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33Since hindsight has always been easier than foresight, here is my 0plmonon the rescue after having talked to many of the rescue crew after the fact.An observation of a shoulder jutting up into the neck, a head twistedat a seemingly extreme angle and a cracked hardhat (Ultimate brand) withblood over the face, as the cavers present observed, would cause me tolook for serious injuries. A suspected broken back (or neck vertebra) isserious••• Real serious. Hauling a person out of a vertical cave trom-365 meters is the last thing I would want to do, especially since therewere several sleeping bags, food for six people for five days, stove andfuel, cooking pots, a flat dry area at the scene of the accident, and strong,competent cavers, two of whom knew a lot of first aid, only three dropsaway ( 97 meters" 55 meters, and a 24 meter drop further). Two caverswere already down the 97 meter drop and were not explicitly notified ofthe accident.·If the victim had been seriously injured the rescue would have killed hirn.Dead. A backpack frame is useless when dealing with a broken back in acave. It is not IIbetter than nothing"because it gives a false sense of security.Hauling a person up drops in a cave is rarely a smooth operation.To subject a person to being pulled up drops for 20 hours i:a liable to drivethern into shock if they were of sound body to begin with. 1,2 The victimshould have been bedded down while the most cornpetent first aider availablewas summoned to the scene. Knowing now that he was not severelyinjured in the first place means that he could have prusicked out of thecave under his own power after a day or two of rest. He would not havesubjected the rescuers to such pain, both physical and rnental, as theyunderwent. The rescuers thernselves needed various degrees of firstaid af ter they were out of Sotano de San Agustin. The crew which was thenat Base Camp IT later suffered from the surface crew's weariness causedby the rescue.Later, as one person left Base Camp n at -530 rneters he sornehowmanaged to drag the rope up the 97 meter drop without getting it back down.Two days later, after some of the crew had been underground for five daysthey decided to exit the cave for rest and more food before sorne of themreturned for further exploration. One of the crew is diabetic and had usedhis last supply of insulin on the fifth day since he planned to re-stock on foodand insulin before returning. Upon finding the rope rnis sing from the longestdrop in the entire cave, he returned to base camp and tried to rnaintaina reasonable blood sugar level while waiting for a caver frorn the surfaceto enter and re-establish the missing rope.IIInsulin is a horrnone produced by the pancreas••• This horrnone isnecessary for the body's proper use of food••• II 3 Actually insu.1in isnecessary for theorgans to properly use food. The rnuscles require adifferent hormone which a diabetic still produces. While waiting for therope to reappear the diabetic ate very little food; only enough to keep his bloodblood sugar level within reason. When the blood sug~r level drops too lowthere is too much insulin and food is needed. At Base Camp II the problemwas too little insulin and a high blood sugar level which meant the kidneyswould overwork in filtering out the excess sugar and urination would befrequent and large volumed. For two and a half days blood sugar levelwas estimated by the frequency of urination. Every six to ten hours was