***Warning this post is pretty gross and detailed. I may give too much information but I wanted to tell this trek as it is. Don't read if you get queasy!
Off season, why must you curse me like this... My best guess right now is that my body did not agree with the food I ate for lunch, not altitude sickness, at least that is what I'm praying. Today once I feel up to it we will take a four hour hike to the next town where there is a health post and a doctor, it's the town they talk about in Into Thin Air where they check and educate people in AMS.
Lets discuss the complete horror show I lived through last night. After my wonderful evening with the monks at the monastery that I wrote about I ordered some Dal Bhat and spent some time talking to my mom, dad, and sister. After hanging up with them I sunk into my bed and quickly fell asleep. A light knock on my door signified that dinner was ready, ugh all I wanted to do was sleep.
By the cozy fire I looked at the delicious dal Bhat and took a bite, immediately I felt nauseous. Oh boy maybe I just need rest. I told my guide how my stomach was starting to hurt and he ordered me to sleep and see np what tomorrow brings. Also, if I needed him he would be in room 105, if not he would see me at 630 for breakfast.
The next four hours are a hallucination of reality and dreams. I was freezing! i had terrible shakes and even with my long under wear, flannel, down jacker, and comforter I couldn't rid myself of the shakes. I was tossing in bed being carried out by monks, helicoptered out, eaten by my covers, and frozen in an ice storm, all while having terrible stomach pains. These weren't your oh poor baby you have a tummy ache, they were the get out of my way I want to rip someone's head off type. Anyone reading this who knows me from my senior year of college might remember when I had a stomach bug and the agony I went through, this was the exact same pain!
Finally, I turned one last time to release my stomach contents straight on my pillow. (Noooo this means I have to go home) That wasn't enough for my body! I turned to run to the bathroom but only made it ss far ss swinging my legs to the side of the bed only to unleash three more violent waves of my veggie fried rice. (Ah now what? How am I going to clean this? How am I going to clean myself without a shower? If I have to turn back there is no way I can walk over those mountain passes. Am I going to die? Calm down its bad food not AMS! Check your head, ok it's not hot and no head ache. Check breathing, breathing is relatively fine and easy still. Check heartbeat, it's racing, well duh your huddled scared in a dark room trying to decide what to do!) That is just a fraction of the things going through my head!
First things first, I changed my shirt and dumped some of the river water over my face that was left in the "bathroom." Next I searched for my flashlight. I had a moment of ease when I noticed some of my stuff on the floor had been protected by the plastic bags I keep everything in, this included my journal with my friends writings!
Ok, now I had to do the embarrassing task of waking my guide up. How embarrassing!! I slowly navigated through the dark empty halls. Everything was closed up and it took me a good ten minutes to find the door that led to the downstairs. Once I made it down I saw a light on at the end of the hall. Thank god! What luck my guide is still awake!
I quietly recounted what happened and he out his arm around me and led me back upstairs. He has a gentle smile and told me not to worry but to be happy. Easy for him to say, he isn't the one that just left his mark all over room A4. (Ps if you ever do this trek and stay at Rivendell steer clear of room A4. Although they cleaned it I would keep my distance if I were you!) He took a look and smiled at me and said "no worry, I make clean for you." Wait seriously this guy is going to clean up all of this in the middle of the night?!?! Wow
He crossed the hall and woke up one of the main ladies. She is such a sweet person and I couldn't help laugh when she had been playing Taylor swift all day long. She rushed to get her clothes on and made me a whole canister of tea. They ushered me to sit in the other bed and drink while my guide bare handedly cleaned up the mess. Ick!
Once again things get a little blurry and confused. After ejecting my lunch I actually felt much better, not great, but a huge improvement. This now put me in a half sleep state where everything was jumbling together. My guide rambles on for the next hour about food, altitude, off season, western stomachs, not worrying, health posts, smiling, and other things. He asks me to be honest about my body and how I feel. He assures me he has been doing this for 17 years and sometimes with groups of 10 or 15 people and he has never let any of them die or left them behind. Well that's reassuring, glad you aren't going to ditch me here!!! He asks if I have a headache, a common symptom of AMS, and I answered truthfully that I didn't. He took my pulse and temperature and finally concluded that he probably was something I ate. From now on he will only allow me to eat certain foods. He explained that during off season these things rarely get transported here and can lead to upset stomachs.
Six cups of tea and another half hour talk about how I need to "water my system out" "get gas and try to make gas" "make a pee" and other odd ways of discussing these things I was ready to pass out. I laid down and tried to sleep while my guide hovered over me checking my temperature and rearranging my blankets every time I moved.
Black Out
Five am comes and I'm wrapped all cozy in blankets. I turn to see my guide sleeping sitting up in the bed next to me. Man, it's true what they say about the Sherpa and their dedication to their clients. The second I moved he woke up and was ushering me more tea and questioning my symptoms. I can not believe this dudes dedication. I've read about this many times in different books how when they guide a client they take a 100 percent responsibility and loyalty oath but I didn't think that really would hold true, let alone on a trek not an expedition.
So here I am, at 7 am, laying in bed recounting my night. Only twelve hours ago I was sitting on a carpet in a prayer room at the highest altitude monastery listening to the hypnotic chants if the monks. Oh what the difference some small periods of time can make!
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