I’ve been home for three weeks. The cold is finally going away. I still have very mild vertigo when I wake up, or perhaps more precisely: when I sit up from lying on my back. The vertigo lasts about 5 to 10 seconds and is then gone. There’s no nausea and I don’t feel it in the slightest when I’m up, but it does remind me that only a month ago I was as sick as I’ve ever been. I’m now skiing and hiking and soon to go climbing. I’m weak, but I’m on the upswing, and I’m looking forward to summer.
So what happened? There is no easy answer to this. I’ve had a handful of doctor appointments and consultations, including with some very experienced high altitude docs. What I had was probably just a viral cold that migrated into my vestibular system, which somehow triggered what is called “benign positional vertigo” (whoever came up with “benign” has a very dark sense of humor). No, this has never happened to me before. I’ve always been prone to motion sickness, and I’ve traditionally medicated myself when going on a boat, but this was something entirely new.
My symptoms aren’t textbook: nobody has yet answered why the vertigo mostly went away immediately upon descending to a lower altitude, nor does it explain my reduced level of consciousness which again went away immediately upon descent. The docs always ask if I have tinnitus which is commonly associated with vertigo. Of course my ears are ringing, and have been ever since that Who concert back in high school… are there any 61 year olds in America whose ears aren’t ringing?
The good news is that I probably didn’t have HACE. That’s the serious altitude illness that involves swelling of the brain. Apparently, if I had HACE it would have showed up on the MRI, and I’ve now had some of the best doctors in the country look at the MRI, and I’m deemed HACE free. I can also rule out a tumor and a worm in my brain. Phew.
It’s not over yet. I’m going to SLC next week to have a vertigo specialist take a look at me. We’ll see what they say. Unless they can find some pathology (which so far has not been found, beyond the simple sinus cold), the treatment for vertigo is time. So far that seems to be working. I’m feeling better every day. But it’s hard to grasp that only a month ago I wasn’t able to walk on my own 200 yards across level ground to a helipad.
Can I go back? Can I give it another try? Let me get back to you on that. Let’s see what the vertigo docs say. You know how when you recover from a cold, you pretty much forget how bad the cold was? Well, this isn’t like that. I’m a little shell shocked by how sick I was. The memory is still with me.
15000’ is not that high. I’ve probably been to that altitude at least two dozen times in my lifetime. I’ve always acclimatized well, especially compared to my partners. In this case, I never even had a headache, which is the number one symptom of any altitude illness. Obviously, I should be grateful that this happened at 15,000’ instead of 25,000’, but I would be even more grateful if it never happened in the first place. It’s all so humbling. I was still 4 days away from even reaching Base Camp. I had a long way to go. In Grand Teton perspective, it’s as if I was helicoptered out of the Meadows on my way up to the Lower Saddle. I wasn’t even close to the summit. Whenever I say this out loud, I can only laugh.
With that said, the summit window is starting this week. I won’t deny that it’s still burning inside me…
I paid for that forecast. Speaking of money, everybody asks if I’m going to get a refund. Does anybody know a good lawyer in Kathmandu to get my money back? In all seriousness, the money is gone. I don’t begrudge the operator – Shangri-La Treks – in the slightest. They had to set up base camp infrastructure, as well as camps on the upper mountain. The money was already spent. This is my third trip with this company, and they’ve always delivered. And in this case Global Rescue refused to fly me out (insurance companies only make money by saying “NO”), and after arguing with Global Rescue, Jiban just said I’m sending a helicopter now. That’s what I needed, and that’s what I got. Thank you Jiban. If I ever go back, I’ll go with you again. No doubt about it.
If….
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