 AP Photo
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Posted on 10/20/2003 7:49:05 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55
By HANNAH BERGMAN, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - After the eggs, the jeers and the cheers, New York magician David Blaine (news - web sites) faced the stethoscope and the intravenous drip Monday as he recovered from 44 days dangling near the River Thames.
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Paul Kenny, a medic at the site, said Blaine would undergo blood tests at a private hospital and be given fluids intravenously before moving onto blended foods. It could be several days before he resumed eating solid foods, Kenny said.
"If you look at him he looks great, but I suspect he's been living on adrenaline," Kenny said.
Before he entered the box, Blaine said he had bulked up to more than 205 pounds so he could survive on his own body fat.
Dehydration also was a threat, but Marinos Elia, a professor at the Institute of Human Nutrition at the University of Southampton, said the magician had been drinking enough water to prevent that. Elia had been monitoring Blaine's condition.
Skeptics have suggested Blaine could easily add some nutrients to his water, but the medical briefing said tests for alcohol, glucose and sodium had found nothing.
In the box suspended 40 feet above the River Thames' south bank, cold nights have had a draining effect on Blaine, and he has experienced shooting pains, dizziness, nausea and irregular heartbeats, Elia said.
Blaine emerged Sunday from his plastic cubicle shrunken and starved in body but claiming he had benefited from much food for thought.
"This has been one of the most inspirational experiences of my life," Blaine told a crowd which turned out Sunday to cheer his last few hours of isolation in a 7 foot by 7 foot by 3 foot box.
Weighing 50 pounds less than when he began his endurance stunt, he looked as if he might pass out as he spoke.
"I have learned more in that box than I have learned in years. I have learned how strong we are as human beings," he said.
Blaine, whose previous stunts included standing atop a pole and being encased in a block of ice, added: "Most importantly I learned to appreciate all the simple things in life such as the smile from a stranger, and the sunshine and the sunset."
His time passed largely in glorious bright autumn weather, but smiling strangers were sometimes rare.
His box has been pelted with eggs, burgers, and balloons filled with pink paint. Golfers teed up in attempts to rattle his case. One man tried to disconnect Blaine's water supply, and was arrested.
On Sunday night, though, he was the toast of a crowd which lined both banks of the Thames.
Prisa Adabavbeh, 15, said she had come to the site every day for all 44 days, part of fan group called "Camp David." She carried a placard saying "we will believe in you forever."
"He's such a beautiful person. I think the speech explained it all," Prisa said. "We came here all the time and set him riddles and asked him questions."
But 15-year-old Stacey Harper was disappointed that Blaine merely shuffled out of his box. "It's quite impressive what he's done but me and my friends were expecting a big stunt at the end. He is meant to be a magician," she said.
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On the Net:
David Blaine: www.davidblaine.com
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I hope they start by examining his head...
'nuff said.
Since he was also in ketosis, he lost probably around up to 8 lbs of water from his muscle cells, so lets bring that figure down to 42 lbs of Muscle&Fat (sounds like a good name for a new bodybuilding/binging magazine, but I digress).
Estimating now, bodyfat has about 3500 kCal per pound. Protein (muscle), about half of that. So lets say that a 50/50 mix would give us about 2600 kCal per pound of body weight, or around 110,250 kCalories over those 44 days. That gives you about 2500 calories per day to live on, which is totally doable. Of course, I could be wrong :)
Note, of course, this is NOT a healthy diet plan, other micronutrients are neccessary, etc etc etc... I am just saying that this is in the ballpark in order to support the contention that he really did starve up there..
Moron. Maybe Stacey and friends should spend more time studying English grammar, and less time worrying about a silly publicity stunt.
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