The Arctic

Next month I’m headed on an expedition to THE ARCTIC!!!!!!

When I told one of my best friends where my next adventure was, she said, “Asha how have you managed to eclipse Everest?!!!!”.

The realm of the polar bear, also has puffins, walruses and all manner of arctic birds.

On the agenda, hiking the volcanic, deserted arctic island of Jan Mayen, meeting the Inuit people of Greenland, and being closer than ever to The North Pole. My very own Walter Mitty adventure.

Today my doctor went through my latest hospital results. They are bad. My cancer levels have gone up quite significantly. Explains why I’m experiencing so many changes in my body. So be it.

While I still have good mobility I am going to make as many memories for myself as humanly possible. Seeing Mount Everest, travelling in Tibet at high altitude for 10 solid days and realising my goal despite the difficulty was worth the risk.

My heart went into overdrive at base camp Tibet which sits at 5200m. It was almost double my normal resting rate which is 60bmp. And my oxygen saturation hit 74. My doctor’s face was one of horror when I told him today. He literally made the emoji “wow” face.

“I stayed calm as I didn’t want a cardiac arrest. I barely slept that night as I focused on breathing slowly and deeply,” I told him. It was not a comfortable night, but it was doable.

“All the other symptoms of high altitude were not unlike how I feel every other month when I have very low haemoglobin, so it didn’t faze me. Moving was like being weighted down by something heavy. So it took me forever to get anywhere like a human-sloth. Thank god for the extra boost from that transfusion. It was a lifesaver. The rapid dum-dee-dum-dee-dum-dee-dum heart beat I didn’t like though.” I confessed.

My polar adventure has been complicated to get medical clearance. He has had to sign me off on this trip and it is the first time in my life I have confessed my blood cancer to a company because it is so damn remote.

I was worried I would be rejected when I dropped my bombshell. But they said if I passed the online medical requirements and got my specialist to sign it off, I could come on board the ship. When their ship’s medic heard I was headed to Tibet and Everest base camp, he sent me an email saying, “Asha you are good to go!”

My doctor has come to expect the unexpected with me. Especially after Outer Mongolia and now Tibet, he said to me today, “Please tell me you are not going high again.”

I laughed apologetically for making him worry, “No not high, but it will be bloody freezing, so let’s check the blood levels before I leave and maybe get another boost of donor blood before I head off.”

I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to have dialogue with a specialist who shares in my enthusiasm to grab life by the balls and supports me the way he does. He is my frickin’ unicorn!

I intend to stuff as much excitement into my life until my dying breath. Time to fill up that new passport!!

The photos are from previous expeditions. The landscape looks absolutely mind boggling!!!!!!