Dowbrigade

Contrary
to rumors swirling around the blogosphere, the Dowbrigade has not been
kidnapped (again) by Peruvian
terrorists, snatched by Colombian drug mafias or disappeared into the
secret CIA Black Gulag while investigating military recruiting of Latin
gunsels for Middle Eastern cannon fodder.

The truth, unfortunately, is both more mundane and nastier.
In the first major medical crisis of our long career, the Dowbrigade
has been laid low by a Paraesophageal hernia, and a particularly nasty
one according to doctors on two continents. In our case a particularly
large hole has appeared in our diaphragm, and almost the entirety of
our stomach has defied gravity and risen into our chest, migrating far
from
its customary home in our abdomen.

After
a week in bed in Ecuador, including the last three days in a hospital
on a saline drip, we were medically evacuated back
to Boston, where we are now resting relatively comfortably at home awaiting
major surgery to put everything back where it belongs and patch up the
hole. Unfortunately, because the hernia is so large, the operation probably
cannot be done
completely laparoscopicly, which means they will need to crack the
chest to patch up the hole.

There are some great stories involved in our overland
trek from the mountains of Peru to the coast of Ecuador, and our lets-not-try-that-again
20-hour evacuation back to the States, but they will have to wait until
we are feeling a bit better before they see the light of day. In the
meantime, we are glad to be back in the lap of medical science, and will
try to post regular updates as possible.

Stay tuned……..