Sorry – I think there were some issues with blog yesterday, so here’s yesterday’s post in case you didn’t see it.
As explained, we were advised to go down as Paul was really not well after walking down from camp 2. Bianca also went downhill with a fever and sore throat once she arrived. However, we ended up staying the night at basecamp as it was too cloudy for helicopters. It was a rough night for both of them with Paul needing some extra oxygen through the night just to get on top of his breathing.
We then had an early wake up call about 6:30 to say that a helicopter was on it’s way and would be here any minute. So we quickly stuffed our sleeping bags and other things away and shoved everything in our bags and were hurried to the helicopter pad – hard work for Paul as it was uphill and he was not breathing well.
The transition was very smooth down to Kathmandu had a few steps but was very smooth. At that altitude, only 2 passengers can fly at once, so they took Bianca and some of our luggage and dropped them off at Pheriche, then came back to pick up Paul and I and the rest of our luggage. (Even all the passeger seats are taken out of these helicopters to save weight – so you sit on the luggage!) We then all flew to Lukla together, and then transitioned into a different helicopter to fly to Kathmandu. So by around 9:30am we were back into the hustle and bustle.
It was nice that we were in time for the hotel breakfast, although by then Bianca wasn’t feeling great and so couldn’t eat anything. We ran into a few people we’d gotten to know from the mountains too.
After that, were taken to the hospital where Paul and Bianca were thoroughly checked over and treated. They were both diagnosed with mild HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) and given IV fluids and antibiotics. They were encouraged to stay in hospital for monitoring but both preferred to get to the hotel where they’d be able to rest better. Not to mention shower! I’d had a “shower in a bucket” the previous day at basecamp, but neither of them had showered for about a week! The doctor agreed that it wouldn’t really make much difference and so thankfully let them be discharged on the proviso that they return for another check in a couple of days.
Finally, we were able to check into our rooms in the hotel, find some clean clothes and shower. It’s now about 7pm and on Bianca’s request, we’re planning to get takeaway dumplings for dinner to eat in the hotel and allow the climbers to have a very early night!