737 Leg 7 Everest - Day 168

After a few whiskeys with David Hamilton and the rest of the team at base camp I slept like a log...or it could be the relatively thicker air at base camp! I'm so disappointed about my toe but feeling less sorry for myself today. The helicopter came to fly me to Kathmandu this morning. It was sad to say goodbye to the team at base camp after an emotional 3 weeks - they were all trekking home today.

The helicopter ride was amazing - flying down the Khumbu valley retracing my trekking path from 4 weeks ago. The valley had changed so much, much greener. On arrival in Kathmandu an ambulance picked me up at airport to take me to the NIC clinic, which felt a bit overkill ha! They doctors at the clinic confirmed what the specialist Jagged Globe had emailed over to me yesterday after looking at my toe picture (see below) Its a grade 1-2 frostbite which at first glance seems as if it will heal but with time! And not to re-expose it to high altitude or cold!!!

I'm now hoping that the Jagged Globe team back in Sheffield can change my flight home, so I can get my toe on the road to recovery asap and hopefully in time for Denali. I thought the thicker air of Kathmandu would give me more energy, but instead I'm double shattered! My toe is starting to really swell in size now as the fluid begins to flow back through the micro capillaries that have been burst by the freezing. I'm expecting it to become very painful, but not yet. Now it's another lonely couple of days resting in my hotel room. Thank you for all your get well messages on Facebook and Twitter.

THE LATEST FROM JAGGED GLOBE – THE 737 CHALLENGE EXPEDITION AND LOGISTICAL PARTNER

Prof. Chris Imray, Consultant General and Vascular Surgeon and Dr. David Hillebrandt, medical advisor to Jagged Globe have assessed Richard based on the photographs they have seen of Richard’s toe.

David Hillebrandt, Medical Advisor to Jagged Globe stated; “In terms of facts it appears that Richard Parks has Grade 1 or Grade 2 frostbite to the great toe with possibly some very mild damage to the index toe. As a general rule the treatment of frostbite in the acute phase is thawing once the person is safe and then efforts to prevent infection and to let nature take its course over several weeks or months. Normally somebody with this degree of damage would be expected to keep their toe in the long term but may have later susceptibility to future cold injury and possibly long term nerve damage with odd toe sensations. This assumes the person has conservative treatment with simple dressings and time to heal. Time is the great healer. The greatest risk to a mildly frostbitten digit is from further damage once it has thawed (which this now has) and before it has fully healed. The doctor in me has to advise him to rest until healed, which could be a couple of months but every bit of rest is potentially beneficial. The climber in me sympathises with a desire to keep climbing and go on to Denali”.