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The morning began with a "land in 3 hours" -
what a great way to start the day. Everybody was excited. We had very good wind
the last few days - so we were able to catch up on some lost time when we left
Palos de la Frontera
(Mazagón). We spent most of the morning "checking" into land again and finding
a clinic to do some basic blood tests on the team. I am very eager to learn the
results. Clinically Andriy is looking very poorly and the rest are not far
behind. I was able to weigh the team on solid ground. Goltis lost 10,5 kg, Andriy 10 kg, and Constantin 7,5 kg. This cannot be good!
To my relief Andriy started drinking as soon as
we set foot upon "terra firma". He added a small amount of "blessed" water to
his bottle and savored a small amount of H2O. I have not seen anybody enjoy
this "basis of life" so much before. His color came back in a spectacular
blotchy fashion. In total he spent 7 days 14 hours without water, Constantin was
doing well throughout his 7 days 16 hours. He only reported severe fatigue.
Goltis is still dry fasting as I write.
The blood results came back and surprisingly it
was not "too" abnormal. As expected their kidney functions deteriorated (raised
Urea and Creatinine levels). Their electrolytes, blood glucose and complete
blood count remained within the normal range.
As soon as the blood work was done Constantin
also drank water. He also looked much better within minutes. I can see that his
eyes became more sunken in over the last few days. His color improved rapidly -
but not in such a dramatic fashion as with Andriy. Goltis is still determined
to continue in the same way for a few days more... and that concerns me a lot.
The crew went for a "rub and scrub" at a local
Spa in Las Palmas. The heat of the sauna was a relief for my cold blood, but I
also could not believe that Goltis would expose himself further to the
hypotensive (blood pressure lowering) effect of a warm sauna. He insisted for
the sake of "helping the body to get rid of some toxins". I am not too familiar
with this Nordic tradition, but I cannot imagine it could be good for somebody
who is dehydrated and starving. In the sauna Goltis's resting pulse rate went
up to a regular 140 beats per minute. This is very worrying, but he stays commited
to continuing his fast against my advice. We walked back to the marina and I
could see Goltis does not have a lot of energy left. We had to stop after about
a kilometer so that he could rest. He is currently a shadow of the man that I
have met just over a week ago... with dehydration the toxins produced by his
body will be building up - there is no scientific study (that I am aware of)
behind his method of releasing toxins with a long sauna - but I do hope that it
works in some way. At this stage his body is poisoning itself as there is no
filtration system going and all his organs will be faced with these destructive
toxic effects... his body must be crying for water at this stage.
I hope that he will start drinking tomorrow. |
