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Old 07-01-2018, 04:38 PM   #127
woofa.express
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Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tocumwal, NSW, Australia
Posts: 1,745
Default Re: tell a Model A related story

Red Tide.

No, nothing to do with Russian submarines.
I was working in the Malaysian state of Sabah which is located in the north east of Borneo. I had 2 drivers. One Amat and the other Ali. We mostly took 2 when we were working away from our usual base. Company was important to them.
One day Ali was to work but he came to me “Ali very ill today Mr Gary, cannot work”. That’s okay Ali, Amat can work in your place.
Next day Ali came to work again because it was Amat was very ill. Strange. Next day Mr Gary very ill. I flewback to base and saw a Filipino doctor by the name of Dr. Pete. He wanted to send me to hospital in an ambulance. I had never seen an ambulance at our base town and the ambulance probably meant a taxi with the fastest driver. Just didn’t appeal. So I flew to town, Lahad Datu, about a 30 minute flight. You will find it on Google Maps.
A local doctor received me. I asked his name and he said it was so long I’d need to stop for a drink of water before I finished saying it, but the abridged version was Anan.
I had the shits. Badly. After 3 days the doctor was keen to send me to Tawau where they could operate on me. That didn’t appeal greatly either. Then they changed their mind. They intended to discharge me. Probably couldn’t afford an orang putti (White man) death on their hands. About the same time Dr Pete’s wife arrived with several bunches of grapes and a bottle of prune juice. This I consumed then I was discharged.

I called a taxi to take me to the airport where my plane was but on the way I needed a toilet stop badly and had him divert to the Exectitive hotel. The grapes and prune juice had run straight through me. I shit. Large quantity, rapid and runny. Instantly, yes instantly I felt better. The Dr. Pete’s food stuffs had cleaned me out.
Some weekslater the company principle was up from South Australia and we were having dinner at a grubby little cafe about 10 miles out of town. A doctor was there,a mate of Dr Pete’s. He knew about the incident and said I shouldn’t have flown as my blood pressure was down to 70. Then the boss man said “forgot to tell youGary, 7 died at that time”. The poisoning was from “red tide”. That is an algae, pale red in colour. It had grown in the sea out from Tawau. The 3 of us had being poisoned from eating fish. Red tide is not an uncommon occurrence in many parts of the world. They, Ali and Amat were tougher than I and recovered in a day.
I have just looked up Red Tide on the internet and treatment is contradictory. 1. Pumpstomach out and that’s what the grapes and prune juice did. And 2. Give charcoal and that stops diarrhoea.
Did you readabout my charcoal incident in a previous story?
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Last edited by woofa.express; 07-01-2018 at 04:46 PM.
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