Sunday, July 31, 2011

Finally got my stitches out!

After 9 days having stitches in my head from passing out from Heat Exhaustion/Dehydration, I finally got them out this past Friday. I thought there would have been more pulling as the nurse took them out, but thankfully there was none.

I am still waiting on my Doctor to fill out my Family Leave paperwork. She's giving me just as much of a hard time as my airline does making sure it's filled out correctly. Either way, one can't fly with stitches as your body expands in the air, so it would have pulled the stitches out.

I have been drinking plenty of water since my incident. I'm still amazed how fast everything happened, and how awesome the folks who were with me helped me to ensure I was ok. I even went back to the bar where I fainted and the girls who initially helped out came up to me and asked how I was doing. They were impressed with the stitches and scar, I guess because they saw first hand the wound.

I'm excited to get back to flying tomorrow. It's been a long 11 days doing literally nothing but lounge around resting up. I was so bored that I actually cleaned/dusted my room (which it desperately needed)! Yesterday I decided to cut my hair and hope to remove some of the skin that was still attached to my scar.

I'm quite happy with how my scar turned out. Probably would have been less if I actually received some ointment to put on it, but without anything being applied, I feel it looks good. Now I just have to remember to drink more water during work. I've always been bad about not drinking water while flying/working.


You may not realize it but you can easily suffer from dehydration on airplanes especially on long flights. That's because air in the cabin is usually much dryer than air on Earth. Humidity refers to the amount of water molecules in the air. Our comfort zone as people is around 50% - meaning the air is 50% saturated with water. Air in an airline cabin can fall to as low as 1% on long flights.

Dehydration doesn't only mean you'll feel thirsty. It means your body will lose water so you'll end up having a dry nose, dry scratchy bloodshot eyes, and dry itchy skin. This shouldn't frighten you. There are many ways to get around this. Before boarding your flight, go to one of the stores, or restaurants inside of Security, and buy a bottle of water for yourself.


The first thing you should do is take plenty of bottled water on the flight. Drink about eight ounces of water every hour on the flight. That's about 240 cc/ml. Drink some water before the flight too so your body will be prepared for the dry conditions on the airplane.

If you're already on the airplane and you remember this tip after the airplane has taken off then ask the flight attendants for water. Try to avoid tap water on airplanes. Airplane water IS potable, however some older planes aren't kept up to FDA standards.  Sadly, there aren't many set standards for airplane tap water so avoid drinking it. Remember, if the bottled water is out, you CAN drink the airplane water, but it is highly discouraged.

You might love to drink alcohol and coffee but avoid them on the flight. Alcohol and coffee are diuretic drinks. That means they actually absorb water out of your body cells. They'll actually get you more dehydrated. Stick with the bottled water you bought before boarding the flight, and your body will be just fine.

Immerse a handkerchief in your drinking water and place it above your nose if you want to breathe in humidified air. Wrap it around your ears and place it atop your nose for as long as you desire. You might also want to sprinkle your face with water using a perfume bottle. Fill it in with your own drinking water before the flight. Sure, you'll look funny to those around you, but you're the one who is staying hydrated!