If you are more adventurous than I, you can wait until your arrival in Kathmandu to take advantage of the many open air pharmacy stands where you may secure any of your high altitude trekking drug needs without the niceties of a required prescription. Not being that adventurous, I brought a list of recommendations to my doctor at my pre-trip physical, and by the time I left her office, I felt she had prepared me for any possible health issue. One of the first additions to our medicine kit was a supply of diamox (Acetazolamide), the most tried and tested drug for altitude sickness prevention and treatment. When I experienced a mild headache and some trouble sleeping at Namche, I pulled out the diamox, and was very quickly feeling better. Woody, the now self-styled “mountain macho,” somewhat pooh-poohed my early reliance on medication. Certainly up until now he had been zooming up the trail with the stamina of a young yak!

So imagine my surprise to wake up in the middle of our second night in Dingboche to find my husband unable to catch his breath, and, in a first for our 33 years of marriage, what looked like the early stages of a panic attack. Afterwards, he surmises curling up in a tight fetal position in his nice warm zero degree down sleeping bag had restricted his lung capacity just enough to put him into difficulty. Later in Pheriche, we were to learn another possibility was a form of sleep apnea called Cheyne-Stokes respirations. This periodic breathing pattern begins with a few shallow breaths and increases to deep sighing respirations, then falls off rapidly, even ceasing entirely for a few seconds, and then the shallow breaths begin again. During the period when breathing stops the person often becomes restless and may wake with a sudden feeling of suffocation. Apparently this is not considered abnormal above 10,000’, but alone in a small tent in the middle of the night, it can be very scary. A treatment of diamox, plus sleeping flat on his back while propping his upper body up at a sharp angle seemed to solve the problem. This was his only such incident on the trip. He was tentative in the morning, but back to his regular self by the afternoon.

Our route for the day took us up and over a ridge above Dingboche, where we followed a trail high above Pheriche in the valley below. Again, the morning weather was glorious and the views spectacular (yes, I know I’m sounding like a broken record on this, but it is true!). We had lunch at Dughla, a stop at the base of the terminal moraine for the Khumbu Glacier. Our group was still one day behind schedule because of our unsuccessful flight to Lukla way back on Friday the 13th, but this was the first time the delay had affected us. The tearoom at Dughla was already spoken for by an earlier reservation, so we had to set up a picnic lunch out in the sun. At first this was a nice treat, but as the regular afternoon clouds and wind rolled in, the blowing dust soon took the enjoyment out of our meal. This was also the first time I noticed a drop in my appetite, as since being introduced to it in Phakding, this was the first time the yak cheese did not look appealing.

After our meal, we made a turn to the northeast, climbing up the moraine to the glacier’s edge. The stone memorials to many of Everest’s fatalities were a sobering view as we crested the hill. After a short rest break, we walked beside the glacier to Lobuche, our stop for the night. Our 500 meter elevation gain for the day had brought us to 16,109’ and 53% s.l. O₂. After observing the general (lack of) cleanliness of Lobuche, I was particularly glad we had brought our own tents to sleep in.