Surgery on Tuesday
August 10, 2009
Tuesday is the Big Day. I’m having surgery that morning. I’ll try and put up a post in a few days to confirm that all went well. I’ll be in the hospital for about four days. No more black bits and no more stinky hands and feet!
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Two good books
August 7, 2009
Neil Heil’s ‘Dark Summit’ and Lincoln Hall’s ‘Dead Lucky’ both describe events on the northside of Everest in 2006. Hall’s book talks about his person experiences (surviving a night out high on the north ridge after developing cerebral edema) while Heil covers the entire tragic season (11 deaths I think).
Also, famed Italian alpinist Ricardo Cassin died yesterday at the age of 100. Ciao, baby.
Photos: Namche Bazaar is the capital of Sherpaland This horse had to wait nerly 15 minutes to get into the Danfe Bar, Namche Bazaar
Tags: The Altitude Experience
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Nothing happening/book recommendation
July 21, 2009
I haven’t posted in a while because nothing new has happened recently. Still healing, still shriveling, still sitting around a lot. I won’t be posting any more about my condition until after my surgery August 11. I do hope to post a preliminary report on what happened in the next few days, so stay tuned.
I do want to steer the blog back to its intended use, which is to talk about altitude-related issues. An important book that I failed to cite in my book is Paul Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine, fifth edition. This 2300 page monster covers just about every subject you can think about plus a few more. It not only covers altitude issues, it also covers marine issues, deserts, volcanoes, etc. etc. it’s way too heavy to carry on a trip but it should be on the bookshelf of any serious wilderness traveler.
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American Idiot
June 24, 2009
This is the title of a song by the band Green Day that was popular a few years back. It’s also used for me now, as in “Did you hear about the American idiot who got frostbite on Mount Everest? Why do they let people like that on the mountain…”
While I’m upset about the frostbite (who wouldn’t be), I’m more upset with myself for making the mistakes that led to the frostbite. Unfortunately I recall almost nothing that happened between 6 PM and midnight but I shouldn’t have been up there at 6 PM.
I’m working on my timeline of events right now but for the moment you’ll just have to be patient until it is both complete and accurate. The short version is that I screwed up, got lucky, and made it down. There’s a long list of people who helped me (and continue to help); I will acknowledge them publicly when I’m sure the list is complete.
Frostbite update: the fingers and toes continue to ‘mature’. The nose is mostly healed though a scab continues to fall off and reform. There has been surprisingly little pain and I have yet to take a prescription painkiller. I am taking fairly high doses of ibuprofen and another prescription medication. These two together have been effective so far.
Some fingers and toes have clearly declared their intentions, while others are apparently still deciding what to keep and what to shed. Again, I should have very good function after the surgery. Even though I can’t use my fingertips and have bandages on my hands, I replaced the hard drive in my laptop this weekend without any help. I’m doing an hour a day on the recumbent exercise bike and a variety of exercises and stretches to get back into shape. After I heal from the surgery I should be able to resume virtually all of my normal activities. Probably no ice climbing or skiing this winter, though, as I’ll be quite sensitive to the cold.
I’m still wearing my glove bandages on the hands and socklike bandages on my feet. These bandages aren’t particularly comfortable in our hot, sticky weather.
My surgery will take place on August 11. I’ll be in the hospital a few days, and then laid up at home for while. I should be in good enough shape to start classes on September 8.
The rest of my gear arrived from Nepal. Thanks to Kedar from Explore Himalaya for dealing with this.
Photos: one photo shows the summit, with a statue of Buddha in the box. The other is a picture of me (though it’s hard to tell) with the summit reflected in my glasses. There’s also a lo-res video where you can see the wind blowing (1 MB). You guess how fast. Click the photos for larger versions.
Tags: Everest 2009
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117 calories
June 13, 2009
The title refers to the number of calories I burned on the exercise bike yesterday–my first real exercise since descending to Base Camp. Of course, I’ve been eating about 300 calories per hour, but it’s a start towards rebuilding my physique anyway.
I visited the doctor Friday, and I can now drive and exercise a reasonable amount. I’ll have surgery about the second week of August. By then, everything will have dried up and mummified. Attractive, huh?
I’m using my new speech recognition software to type this. So far it’s working fine, but it’s more like working on a typewriter; you have to decide exactly what you want to say in advance. Hopefully the software will handle technical terms — we’ll see.
I’m looking forward to being more active as time progresses. Hopefully I’ll see some of you local folks soon. I can’t run, bike, climb, etc. but I can drink beer or coffee afterwards. And eat, of course.
Photos: me in my usual position, and my strawberry nose after the frostbite scab fell off (it’s since scabbed up again). Click to enlarge if you dare…
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Were you there? Contact me (sticky)
June 8, 2009
If you were on above the South Col on Everest on May 22-23 and had contact with me, could you please send me an email at everest09[AT]mfarris.net?
I want to put together a timeline of my movements and figure out who helped me during my descent. My memory is very spotty and unreliable and I want to acknowledge all assistance that I received.
Thanks.
Tags: Everest 2009
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Natural nose enhancement
June 8, 2009
I got up this morning, looked in the mirror, and to my surprise my black nose scab had fallen off, revealing a red but rebuilt nose tip underneath. So no nose surgery and I look more like a normal clown.
I’m watching a lot of tv and have seen about 23,674 commercials for ‘natural male enhancement.’ I wonder if it works on fingers and toes?
Nothing much else to report–no serious pain, lots of dressing changes. I’m doing exercises to stretch my hands and feet back out. Otherwise, I wait for my body to heal. And watch more tv.
Tags: Everest 2009
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Gloves not mittens
June 6, 2009
Went to the dr. yesterday. Good news is that I’m now in glove dressings instead of mittens. I can bend my fingers, spead them apart–yipee. I’m doing exercises to loosen my fingers and toes back up.
Now we wait and see what its heal and what doesn’t. Surgery / surgeries will come…
The bad news was he gave me a script for 80 vicodin. I’ve only had bad pain a couple of days, but there’s more to come apparently.
Can’t drive for a while. The next week will likely be spent in front of the tv; after that I hope to get out more. I think the pads on the balls of my feet are peeling off, which makes it tricky to walk any distance.
Jet lag is doing its normal job on me. Doesn’t matter since I can sleep all day 
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Farewell Mick
June 6, 2009
I just got word that Mick Parker passed away in Kathmandu just after I left. I met Mick in 2004 on Broad Peak and hiked out with his expedition. We’d had a few beers together since. My last night in Kathmandu saw several of us coming out of Sam’s Pub after a last drink. Mick was just coming in, but walked me back to my hotel. He asked if I wanted to go to Kangchenjunga (world’s third highest peak); I told him it was unlikely!
Mick had just climbed Makalu with Roland Hunter. As Roland said, Mick was at his best at altitude and on expeditions. I really wanted him on our K2 expedition, but it didn’t happen.
We’ll miss you. dude.
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Home at last
June 4, 2009
I got home yesterday. As usual, jet lag is whacking me hard. I go to my first doctor appointment tomorrow.
Tags: Everest 2009
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