I first encountered symptoms while trekking in Nepal last November. I was feeling sick and eventually couldn’t hold anything down, followed by a total loss of balance and coordination. After falling down some ancient stone steps, the lead Sherpa and I tried to backtrack to the airport, but it was too far (we were about twenty miles in at that point) so we helicoptered out of there and flew to a hospital in Kathmandu the next morning. Super serious, scary stuff. I was tested for (and we thought it was) a cerebral edema (brain swelling from altitude, and it was only recently that I discovered it was cancer after getting tired of severe post-trip migraines and finally got an MRI referral.
The whole experience is layered with the disappointment of failing at something I’d spent the past few years preparing and training for, alongside the currently *** economic situation that has run my freelance work ragged. Plus the weirdness of feeling fine and knowing that I’m actually not fine. It’s a weird-*** time all around and I feel like I can’t get a win in.
