Finally the Musa Masala website is born. It’s an honor to write about Everest ER and base camp as one of the first blogs on this brand-new shiny site. To not give up too much of the book away, Musa does visit us over here at Everest ER and perhaps even gets inspired. So stay tuned for the book!

It’s been quite a ride here at EBC. We started the season off with saying our good-byes to the fabulous WMS group that we trekked up with from Lukla to base camp. Thankfully, Musa Masala was already in its infancy and gave us something to do while we were getting over our loss and waiting for climbers to arrive, and gave us some business at the clinic. Many nights were spent typing up Musa’s adventures with frozen fingers (risking frostbite perhaps!) and researching Sherpa culture on ever-so-slow (but apparently faster than 2015) Everestlink internet.

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Doctors’ life at basecamp is luxurious in a way. Bundled up in our high-tech sleeping bags, we stay toasty while camping on the glacier, which we hear cracking every night. Avalanches are also frequent, but too small and far away to touch us. Viewing the Milky Way is a nightly activity (don’t be jealous). Just unzip the tent, and stare at the Big Dipper or Orion’s belt. In fact, we don’t ever have to leave the comfort of our cozy tents, as we sport pee-bottles to accommodate our increased micturition at 5,300 meters. Our meals consist of at least three courses, if not five, sometimes even followed by chocolate cake or banana pie. So weight loss from starvation is not an option.

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This year we have a bigger, brighter and better Everest ER tent. We have plenty of room to have been able to open the one and only gym, movie theater and dance hall at EBC. (Some of my brain cells have apoptosed after two months here, so the last sentence was part of my imagination.) But seriously, our tent attracts some business. We have seen close to 300 patients since April 5th and the volume has been up over last 10 days while climbers have been going for the summit. Woo hoo!! 

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We are now masters at managing Khumbu cough, altitude illnesses, gastrointestinal distress, various sprains and frostbite. If our patients are too sick, helicopter evacuations are quickly arranged by the all-knowledgeable Mr. Lakpa. Everest ER is now in it’s 14th year of operation, bringing medical expertise to the sick Sherpas and foreign climbers at Mt. Everest. We feel lucky to be part of it!

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— Dr. Tatiana Havryliuk