Well, where to start. I guess some of you are wondering what I’m doing and where I am right now.
I went through a crazy and hard time the last two week’s. I got a serious infection which costed me almost my life.
While my last trip to Turkey, a bacterium got his way into my body. Back home, I wasn’t considered at all about my infection. I was fully occupied to organise my trip back there for bolting this new line I saw. I did some bad and high falls while bouldering in a gym and then I started to become serious pain in my back.
I was suffering like never before in my life. In reality, the pain was not due to my fall, it was because the germ went his way into my blood and from there directly to my heart. I had some water in my lung, my liver was pumped with blood and then both of my kidneys started to be infected by the bacterium.
I went really bad, I reached the point of the delirium. I cried like I never cried before in my life because I was suffering so much. And still, I thought that I had a simple back injury like a lot of climbers after a bad fall.
During a week I had huge shivering attacks, high temperature and this growing pain in my back. Finally I made a blood test and after seeing the results, I had immediately to go to the hospital emergency.
At the time I arrived there, my kidneys were close to give up their functions.
During my stay at the hospital I went through a lot of examens for the heart, brain and all kind of infection tests. I was under antibiotics and a lot of morphine.
A week after I was able to quit hospital with the uncertain idea what kind of germ went into my body. The doctors at the CHU in Grenoble are excellent and they made all their possible, but they still have no idea how this all came together and what kind of germ it was.
The most important is that my heart is in a good healthy again and that I react positiv about the antibiotics. All my organs will recover and the infection is going lower and lower.
Now I need time. My body needs to rest, my mind needs a break. My life has always been crazy, but this event has been a little to much to me.
It’s kinda funny, because while climbing, I’m always conscious that life can stop from one moment to another due to a technical error or to an accident. I do accept to die in that way one day. But I was never thinking about a malady. And I will defenetly not die in that way, I’m probably to proud for that…
This was the strangest experience I ever made in live. My life changed from one week to another. And once more, life gifted me. Lucky bastard I am…
Photo: Sam Challéat