So today is a rest day as we leave tonight for the summit. We get our gear ready today. I’m just lying in my sleeping bag with iPod on, waiting. While the tent blows around me. Will try and get a few hours sleep later. I listen to songs that I like to listen to in the morning before an Ironman race. Ellie Goulding; Love me like you do, Kelly Clarkson; Heartbeat Song (Up, up all night long- how appropriate lol), Jessica Mears: This girl is on fire, Rachel Platten: Fight song and Europe – The Final Countdown.
The drugs I’m taking are ; in the morning, an ibuprofen as anti inflammatory and half a 250g tablet of Acetazolamide. This is like Diamox. It helps with acclimatisation and it forces you to breathe a little more deeply, and so getting more oxygen in. The downside to this drug is it makes you pee a bit more as it’s a diuretic. There is another downside but I’ll mention that later.
In the evening I take the other half Acetazolamide and also an aspirin. This keeps the blood thin as up high the blood gets thicker and coagulates.
I’ve also been taking my contraceptive pill just to keep from having a period as that’s all you need up here with limited hygiene. So I brought no tampons and then I discovered that Acetazolamide renders these ineffective. So the last few days I had a period (thank god mine are really light) so I just used some tissue. Yesterday when we went for the acclimatisation hike when we stopped for a break I sat down and though what’s that lumpy thing inside my leggings by my calf. Well it was the tissue. As I climbed it had slid down.
Apologies for TMI but it’s all part of my journey as we go along. You have to deal with stuff. I’ve also had a horrible cold for the last week and used a lot of my toilet roll rations on blowing my nose but it looks like that’s cleared up now. As has the period. So we’re all good to go tonight. Man I’ve never felt so alive.