Back to Denver!

February 19th

After my short walk the previous day, I felt quite exhausted and decided to have a day of rest. Paul seemed to be quite recovered, and went off to ski at Copper Mountain, which meant no breakfast and being at the bus station by 7.15. I certainly didn't feel up to that!

During the course of the morning I began to feel worse and worse, and also very sleepy, so I retired to bed. After what would have been lunch time, I noticed that I was panting all the time, even when lying down resting, and I knew this was one of the symptoms of pulmonary oedema, which is a life-threatening condition. I found my oximeter and discovered that my blood oxygen level was 81%. The doctor had been concerned when I had bronchitis and it was 91%, so this was clearly quite serious. I didn't feel well enough to get up and do anything about it at the time - just breathing was enough to occupy my mind - but it was pretty clear to me I couldn't stay in Breckenridge.

When Paul arrived back from Copper Mountain about 4.30, he conferred with me and with our friends who run the Inn, and I felt I should leave as soon as possible, while I could still breathe! So Paul rang CME, the company who usually transport us up and down the mountain, and they said they had a spare place on the 5.45 bus down to Denver. Paul was able to book me a room in the hotel near the airport where we had stayed before, so it only remained for me to pack my case and go downstairs to wait for the minibus to pick me up. Fortunately, packing took almost no time at all; we had only moved room two days previously, and I had only unpacked things like toiletries, most things were still packed anyway.

The journey down was really quite scary. A storm had been on the way all day - which could have lowered the air pressure and helped to give me such breathing problems - and it broke while I was awaiting the transport. By the time the CME minibus arrived, the snow was falling heavily and visibility was down to about 50 feet; I was extremely glad I didn't have to drive in those conditions. It was rather like having to drive down a long dark tunnel, with everybody travelling at about 10 or 15 miles an hour and just following the lights in front. As well as falling snow, we had to contend with high winds and blowing snow, and the driver had to stop to clear the buildup of ice on the windscreen. Fortunately, the roads are planned with such weather in mind, and there are safe places to pull off - though they are for vehicles to put on their chains, rather than for de-icing the windscreen. Most people seemed to drive suitably for the conditions, and for most of the way our speed didn't exceed 20 miles and hour, so it didn't feel unduly dangerous.

As we neared Denver, we ran out of the storm, and then we were able to drive faster. The driver had been very sympathetic to my plight, and when he realised he would be able to see my hotel from the road to the airport, he very kindly make a detour of a few minutes to drop me there. This saved me travelling another 7 miles to the airport, waiting for up to 30 minutes for the hotel shuttle, and travelling another 7 miles back to the hotel, so I was extremely grateful. Although I was still out of breath, my blood oxygen levels began to improve slightly later that night, so leaving Breckenridge was obviously the right thing to do.


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