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Day 18 2/1/99
 I played
golf with RK at Santa Teresa. It was a wonderful experience. My
score does not show it as I was playing erratically on the back 9. However, on the
front 9 I scored par on both par 3s. It's too bad that I missed both of my birdie tries.
The shot of the day was the 7th tee. I took a 5 wood and hit the ball beautifully. It was
straight and long. I had some great iron shots from the fairways also. However, my drive
is still slicing. My short putts all went in, though. Overall I know that I can become a
better much player by having some solid and consistent contact with the ball and if I get
ride of the slice. Santa Teresa also has a 9-hole executive course. For sure I'm bring
Theresa here to play.
Diamox:
Theresa and I really hate to take medicine unless we have to. At this point I'm more
convinced to take Diamox. However, maybe we will just take it a few days into our hike.
I thought I'll check out whether I'm allergic to it now since a hospital is closer
here than on top of Kili.
http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html
Diamox (Acetazolamide) allows you to breathe faster so
that you metabolize more oxygen, thereby minimizing the symptoms caused by poor
oxygenation. This is especially helpful at night when respiratory drive is decreased.
Since it takes a while for Diamox to have an effect, it is advisable to start taking it 24
hours before you go to altitude and continue for at least five days at higher altitude.
The recommendation of the Himalayan Rescue Association Medical Clinic is 125 mg. twice a
day (morning and night). (The standard dose was 250 mg., but their research showed no
difference for most people with the lower dose, although some individuals may need 250
mg.) Possible side effects include tingling of the lips and finger tips, blurring of
vision, and alteration of taste. These side effects may be reduced with the 125 mg. dose.
Side effects subside when the drug is stopped. Contact your physician for a prescription.
Since Diamox is a sulfonamide drug, people who are allergic to sulfa drugs should not take
Diamox. Diamox has also been known to cause severe allergic reactions to people with no
previous history of Diamox or sulfa allergies. Frank Hubbell of SOLO recommends a trial
course of the drug before going to a remote location where a severe allergic reaction
could prove difficult to treat.
My personal experiment with Diamox on 2/1/99:
 | 5:12pm: Took a 250mg Diamox pill. Drank 8 oz of water. |
| 5:22pm: Still alive as I'm typing on the PC. |
| 5:38pm: Just in case I talked to Kaiser to find out the closest emergency room that I
can go to--for Kaiser it's the Hayward office ( 27400 Hesperian Blvd in Hayward: North 880
exit Tennyson). The closest emergency room is Washington Hospital near Mowry and Paseo
Padre.) So far so good. |
| 5:42pm Opened a letter from Mom all the way from Taiwan. It's an article in the Chinese
newspapers on altitude sickness! (Yes, there is a 10,000 feet mountain in Taiwan.) Anyone
who wants to read about altitude sickness in Chinese, just let me know! Better yet, you
can also talk to my mom directly :-) (Doyle, can you write out a permission slip for
me to my mother? :-) |
| 5:46pm I'm sure I'm just nervous as I want to go the the bathroom already. Frankly I
usually go pretty often. Now I'm going to find out exactly what "massive
urination" mean :-) Let me hold it for now... (No, I'm not breathing quicker yet.) |
| 6:05pm I really wanted to wait until 6:12pm. However, why wait since the bathroom is
just right there! This is no Kili after all. Feel good after I went. Drank another 8 oz of
water. |
| 6:40pm Okay. Went again. So far no side effects with tingling of the lips and finger
tips, blurring of vision. No water this time. |
| 7:45pm. Again. |
| 9:10pm. I had dinner. What can I say? I have a weak bladder. Went again. 5 times in 4
hours so far. At least I don't have to go to the emergency room. |
| 10:20pm: Had somewhat of a loose bowl. Maybe it's the fish or oyster that I ate for
dinner. Not too bad, though. Feeling just a little bit dizzy. |
| 7:50am the next morning. Well, last night I woke up every two hours. I feel fine right
now. My breathing did not quicken--I think Diamox takes 24 hours to work. I'm not going to
take anymore for now as I did this to see if I'm allergic to the drug. |
| I don't want to take prescription sleeping aids, so I got Nytol (Diphenydramine HCL) get
in case. (Gee, I sure hope I don't pee in my sleeping bags--my nightmare on Kili :-) |
| Bottom line: Diamox seems to have little side-effects for me (your milage may vary), and
I don't mind the pee too much since it may enable me to get more oxygen. Next step: it's
Theresa's turn to experiment this Sunday. |
 
For dinner I steamed a live catfish with ginger and green onions and also baked live
oyster with hot chili with black fermented bean sauce. Yummy. It's strange that some
oysters get cooked (opened their shells) in 15 minutes, and some took 30 minutes.
Day 19 2/2/9
Rondo's Kamp K9 Report Kard:
| Kamper: Rondo Date: 2/2/99 |
| Energy Level: Kamikaze Kamper ( ); Basic Bowwow (X); Pooped
Pooch ( ) |
| Interaction with other Kampers: Team Player ( ); Cheerleader (X);
Bench Warmer ( ) |
| Play Friends: Laddie |
| Time Outs: ___ Reasons: Barking; Needed to rest; Get into a tiff; Other ___ |
| Overall Komments: Graduate to a whole day rather than a half day class next time! |
While Rondo was at kamp I played golf. I first went the San Leandro Marina. I practiced
at their new driving range. It's the best I've ever been. It even has an overhead heater.
The mat is soft where the ball sits. Very nice. Unfortunately the executive 9-hole
course is closed for re-construction. I'm looking forward to play there this summer.
I then played a short but challenging 9-hole executive course at Lake Chabot. I even got three par's! (Okay, I'm not counting some
of the mulligans that I took :-) Click at the below picture for a 7-frame panoramic shot
of Lake Chabot and a hole.
 For dinner I
cooked a lamb roast with potatoes and also steamed some Brussels sprouts. Lamb is one of
Theresa's favorite foods.
Day 20 2/3/9
 
You think I have time to go up to Heavenly at Lake Tahoe to go snow boarding? You think
I want to risk breaking my legs or twisting my ankles before our big hike up Kili? I don't
think so! I scanned in these two pictures from last year because I'm cleaning up the den,
and I always want to put my snowboard picture on the WEB. (Actually that was the first
time I learned how to snowboard. It was a lot of fun--if you can call falling down
on my buns many times fun :-) Besides, yesterday I had a nice chat with my nephew Eric
on-line, and I promise to put a picture of him on the WEB. Starting from left to right:
Alex, Eric, Jeff, Kimberly, Susan, Hebe, and myself; Stanley was taking the picture.
Pretty "cool" family, huh. :-) By the way, that white blob at the bottom
is actually a chuck of snow falling.
 This is what Rondo
looks like after he is groomed.
 This is the
practice green at the Fremont Family Golf Center where I practice. It's great. Look at
Mission Peak in the background. I wonder if there is a driving range in Tanzania with Mt.
Killimanjaro in the background ? :-)
 So far the only snafu we had in preparing for our big Mt. Kili trip is that
Theresa still does not have her prescription sunglasses because her pervious doctor does
not have the sunglasses with the side shield in stock. So we rushed down to my eye doctor
in Santa Clara. We should have the glasses next Friday--just two days prior to our trip.
The good thing about this snafu is that we went to one of our favorite restaurants in
Santa Clara. La Galleria serves some of the best pasta around. Theresa had fettuccine with
prawns and shrimps, and I had linguini with calamari--Rondo was very impressed by our
garlic breath the next morning as he loves to sniff smelly things :-)
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