An unplanned interlude

Doug arrived with Mithu and his cousin to help interpret, and we went over our trekking plan. Handed over wads of dosh, 3 photos each and copies of passports and more dosh for trekking permits. Jeep is organized and all set to go on Monday. I was feeling miles better, Rob too except for sore chest and very tired.  

We piled into a taxi Doug had waiting, and did a very interesting back-street drive across the city to Doug and Kate’s rented house in Kopan. From the road we had to walk along a little track and ring the doorbell on the gate. Kate arrived to let us in – she is looking great – after making sure all the dogs are contained. Pema the housekeeper served us drinks in the garden gazebo and then we were introduced to the dogs. Singhy the top dog came first – he was nervous of us and I was nervous of him – both parties will take a while to get used to each other. Then we met Nagphu and Tashi the oldest dog, a different breed. The Tibetan mastiffs are beautiful. And big. Two of the female dogs were allowed to meet us briefly, but that caused a bit of chaos, which one suspects could often be the case!!

 We eventually left the beautiful garden and entered the cool house, full of intriguing things – stones, gorgeous Buddhas, prints, wall hangings. It’s fabulous. We have a lovely bedroom upstairs. Doug and Kate fed us well – a delicious soup that takes days to prepare and a fresh – just picked from their huge garden – salad. We contributed bread rolls from Pumpernickels, and we also ate good Nepali cheese.

After a short rest we set off for a 2 hour walk through back streets of the village and up on to the hills below the gompas (monasteries), through forest and around and down again. It felt great to be breathing clean air and in quiet, uncrowded places. Drinks, then a superb brown rice and fresh vegetable stir-fry followed by banana cake, and fruit. We ate far too much, it was all so delicious, and I noticed a bit of a pain in my back. Rob fell asleep in the lounge. Tashi and Singhy were also tired from the long walk, and are slowly accepting we intruders.

Unpacking -great to discover the bottom of my suitcase – and so to bed – but for me, not to sleep. When I lay down the pain in my lower left back slowly but steadily worsened, and I could find no position to relieve it. I was awake all night with the pain becoming unbearable. I knew I had something seriously wrong with me. I staggered downstairs in the morning and nearly collapsed with the pain – apparently I was ghostly pale. Doug and Kate were marvelous, got hold of the Swiss CIWEC clinic and made an appointment, tried to get a decent taxi but had to settle for Puna and his old jalopy. Somehow I got out to the cab, shut my eyes, gritted my teeth and held on to Rob, at times tears were forced out and the odd groan – a 45 minute ride from hell on bumpy roads. How I didn’t faint I don’t know. On arrival at the clinic tears streamed down my face, just the relief of getting there, and I was soon in the kind and careful hands of Francosie, Sharmi and Dr Ravi. A shot of voltaren in the backside was the first indignity but it took the edge off the pain.

 At first we suspected kidney stones so I had an x-ray – which showed nothing. Several proddings and pokings, a blood test, a urine test, a poo test, and IV line inserted – I felt like a battered hen. Apparently I looked terrible and spent the whole day in the foetal position, mostly with my eyes shut and no smiles. Poor Rob and Kate who had kindly accompanied us to the clinic sat valiantly through it all until we got some results – mostly negative. A slight temperature and a high white blood cell count. Dr Ravi eventually ordered an ultrasound, the poor radiographer arrived beautifully and elegantly dressed – she had to interrupt her festival activities just for me. She found no stones and all organs normal. 

After all this Dr Ravi diagnosed sigmoid diverticulitis, an infected pocket in my bowel. I got hooked up to a drip before the ultrasound and that continued, plus antibiotics of a heavy variety. The pain in my back subsided, thank God, but I was a bit of a wreck. Kate managed to get hold of Mithu and put our trek on hold – the way I felt it was never going to happen. The Dr. gave me a choice of going back to Doug and Kate’s and having to return next day, or staying in for the night. We settled on the latter and hope insurance pays the $500 fee.  

In the night I was given more antibiotics, panadol and a sleeping pill which seemed to work, despite 4 hourly drip changes and blood pressure tests etc. In the middle of the night my blood pressure rocketed up, as did my temperature. Panadol brought the temperature down and me out in a sweat, I felt pretty nauseous and had quite severe chest pain. So weak and tired too, but at least I did get some sleep.

Today was supposed to be the start of our trek, and here I was in a clinic hooked up to an IV line! Not at all what we had planned. I had another blood test and an ECG – surely not many tests can remain in their arsenal! Dr Ravi decided I needed to stay another night, mainly because my stomach is still sore and he wants to keep me nbm (nil by mouth). I’ll be dreaming about food soon. My hand where the line goes in is a bit sore and my right shoulder hurts, probably from lying on it continuously. Dr Ravi is now talking colitis/enteritis. Meantime, Rob is looking and feeling really good, and he had a great night’s sleep without me. Hurumph.

More antibiotics today, and a hot sweet tea which was a bit much, but then a wonderful hot shower – I felt lots better, but tired and weak as a kitten.  A chest x-ray was done, and yet another blood test – truly, I felt like a pincushion. 

Finally I was given the all clear to go home. The chest x-ray showed no pneumonia, although there could have been a low grade infection present. We paid the US$1700.00 bill, said goodbye to all my new friends and headed home. The ride seemed shorter and way easier than the last one! It was very nice to get back to the house where everyone ran around looking after me. The dogs were all okay with me – I thought they might have forgotten me – in fact I think Singhy thought he had lost me and is now following me around everywhere! I ate more than I should have at dinner and fell into bed at 9.00 pm, hoping to have a good night’s sleep without nurses waking me up to stick things into me.

Mithu and his cousin arrived to check up on things and we said we’d aim for Friday departure. Meantime, Rob and Doug took Singhy and Tashi for a walk and Rob got his first leech! Then the 4 of us walked about 2 kilometres to the local supermarket, quite a modern affair. We got a few supplies and headed back across country, now very hot even at 11.00 am. I got pretty tired on the way home.

The next day we all took Tashi and Singhy for a long walk up in the hills beyond the Gompas – we did a big loop, walking through little villages full of lively children, goats and cows, and through pine forest. It was very hot even though we left shortly after 9.30 am. I got very dizzy on the climbs – not a good sign, but I hoped it was just the heat and the fact that I was still recovering. I feared my fitness for the coming trek. We also got a number of leeches, especially me and Kate. Ugh. They suck your blood and you don’t even know they are doing it until you see blood oozing out of your socks.