

I'm sure we all reached the bottom at about the same time, but I was totally focused on the landscape spread before me. I was aware Tom was about 6 yards off my right side and Jim was hovering above me and off to my left. The very first thing that caught my eye was a red and white banded coral shrimp (I sometimes called them Candy-Cane Shrimp!) down inside a deep bowl-shaped, pinkish purple sponge. I suspect the reason I could see such vivid color at that depth is because my mind knew the true colors of each one. I settled on my knees and slowly leaned over and put my face all the way down to the opening of the sponge. I distinctly remember doing this!! Both the shrimp and sponge were extremely delicate looking - a true symbiotic relationship in nature.

The next thing I remember is a flash of a thought telling me I needed to leave and go to the surface. I can't even tell you why I had such a thought. I also remember being acutely aware that I was breathing underwater - like the fish - not a worry in the world!!

(Part 3)

A great descent, an awesome view, pinkish-purple sponge, banded coral shrimp, leaning over to put my face all the way to the mouth of the sponge, a brief sensation that I should to go to the surface, awareness of breathing underwater......

..........soft, soft hands......the murmur of voices, sounding far away......just a murmur, nothing being said in particular.......I hear my name being spoken far, far away......murmurs......soft hands.......I hear my name.......deep voices.......my name.......

......I strain to open my eyes.......they're so very heavy......the voices continue.......soft, soft hands........my name.......someone is calling my name.........I finally succeed in peeping my eyes open a bit.....all I see is black faces, some are men, some are women......a circle of them above me.......I close my eyes.....I feel soft hands.......I hear my name.........I slowly open my eyes again.......I see black faces, but I also hear Jim Fuller's voice.....I close my eyes.......people keep saying "wake up"......the soft hands squeeze my hands......again I force my eyes open and this time I see Jim's face too......he looks very concerned.......I'm so tired.......I hear a helicopter........Jim is talking quite loudly to me.......no one will let me just sleep......Jim keeps telling me I need to wake up......there is no passage of time, no confusion........

........new voices......more muffled conversation.......a new feeling of hands - gentle, but not so soft.......Jim is still calling my name, telling me to wake up.......again I open my eyes.......I see a new black face - a large man standing above me - a smile - very white teeth......very calm......he tells me it is very important that I listen to him, and very important that I stay awake.......he asks me my name - I tell him.......he wants to know how old I am - I tell him.......he asks me what day it is - I tell him.......he asks if I know where I am - I say Eden Isle.......he asks me if I know this man (points to Jim) - I say "Jim Fuller"......he asks me how many fingers he's holding up - I answer 3......he asks me to spell my last name - I tell him.......he asks if I know I'm at Ambergris Caye - I say no......he asks if I remember going diving - I say yes, and for the first time I think about that sponge and shrimp I had just looked at. Now, for the first time, I feel a slight twinge of confusion.....I'm feeling cold.....my body is starting to tremble.......he tells me to stay awake, then asks me to follow his finger with my eyes. I do as he says, but it is SO hard. I'm shaking even more......and I can't stop it. I can feel every part of my body shaking. Someone places a blanket over me, and I'm aware of someone removing the long pants I was wearing to protect my legs from the coral. I'm still shaking - uncontrollably now. I just want to go to sleep. I'm not the least bit concerned......I'm not the least bit scared.......I'm not the least bit worried........I'm not the least bit curious.......I'm just shaking and very tired.

Jim starts talking to me. He tells me I've had an accident while diving. He tells me I'll be OK, but that I have to go see a doctor. He tells me a helicopter is waiting to take me to the hospital. I ask him to stay with me - he assures me he will not leave me. All I can think about is the shaking. I didn't even think once of asking what happened. Nothing hurt. I wasn't worried. I felt myself being lifted off the ground. I didn't know what I was laying on. I was just tired and kept sleeping. I was being bounced a bit......I could hear men's voices.......I could feel the soft hands again.......I was shaking so badly........

It seemed I bounced for a long time. I was aware of hearing the sounds of a helicopter growing louder and louder. I don't remember being lifted into the helicopter, but I do remember new voices, and Jim, telling me to wake up. I remember feeling the helicopter lift off the ground. The new voices wouldn't let up......"Stephanie, you need to wake up"......."Stephanie, open your eyes"........"good girl - now keep them open".......

.......Army men.......big wide open place where a door should be.......I could see we were skimming right at tree top level......huge open door.......voices continuing to tell me to wake up.....I look around enough to see that Jim is still with me.......the inside of the helicopter is all Army green....and big......the Army guys just won't quit talking.......they're not black.......lush, thick green leaves brushing against the bottom of the helicopter.......I see the leaves each time I open my eyes........I wish I could control my shaking........I need to sleep......

.......I hear changes in the engine sounds........I feel the helicopter land........finally, I can sleep......no - the voices just keep telling me to wake up........I want to be warm........the shaking is starting to hurt........people are lifting me.......I'm placed onto something softer, and I can tell it's on wheels.......I'm moving across a bumpy surface, then to a smooth surface........I'm inside a building........lots of voices........I'm feeling sick.........PLEASE quit shaking!.......I'm feeling really sick.......I think I told someone I was feeling sick, and about that time I rolled a bit to the side and threw up.......I could hear the stuff hitting the floor...........I felt bad about that.........

......I'm in an ice cold room now.......new people are trying to get me to sit up.......Jim is still there helping hold me up........I can tell I'm being checked over, but I have not a care in the world - let them do whatever they want......I just want to quit shaking. I'm aware my wet t-shirt and bathing suit are being removed - so what? I feel a warm blanket being wrapped around me, and it feels good, but I'm still shaking. I hear someone say something about needing to get me out of shock. Never a worry - no fear what-so-ever, still totally unaware of what was really going on......and didn't care. They want me to sit up at an X-ray machine......I simply can't do it......I truly AM trying, but I cannot stay awake. Jim finally talks to me in a bit of a stern voice, telling me it's important and that I need to cooperate. I always cooperate, but right this minute I just can't stay awake, and I can't hold myself upright. I can't say anything to him, but I'm thinking it. I think he knows. It would be almost a week before I would see him again.

(Part 4)

I hear noises.......far away noises........muffled noises.........I just lay still and listen. I hear a whooshing noise I can't make sense of. I feel heavy. I just lay there. I realize I'm slowly waking up. I listen carefully. Most of the noises sound far away. I finally get to where I can get my eyes to crack open a bit. I see light - like daylight. I see white. It's too bright. I close my eyes.

After a few minutes of listening, I try to open my eyes again. I feel something on my face. I can feel sheets over me. This time my eyes are a bit more adjusted and the light isn't quite so bright. I don't move anything except my eyes. I look around and realize I have no idea where I am. I'm in a small room - with white walls - that's what I see in front of me. I turn my head slightly to the left and see a door that's a bit ajar. I can hear noises coming from somewhere outside the door. I still hear the whooshing noise. I move my eyes, and head, slowly to the right and I see another door. I can see a sink beyond the door. I see two windows. They're tall windows, and the window sill is low - almost to the floor. The windows are open, and there are screens on them. The bottom of the screen on one window is torn. It looks like a jungle outside the window.

"Where am I? What is going on? Why am I in this room? I remember shaking, but I'm not shaking now. Don't move. Something is going on. What is that on the wall? It's a green glob." I move my feet. They seem to work OK. I move my legs a bit. They work too. I move my hand to feel what is on my face. "Something's on my cheek and in my nose!" I turn my head further to the left. I see a machine and a large green tank. "What in the world is going on? This looks like an oxygen tank!" I feel my face more and find I'm wearing one of those apparatus that delivers oxygen to you via a nose tube! "Where am I? What is happening? Jim? Where is Jim? I remember he was with me, and he said he wouldn't leave me."

SPLAT!! Something just hit my leg! "IT'S A FROG!! A FAT, GREEN FROG!! It must have jumped from the wall, and now it's on my leg!! What if it jumps again and lands on my face?" I must have squealed, as about that time the door of my room flew open and a big, black lady in a white uniform came charging in. She scared me half to death!! She started talking to me, but I couldn't understand a word she said. I remember pointing to the frog. She scooped it up and shoved it out the hole in the screen! "Wonderful......don't cha just know that thing can hop right back in??"

She moved over to the bed, shook a thermometer and stuck it in my mouth, then she started to take my blood pressure. I reached up to remove the tubes from my face and she intercepted my hand with a gentle force that told me not to fight her. She took my pulse, then removed the thermometer. I remember watching her big brown eyes, and finally asked her why I was there. She just smiled. Then she started messing around under the sheets and I realized I had a catheter!! "I'm definitely not liking this!" I told her I wanted that thing out! She said something to me, but I still couldn't understand what she was saying. She left.

I must have dozed off. The next thing I remember was a man's voice. I opened my eyes to see two doctor-looking guys standing beside the bed. They were young, they were white, they looked kind. They started talking to me, and I couldn't believe what they were saying. They told me they were British Army doctors who had been working in Belize for the past 8 months. They told me I was in the hospital in Belmopan, the capitol of Belize. They said I had been involved in a diving accident the day before and had passed out 80 feet below the water! "OH MY GOSH!!! HOW COULD THAT POSSIBLY BE??? I would have known if I'd passed out - wouldn't I?" They said I had been brought to this hospital the afternoon before in one of their military helicopters and I was in pretty bad shape. They told me I had a lot of salt water in my lungs and that was the reason I was on oxygen. They told me I would have to stay in the hospital until my lungs were clear, which would take time. I remember I couldn't even ask questions - all of this just sounded too much like a very bad dream. I guess I just told them OK, but I do remember asking that the catheter be removed and they told me they'd send a nurse in.

When the nurse came in she removed the catheter and then wanted me to step into the bathroom, which was where I had noticed a sink. She removed the oxygen tube from my face and helped me out of bed. "HEY! I can get myself to the bathroom, if you don't mind." BUT......no, I couldn't! She had hold of me and it's a mighty good thing too; otherwise, I would have crumpled right onto the floor...and the bathroom door was a mere two steps from the foot of my bed. "How can this be??" She let me use the bathroom, but wouldn't shut the door. I had to hold onto a metal bar just to be able to even sit up. "This is down right crazy!" About that time I started feeling like I was suffocating. I couldn't even talk. I couldn't get a breath of air. I definitely started feeling very panicky! I guess she noticed me struggling, because she helped me get back to the edge of the bed and sit down, then put the oxygen back on my face. "WHOA! That made a huge difference!" Once I was laying back down, she showed me (and understand, this lady was jabbering away to me the whole time, but she definitely spoke a different language than English, and our sole communication was gesture-related) that she was going to give me a shot - in the hip! I'm a tough girl. I really am. But that shot hurt more than anything I can ever remember having happen to me. I gripped the cold metal tubing that made up the frame of the bed and thought I was going to crumple it. It felt like the shot was thick goo that she had to push and push to get inside of me. Even after she left, I could barely move. Tears poured down my face, but I don't think I made a peep.

I don't remember much about the rest of that day. I guess I remember hearing sounds from time-to-time, but for the most part I must have slept. I do remember a different nurse coming in late in the day and repeating that shot ordeal again, and after the second one I couldn't imagine ever doing that again! I also remember still not worrying, or even thinking about, the diving accident, my friends, what might have happened.......just nothing.

The second morning when I woke up I needed to go to the bathroom and decided I could handle it on my own. I was able to get to the bathroom by holding onto the bed, and then the door, but I felt totally like a rag doll. Without the oxygen, breathing was a definite challenge. I realized I needed to tend to business quickly so I could get back to that nose tube. I made it OK, but couldn't believe how incredibly weak I was - and how hard it was to breath.

Later that morning, I had to endure a third shot. I was at my wits end! I could never allow that to happen again. The two doctors finally came again and told me they wanted me to start sitting up some, and cranked the bed into a reclining position. They also told me they wanted to start weaning me off the oxygen. I talked to them about the shots, and asked if there wasn't some way I could take the same medicine in pill form. I told them how very bad they hurt. Thank Heavens! They felt pity for me and were able to order that change. They said they would send a wheel chair for me and I would go get an X-ray to see how the water in my lungs was doing. I told them I was not able to communicate with any of the nurses. They told me I was very lucky that the British military was in Belize, as without the helicopter the ride to this hospital, which was the best in the whole area, a ride to here through the jungle would have taken hours. They said I would have likely been taken to a local hospital closer by, and they didn't know how I might have fared without the more modern technology they had there. They even said that if they weren't there, I would have been treated by local doctors, who likely wouldn't have been able to communicate with me either. I think I was starting to put two and two together enough to realize that something bad had happened.

(Part 5)

And so the story continues........I did cooperate very nicely with the doctors and nurses, and after a day of really having a hard time breathing without the oxygen, things started to ease up. I got a telephone call the third morning from Jim Fuller. I only talked to him a few minutes, but he was able to fill in some of the gaps for me. He confirmed that I had passed out at around 80' and he was very suspicious of carbon monoxide poisoning. He said several other divers had come up from their dive with bad headaches. He had isolated my tank and had a sample of its air in a small pony bottle that he would take back to the States to have tested. He said Tom was the one who first noticed I was in trouble and made the first move to take action. Jim had seen Tom making his initial efforts to move me to the surface. He said he recognized that we weren't engaged in "normal diving" and immediately joined in to help Tom. He told me I threw up all the way to the surface, so they were pretty sure I hadn't embolized, but were quite nervous when they reached the surface and found I wasn't breathing. He asked me how I felt and I told him "better." He told me he had gathered some of my clothes and someone would get them to me later. I was concerned about getting to rejoin the group, and he said he had no control of that. I tried to find out where I was in relation to them and he told me I was quite a way from them. He told me he was able to pull his Air Force strings to get the helicopter sent out to pick me up. I asked him when he left and he told me I fell sound asleep after the X-rays, so the helicopter took him back to Ambergris Caye where a boat was waiting to take Tom and him back to Eden Isle. He said it was really late when they got back to the island.

I received my clothes later that day, which was great! The doctors allowed me to wear my normal clothes (which were just shorts, t-shirts and flip flops) and not the ole hospital gown any more. Once I got my clothes, they also allowed me to get out of my room and explore a bit. The whole hospital was quite small. At first I just roamed the main hallway - I couldn't walk very far before I just ran out of breath - and I certainly couldn't walk fast. I found they did have one room where several sick children were located, and I would walk into their room quite often. There must have been 5 or 6 babies and small children, and they were quite pitiful - the place wasn't too clean and it didn't appear the children were tended to very well. There was always crying coming from that room - and of course, all of them were black. Outside, there were a couple of benches along the sidewalk, and no one seemed bothered if I walked out and sat on those benches, so I spent as much time as I could sitting outside or walking up and down the sidewalks. It was really pretty outside. I saw lots of birds I'd never seen before, parrots were everywhere, funny looking lizards scurried all over the place and little squirrels were busy all the time. Butterflies of all colors fluttered between all the different flowering shrubs and off into the jungle. Green tree frogs were easy to find stuck to the exterior hospital walls.

Each day I had to have a chest X-ray. Although I couldn't understand the X-ray technician, we were able to communicate and I somehow convinced him to let me come into the room where he developed the film. I would see my own X-ray before the doctors would. Each day he would line up all the pictures and show me the progress my lungs were making in getting rid of the fluid. Each day it was easier and easier to breath.

In order to get to the X-ray room, I had to leave the main part of the hospital and walk down a covered sidewalk to another small building. One day I had stepped into the grass and was only a few feet away from the sidewalk when one of the British doctors found me. He got all excited and told me it was very dangerous to explore too closely to the fence which separated a mowed lawn surrounding the hospital from very, very dense jungle. He said there were nasty snakes and other critters in the jungle and he didn't want me to get hurt. I immediately thought about the torn screen on my window and about how low it was to the ground. I could think of nothing that would stop a snake or "critter" from entering my room - that green tree frog certainly had no trouble. From that time on, I kept that one window shut all the time.

The British doctors had told me their unit was pulling out of Belize and heading back to England in the next few days. They were just waiting on the final orders. I told them there was no way I could stay in that hospital if they weren't there. I was really scared about what might happen to me. I would have NO ONE who could understand me. I had no idea how to get in touch with Jim - I simply had to get out of that place! The doctors reviewed my X-rays with me and said they thought it could be another week still until the fluid had left my lungs. They were concerned about infection, and lung problems, and flying at altitude. I was taking fairly large doses of cortisone and antibiotics, and while progress was good, I wasn't well enough to be set free. I then started thinking not only of these doctors deserting me, but my whole group would be leaving to go back to the States in a few days, and I absolutely could not be left at this hospital - in the jungle - by myself! It just couldn't happen!

I pleaded my case, with utter desperation, to these two young doctors. They finally decided there was perhaps a way to let me go. On my 5th morning they told me they planned to walk a short distance into the little town of Belmopan later that afternoon. They wanted me to come along with them, and if I could make the trip without any help, they would figure out a way to get me dismissed from the hospital in time to go home with my group, and to not be left stranded without them. Whew! I felt huge relief! I actually didn't feel bad at all. Nothing hurt, except my lungs, and only if I exerted myself too much. I was convinced I was strong enough to make it into the village, and back, later that day.

Later that afternoon the two doctors found me. Together, the three of us walked into the village. We took it slow and just enjoyed our surroundings, almost as if we were tourists. The jungle had been pretty well cleared away from the road into town. Tiny houses were scattered here and there. Clotheslines, some lined with clean clothes, and some flowery bushes around the houses were the common decor.