UKC

Just a word of caution for our fellow mountaineers:

My other half (49 years old) had been down with a cold and chesty cough on and off since november, but otherwise felt okay, and went up to glencoe the weekend before last
After curved ridge on the Friday, a gentle walk on the Saturday, he then did Western Rib on the Sunday, but due to conditions and teams in front, he and his friend missed the lift down and had to do the walk of shame, thus a long day on the hill. He had forgotten his camelback neoprene sleeve so his water froze after hour 3, and he had no flask, so became dehydrated during the day. Once they were down, after a quick dinner they went straight to bed.
After breakfast the next day, he was then in the car for 7 hours back to Sheffield - that was on the Monday.
By the Friday, breathing was painful so he had a chest x ray and was diagnosed with pneumonia as there was a shadow on his lung.
However at 4am saturday morning he was having heart pain and cold sweats, so we called NHS direct, who called us an ambulance.
The acute cardiac care unit initially diagnosed a heart attack but then carried out various tests and diagnosed 2 x pulmonary embolisms, that had passed through the heart.
They say this was likely caused by having a hard mountain day with pneumonia, becoming dehydrated, then being sedentary the next day.

So a few different things conspired to cause this, however, it is easy to see how any of us could do the same - many of us push ourselves when feeling under the weather, and long journeys the day after big routes are common.

The consultant has said that he can start climbing again as soon as the pneumonia has cleared, but to be careful not to become dehydrated, don't do a big route if feeling unwell, and don't do a long car / plane journey the day after. Good advice for us all I think!

In reply to get to the punchline:

Bad luck. Certainly dehydration will contribute and any period of inactivity over four hours is a risk . Solution : drink lots pre travel and this means your always stopping for a pee, so on you legs for a couple of minutes , which is all you need to use the leg muscles to promote blood flow and stop clots forming .
Of note , it would be common practice to place someone on anticoagulants for 3-6 months after a PE, so if your partner is on these , make sure you do not have any sort of bang to the head , worth wearing a helmet even down the wall etc .
Hope all well.

In reply to Allovesclimbin:

Good point - he is on thinners for 6 months (injection every day) and has been told to watch out for injuries. A helmet is a good call when leading - will tell him!

In reply to get to the punchline:

Glad he's ok. I'm mainly impressed he managed a big day out with a decent pneumonia, I've got out of breath climbing the stairs whilst carrying my daughter or chasing her down the street.

In reply to galpinos:

I know! I cannot accuse him of having man flu anymore!

In reply to get to the punchline:

Well I went out for a weekend trip to Jotunheimen recently where I practically coughed my lungs up. Maybe I got lucky. Very good to know, thanks

In reply to get to the punchline:

Interesting story. I too was hacking my lungs up the other week after never quite recovering from a cold in December ended up very (scarily almost) dehydrated after a longish day on the hills.
Drank 6 pints of water at the end of the day which only just took the edge off of the headahe.

Reading this suggests i may have got lucky.