I do not remember a lot about this day. I remember waking up and hearing everyone exclaiming over the view, since we had arrived in a cloud last night no one had been able to see the view that the tea house boasted of. It was breathtaking, like nothing I had seen before. We finally had a view of Annapurna and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. Pictures you see cannot explain the absolutely awe-inspiring view. I don’t think I have ever felt so small before.
Everyone got ready and ate breakfast, plain porridge for me. I still wasn’t feeling very well but it was easier to hide my nausea just sitting waiting to leave. I was hoping that the medicine the nurse had given me a day earlier would kick in soon, as I could not wait to reach the Annapurna base camp now that I had gotten a full view of the gorgeous mountain. We got our warm up finished and then headed out. I didn’t make it far before I began retching again. I tried to hold it back at first but as we continued to climb it got harder to keep from heaving. By an hour in Shona, Naomi, Nima and I had dropped behind the main group as I was moving so slowly, stopping every few minutes to retch. I felt dizzy and while I continued to try and sip water it made me feel horrible, but I felt so horrible letting everyone down and dropping behind so I tried to keep going on. We bumped into a another group of doctors which had a set of doctors who were German. As they watched me they stopped and attempted to talk to us through our guides to figure out what was wrong. They gave me some pills for nausea that they were carrying and told Nima and Shona to just make sure I keep drinking water. I know about another hour passed but I do not remember much of it. I do remember getting to a small village and passing out as we arrived. I kept trying to stand but I just couldn’t do it. The world was spinning around and I felt like my stomach was trying to come out my mouth but just couldn’t. I got to lay down in the village where two other groups were eating lunch. Both groups contained doctors who stood nearby watching me. I remember then my retching got even worse and I couldn’t think about anything else. I couldn’t stand up and when I tried I lost consciousness again. I do remember one of the doctors saying to Nima, “You have to get her off the mountain. Now.” As Nima got out his radio. I don’t remember a lot else. I remember laying down in a room in the house nearby and being given a large garlic clove by the woman that ran the tea house to smell, as the Nepalese believe that garlic cures altitude sickness. I don’t remember a lot but I remember figuring out that I was leaving only when Nima took Shona’s coat to try and signal to the helicopter. I was carried outside and remember sitting in the mud while the helicopter attempted to land on a patch of grass not larger than a room. I don’t remember much else only that the retching didn’t stop and I came in and out of consciousness as we flew towards Kathmandu. When we landed I tried to walk from the helicopter to the ambulance but couldn’t make it, I collapsed right as I got out of the helicopter. I remember laying in the ambulance and panicking because I didn’t know where I was and retching while lying down gave me the horrible sensation of choking. I remember Nima (tour company owner) telling me that we would be at the hospital soon. I was told after it took us a long time to get to the hospital since it was the largest holiday in Nepal on that day and all of the roads were closed for the celebrations. When we arrived at the hospital I remember laying on an examination table and having an IV put in my arm. When the doctor first arrived I thought I was imagining him. He was Scottish and walked in to the room and I remember he had to address me multiple times as I genuinely thought I was imaging him. They gave me an anti nausea drug and some fluids which he said would hopefully help. I was put up in a room and called my mum to tell her what had happened, she shockingly took it fairly well as I was already in hospital and being treated. I felt horrible. I was still retching and the medicine didn’t seem to be helping much, I still felt extraordinarily weak and the thought of eating food or seeing it immediately made me gag. I was introduced to the night nurse, who was lovely and told to try and get some sleep. I didn’t. My IV bag had to be changed every 4 hours and when it wasn’t my IV had to be replaced, something which was excruciating, I was told because I had hard veins to find due to dehydration. Every time the nurse came into the room quietly to check on me she found me sitting up awake, as lying down while retching still meant I had trouble breathing. I sat up all night watching the fluid from the bag drip into my IV hoping that I would soon feel better and be able to go home.
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