This is my 13th race on the Med Team with RacingThePlanet, and I am continually impressed with the perseverance, spirit and strength of the competitors.  At the start of every race I have 2 main goals: Number 1- Get each and every person on a plane back home to their families without any serious injuries.  Number 2- Get each and every person across the finish line.  I will not compromise goal number 1 for goal number 2, period. When we are hours away from advanced medical facilities (more like days away if an emergency med-evac plane can't land due to weather), I would be remiss in my duties if I allowed a competitor to continue with signs of potential nerve or circulatory damage, or with signs of hypothermia.  Both competitors were allowed and encouraged to continue the following day once they had recuperated so that they could still make the most of this unique experienced, and both declined for their own reasons. 
 
Even if a competitor is 100% driven to continue, even if they loudly complain about the unfairness of it all, the fact remains that as the Medical Director I must take into account the person's health, the environmental conditions and the proximity to hospital level care.  Every single one of the competitors in this race had to contend with the same weather, same course difficulties, the same hazards.  Just like in the other races, sometimes the elements take a harsher toll on some people than others- regardless of their internal toughness.  Whether blisters, heat exhaustion, dehydration, or hypothermia, there are medical issues that occur in every race that can derail even the most seasoned competitor. 
 
It is never a cavalier choice to remove someone from competition.  But seriously, we are in Antarctica and things can go from bad to worse in a heartbeat.  The competitors are on a fine line from beginning to finish of these types of events.  Now that we are all warm and comfy aboard the ship, it is easy to forget how intensely serious the conditions were. Given the same situation, I would make the same decision again.  I would rather bear the harsh comments than have to make a phone call to inform a family member that for the sake of a medal, I allowed their loved one to push themselves into a medical crisis. 
 
Despite the sour grapes, this has been an unbelievable trip... how many people get to take a zodiac boat through Antarctic icebergs?? I just pray we can weather the storms headed our way on the trip back to Ushuaia.  Got my seasick patch on and a pocket full of pills to hand out to anyone who needs them.
 
 
-Dr. Brandee

Finally I found time and energy to post a note- we've had seasickess to contend with even after Drake's passage.  My title of "Desert Diva" should have been changed to "Seasick Sally" on a few occasions.  In fact, I had to have DrGrant give me intravenous anti-nausea medication 2 nights ago- it was not ideal medically since we didn;t have the right size butterfly (special needle for injecting to veins)... so he had to stick the bigger needle straight into my vein, attached directly to a syringe.  Had anyone walked in they certaingly would have thought he was injecting heroin by the looks of it.  But now I've decided to keep on the seasickness patch around the clock until we return to Ushuaia... I would rather deal with the very dry-mouth side effect than the sickness.
 
Other than the seasickness when out on the open sea (not bad at all while in the bays), we've had relatively few injuries.  Two guys with pretty bad cold toes- so cold they were actually numb and unable to properly heat up on land, and one of them with quite serious chills and symptoms of cold exposure.  For safety reasons, they were sent back to the ship prior to finishing the stage.  I know they were dissapointed after they had been properly warmed, but I am certain their families would prefer to have them come home with all toes intact rather than facing the potential dangers of actual fulll blown hypothermia or frostbite.  Sometimes in the medical tent we have to make decisions that are not so popular, but we are always aiming to keep safety first.
 
A few other competitors have had tristed knees, or simply overuse knee pain- but that tyoe of pain can be quite debilitating in these conditions. 
 
Yesterday on Deception island, there was not much medically to contend with, so I set out on the course to a mid-way mini check point.  To keep warm initially my husband  (Mike - also volunteering on the race) started to try to dance the moves to Michael Jackson's Thriller video.  We were at it for over an hour and got so warm as the sun came out, we actually were shedding layers of clothing.  I think the spectacle might have been some entertainment or comic relief for the competitors as they made their ways around the track time and time again.  Mary said she could actually see us dancing from the ship!
 
We are soon pulling into Dorion Bay for our last day of competition.  There may be quite deep snow, so it should be interesting.  Grant and I will keep reminding everyone to take time early to warm their toes early if they start to get numb, and also to keep their faces/cheeks/noses covered when the wind is really whipping to prevent wind chapping. 
 
Thanks to all for the emails - keep 'em coming since after tomorrow we will have several days completely at sea as we head back to Ushuaia.  Sending our prayers and sentiments to our friends feeling under the weather at home, hang in there!  To all the Waite and Sammis families- Mike and I are fine- he has been working really hard setting up the course,checkpoints and keeping the scores.