I travelled from Makoa Farm with my
friends George and Lindsay – George unfortunately wasn’t given the ok for his
doctor to climb because of a recent operation, so he was going to spend his
time at the farm enjoying the company of all the animals while we climbed The
Worlds Tallest Freestanding Mountain.
We arrived but Ash hadn’t arrived
yet but she was on her way.
Our Guide Gaston started to brief
us on the next day and weighing our bags etc but Lindsay and I were more
interested in what we were going to be fed up the mountain, Lindsay is Vegan
and I am nearly as I am dairy free vegetarian but didn’t want to eat eggs
having discovered that Germany (who are now cage free) have now sold all their
cages to Africa and Africa is going to be the new super power in battery eggs
(apparently).
I think Gaston felt slightly under
attack when he kept talking about me getting sausage for breakfast and both me
and Lindsay were trying to get him to understand there would be no sausage and
there would be no porridge either, hate the stuff! But fortunately he started
talking about fresh fruit and toast and jam so now we were talking. In the end Coleman our chef did an incredible
job of feeding a Vegan, a difficult vegetarian and a meat eater who doesn’t
like vegetables!
Anyway pushing on with the Diamox
story – once Ash arrived Gaston asked the three of us if we were taking Diamox,
Lindsay and Ash said yes and I said no, explaining instead that I plan to keep
my body going with Beetroot, Turmeric and Ginger shots and garlic tablets and
of course my trusty Olive Leaf Extract.
At that point I was very happy with my decision – I had afterall climbed
a mountain to 5700 metres before and not needed it although I did have 3 weeks
of acclimatization.
All briefed and with the task of
making our duffle bags weight 15kg and our rucksacks weight no more than 7kg by
the morning our guide headed off – I will always wonder what was going through
Gaston’s head that afternoon – had he picked the most difficult group of women
ever or was he going to have the time of his life?!
While we were in reception there
was an American woman and her son – they had just got back after climbing Kili
together. She told us she didn’t make it
– she was only 500m from the summit when she had severe Altitude Sickness
symptoms. She wanted to push on but her
guide was telling her she was sick and she needed to go back – it took her son
in the end to tell her she was going to die unless she turned and went back and
she said at that point she turned and went back down. The rest of her famility summited. The reason for telling this story is that I
had never even considered that I wouldn’t make it to the summit, is that
arrogance/ego/stupidity? I don’t know
but I really hadn’t let that throught process in. The woman had started taking Diamox but at
the onset of the altitude sickness symptoms when it is generally too late.
What would I do if I was told I had
to turn around 500m from the summit having come that far – although now having
done it 500m is still so far from the summit as its nearly vertical! I was worried that I would over rule my guide
as I can be so pigheaded in wanting my own way and would I actually kill myself
on the side of the mountain? And what
about Lindsay and Ashley? How would they
feel if I was told to turn around and I refused to do it – the worry for them
would have been horrible – just as it would be for me if it was the other way
around.
Why didn’t I want to take
Diamox? Well I don’t ever take drugs
into my body unless I really have to – I am asthmatic so I have inhalers that I
have to take but other than that I am drug free. I never take paracetamol or neurofen unless
its an emergency, I never have injections, I wasn’t taking malaria tablets or
any other of the chemicals they try to pour into you so you can go to a
different country. Instead I keep my
immune system healthy with vitimans, minerals and Olive Leaf Extract.
What does Diamox do? Acetazolamide is its proper name and
according to Wikipedia, it decreases the amount of hydrogen ions in the body It forces the kidneys to excrete bicarbonate
which makes the blood more acidic and apparently the body equates acidity of
the bood it is co2 concentration, so artificuslly acidifying the blood fools
the body into thinking it has an excess of co2 by causing you to breath faster
which in turn brings more oxygen into the blood, clever or what?! It is a diuretic too but I didn’t notice I
pee’d more than usual and other side effects and numbness, ringing in the ears,
loss of appetite, vomiting and sleepiness.
I didn’t get any of those side effects just the tingling in the fingers
and toes. I would have taken the
sleepiness as you don’t sleep a bit on the side of the mountain! It isn’t a cure for acute mountain sickness
but helps to speed up the acclimatization process which relieves the symptoms.
But this seemed a much bigger
decision than just what I wanted. When I
shared my worries with the girls, Ash had offered some of her spare Diamox and
the American lady had also offered spare Diamox if anyone needed it. I soul searched and ran everything through
and it seemed that the decision wasn’t all about me and my wish as always to be
drug free this was about the 3 of us making it to the top together and without
regret or worry. If I didn’t make it and
didn’t take Diamox I would always regret that whereas if I didn’t make it and
was taking Diamox then I had done everything I could to make it. The girls wouldn’t have to worry about me
every step of the way, if I got a headache or was a bit further behind them or
any of the other things that could happen whilst on Diamox or not.
So I decided to take up Ash’s
amazing offer of her spare drugs – I did ask the side effects first though and
thought I could cope with them – in the end it was just tingling fingers and
toes. I started to take it that night
and took it until we started our descent.
Do I think I could have made it
without Diamox? Probably. The first time we had our oxygen levels taken
at Moir Camp which is just under 4000m my oxygen was 97% which is normal. The girls were in the high 80’s somewhere I
believe. I was so happy for my sturdy
little body that had worked so hard with me to get fit for this climb! I am 47 years old and I am holding my own
with the youngsters! The next time my
oxygen was taken was at base camp (I think) and at 4600m it was 92% which was still higher than Ash and Lindsay's. My pulse was also only 75bpm which is normal
for me as I have lowish blood pressure so my body was coping really well with
what it was being put through. The
Diamox probably helped to make it a really enjoyable experience, I had such a
great time right up to Summit night. I
did love Summit night too but that was when it was really really hard. I didn't get have any altitude sickness symptoms at all and it wasn't until we were at approx 4600m on our descent that I got a headache but that was probably dehydration and lack of sleep as I hadn't really slept properly in 26 hours!
Do I regret taking Diamox? No.
I am really glad I did, for myself,
for my friends, and for the charities
who will benefit from the amazing amount of sponsorship I have had from
friends.
And because I don’t have any
pictures from this first day in Arusha, here are some cute pics of me with some
monkeys I fell in love with!!!
suzxxx
