Evelyn Zaklan
Evelyn Zaklan is our Membership Coordinator for the South Fraser Valley Health region
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| the | Coquitlam Connection | |||||||||||||||||
| My Story | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| In the spring of 1996, my goal was to go kayaking in Belize. Then somebody moved the goal posts. An acute case of colitis left my colon in the dumpster and my body 45 pounds lighter. A few months later I was a resident of the hospital again with severe osteoporosis and several crushed vertebrae. The prednazone, inactivity, and TPN (total parental nutrition) had left me with bones twice my age( 110 years old.) Now all of that is history. Here are the current events. In April 2001, the 5th anniversary of my stoma, I scored my goal. Four of us set out from Placentia in southern Belize kayaking from one sandy palm covered island to another. We soon learned to leave the Mangrove islands alone as a visit to these left us looking as if we had measles, as a result of voracious sand flies and mosquitoes. We paddled glassy turquoise waters, we surfed white cap waves and snorkeled the coral reefs. You may wonder about the ostomy care. In the kayak I had the advantage over my 3 companions. When high waves or a large ray swimming by caused an involuntary reaction I could just dump my pocket overboard. (my apologies to the fishes in the deep blue sea for the processed food) The salt water, snorkeling, and the moist air made a shorter life of the flange. ( 4 days rather then my usual 7). No problems occurred. We drank the milk and ate fresh coconut carried our own water and dried foods. After a week of pitching a tent in the shade of a palm tree where one must obviously be careful not to have coconuts hanging overhead as a falling one may prove lethal. Sore shouldered and suntanned. the goal was finally accomplished and we returned to rainy B.C. My next goal? Anyone want to go cycling in Ireland? Evelyn Zaklan Evelyn Zaklan is our Membership Coordinator for the South Fraser Valley Health region |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| In three words I can sum up everything I�ve learned about life. It goes on. - Robert Frost | ||||||||||||||||||
| Back ������������������ Next ������������������������ Index ����������������������� Home | ||||||||||||||||||