More drugs, but less convulsions...

So 2 weeks today since we got to bring Ross home which means he's been getting steroids, on top of the anti epileptic drugs, plus lots of vitamins and ant-acid to counteract some of the side effects, for 14 days now. 14 days of 9 different drugs, 3 times a day.

The good news is that he seems to be responding to something; following a few days of the steroid treatment we noticed that the number of convulsions, which had been sitting about 10-15 per day reduced to almost zero. In addition his general condition seemed to improve; his skin which had been bad with eczema cleared up and he become more like a normal baby.

The doctors had warned us that the steroids would likely make Ross hungry, that he would put on weight and that he would become agitated, especially in the second week of treatment. As a result we have been very confused about what could still be movements linked to seizures still happening in Ross's brain and what is just normal reaction to the steroids. The main thing we've been waiting on this week was another EEG yesterday; it showed that Ross's brain activity was still very abnormal, but that it was 'less bad' than the previous EEGs. Good news? Who knows...we really seem to be in a wait-and-see situation with respect to Ross's future development. Another appointment in Necker next week so maybe we'll know more after that? In the meantime it's great that Ross is settled and that as he's at home we get to spend some time with Fin. I'm off to Great Ormond Street on Friday to meet the best expert there to see if they can help. Unilever have also kindly agreed to let me have some leave for July and August so I'll use that time to try to understand Ross's condition better and we'll try to get into some sort of routine that means that we can manage as a family once I do go back to work come September.

The response to the fund-raising has been amazing; almost £5000 including gift aid raised in the past 5 weeks for the National Society for Epilepsy. Plus I know of several events being organised to raise more. Thank you, thank you, thank you...

By the way, after 7 weeks without any training, I've managed a few 15 minute jogs in the last few days; it's amazing how quickly your fitness disappears (might be something to do with the endless supply of chocolate being delivered by concerned relatives...)

Home at last!

After 2 further few weeks of trying different anti-epilepsy drugs at different dosages, Ross's convulsions continue and a further EEG test this week showed that his brain activity is still abnormal. As a result the doctors do not seem very optimistic about being able to eliminate Ross's convulsions, or his chances of developing normally. As a further attempt to treat Ross they proposed to try a course of steroids on top of the anti-epilepsy drugs, which will be hard on Ross's body, but given there is a chance it may help we have to try it. This was obviously not what we wanted to hear, but the good news is that we can manage this treatment from home, returning Ross to the hospital a few times for monitoring, so on the evening of Wednesday 18th June we brought Ross home. Fin was over the moon...

Since Wednesday we have been giving Ross his 9 different medications 3 times a day and looking after him as best we can. We're still hoping for positive news when Ross has his next EEG in 2 weeks time.

The response so far to our fundraising for the National Society for Epilepsy has been staggering and quite overwhelming; including Gift Aid we already have over £4000 for the NSE (on top of the almost £5000 for CLIC Sargent); thank you very much to those of you who have donated via our Archies Mountain website. I also cannot thank enough those of you who have sent us emails or text messages of support - these mean so much to Clair and I.

For now, now that we have Ross back home, we will concentrate on trying to get some normality back into our lives.

CHANGE OF PLAN

11th May 2008 - Ross David Donnan born weighing 8lbs. All well.

13th May 2008 - Ross was transferred to intensive care in a specialist neo-natal hospital after suffering convulsions. His brain activity was found to be irregular and he was given convulsion controlling drugs. These knocked him out for most of a week but unfortunately when the level of drugs in his system reduced the convulsions returned. An MRI scan showed no brain damage (initial hypothesis) but repeated EEGs showed continuing abnormal brain activity so doctors started to suspect a metabolic disorder.

26th May 2008 - Ross was transferred to the neurological ward in Necker Hospital for Sick Children in Paris where different convulsion controlling drugs and vitamins treatments were started. A rare type of epilepsy is suspected but numerous tests and drug trials are required to confirm which type. After peaking between 80-100 convulsions per day, the drugs at least started to reduce the number of convulsions. 3rd June 2008 - Ross is still in hospital and is having 5-15 convulsions per day, although in between these he at least now sleeps, feeds and poos like a normal newborn. There is still no diagnosis beyond a rare form of epilepsy, so we still have no idea when we'll get Ross home or what his development will be like.

I have agreed with Rich to delay our Mont Blanc attempt until Summer 2009 and to raise some sponsorship for The National Society for Epilepsy. Visit our website http://www.archiesmountain.com/ and follow the links to donate. Please give generously, and also feel free direct any family, friends and colleagues who you think would be willing to sponsor us to our website.
Thank you very much to everyone who has sent us messages of support - they really do keep us going.

Thankfully one of us knows what we're doing...

As you can see below, Rich is an old hand at all this stuff and is taking everything into consideration. Good job as I'm not sure my Duke of Edinburgh award expeditions plus the trips we did in Scotland and Wales really qualify me fully for this, but I trust Rich completely to get both of us up and down safely.

As you can see in Rich's note below, even experienced people can perish on Mont Blanc, so we really will trying to complete this successfully whilst taking the least amount of risks possible.
- Objective number one is to get back down the hill safely
- Objective number two is to get to the summit

Jogging has been going ok, although I must admit it can be a bit dull - where's that rush of endorphines everyone talks about? I did a good run a few weeks ago in Edinburgh with my mates Bungee (his wedding day!) and Kit (ex military); that little jaunt up and around Arthur's Seat was a bit faster, steeper and longer than my normal runs, but it was good to know that I could keep up with these two. I plan to start doing longer runs from now on, but then again, baby is due to arrive today (no movement yet...) so I am concerned about being able to keep running whilst still working full time and on little sleep - I'll find a way.

Money is coming in steadily - we're nearing on £3500 already and I've still to put the word out in Northern Ireland - that's the next job...

Route selection...

With just over two months to go until we set off to the Alps, most of the technical training done (we will do some glacier travel work when we get there) and the focus shifting to stamina in the training, it is time to have a proper look at our acclimatisation schedule and route selection.

One of the mysteries of physiology is the large differences that are seen between individuals in their ability to cope with the reduced oxygen levels experienced above around 2,500m. Simply being fit is no guarantee that someone will cope well at altitude and there is currently no way of prediciting who will have difficulties and who will not. The only guaranteed way of finding out is to go up there. However, with the risk of altitude sickness, this mustn't be rushed, so a gradual programme of height gain is required.


Given that Karl has never been to altitude before (I have been to 4,200m with no ill effects), we need to start gently. Our first trip will be up the Albert Premier hut (at 2,700m) to stay the night. We will walk in from Le Tour, at 1,400m, allowing us to acclimatise psychologically to the scale of the place - this walk is only just over 3km long but gains the height of Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, in that distance. It should sort our legs out! The following day we will climb Aiguille du Tour, at 3,500m, before descending back to Le Tour. This should give us some clues as to Karl's reaction to altitude, as well as to our overall level of fitness, and help in our acclimatisation.

After a few day's rest we will take an early morning cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi ski station at 3,800m. We will spend all day up high and sleep in the Cosmiques hut at around 3,600m. Sleeping at altitude is a great way of letting your body get used to the thinner air, without making too many demands on it. From here we will have a look at our route up. As Karl did very well in the training - not being psyched out by the exposed positions and being competant with ice axes, ropes, harnesses etc. - it should be possible to follow the route in the picture below.

1. Cosmiques hut (3,613m) - leave at 1am

2. Mont Blanc du Tacul (4,248m) around 3.30am

3. Mont Maudit (4,465m) around 5am

4. Mont Blanc (4,9810m) around 8am

Return the same way, catching a cable car back down to the valley floor for mid afternoon.

If the weather, our legs or our lungs are not ready for a summit bid, we will try and do Mont Blanc du Tacul in order to get more altitude in, before returning to the valley floor and resting for a few more days and trying again. We have 2 weeks to do this in, but the longer we take, the less time we will spend with our families - something we are not that keen on!

As I write this, a British climber has been killed on La Tour Ronde (on the other side of the mountain to this picture). An experienced climber who slipped and fell, this acts as a salutory reminder that, no matter how many people say Mont Blanc is easy, all mountians are potential killers - knowing this allows us to understand the risks and make informed decisions. If we are not sure, we won't push it.

Training in North Wales

Karl here - spent the first weekend in April walking, scrambling and climbing in North Wales with Rich, in the sun and the snow! I'll let Rich try to spell all the place names correctly in his bit below; needless to say, I spent the whole time in Wales wondering where all the vowels had gone.

We had a late arrival at the hostel where we were staying thanks to some spurious excuse from my favourite budget airline and after a few hours sleep headed round the valley thanks to Eric the toothless bus driver and up the steep side of Tryfan.

The weather was very changeable but when it cleared the views were great. Some expert

scrambling (always maintain 3 touch-points they said; I reckon 70-80% full body contact with the rocks is more efficient) and before we knew it we were at the peak.

Along the ridge and down the far side stopping for lunch by a lake before heading round the Snowdon Horseshoe. On Rich's

advice, we ducked out of a bit of ridge-walking in pretty gusty winds, but still made it round and up Snowdon, over the ridges beyond the peak and back round again to the valley floor and the hostel.

A pretty full-on day's walking and my legs were pretty burst by the end of it...

The overnight hail and covering of snow forced a change of plan on Sunday morning and we headed out to do some proper climbing.

This was my first real rock-climb and I was pretty pleased with myself that I made it up (again making use of hands, feet, knees, shoulders, stomach etc) and down the 'easy' walk-off route (overhanging abseil...).

An awesome pizza in Pete's Eats on the way back to Liverpool to start my epic budget airline journey home (cancelled flight, no apology, 40 hours and 2 nights in a dodgy hotel later - I did ask them if they'd make a donation in return for me not slating them on the website, but no response, so...it was Easyjet).

Fitness is now the main training, so if you're in St Germain en Laye forest in the coming weeks, and you see a sweaty, wheezing jogger, offer some words of encouragement. The target has been set and I have had an idea of what will be expected, at least without the altitude. To tackle that (and maybe even generate some additional PR) I'm planning on being the first person to climb Mont Blanc with the use of oxygen...just don't tell Rich.

The donations seem to be adding up, and we haven't really told many people about our website yet - if you've stumbled across archiesmountain.com and are inspired to make a donation, no matter how small, please go ahead and do so. Please also feel free to forward our website address to your friends and family if you think they'd be interested.

Next stop for me is the world of no sleep, with new baby arriving early May - ideal preparation for an ascent of Mont Blanc...

Snowdonia in April...

The second of our weekends away started in typically complicated fashion - a meeting in London until 5pm, a crowded train home to Nottingham, drive home for tea and to pack the car, a phone call from Karl to say his plane is delayed, another call to say he is boarding (What! I'm 2 hours drive from the airport!), a rather hasty dash across the A50 and M6 to Liverpool airport (mmm, Runcorn, what a place), avoiding the racing fans arriving for the Grand National the following day, another hasty dash along the A55 to Llanberis to get to the
Pen-y-Pass youth hostel for 12:45am to find the door code we were given didn't seem to work. Staring down the barrel of a night in the car, I gave it a good tug and open sesame - Karl was obviously being a bit weak...

A reasonable night in the dorm saw us tucking into a big fry up and working out how to get round to Ogwen, leaving the car behind. As if by magic, at 8:45 the S6 bus hoved into view and through a combination of body language interpretation, wise nodding and smiling, we got two tickets to Capel Curig. I think the driver had forgotten to put his teeth in. From Capel we stuck out a thumb and the first car round the corner was a lad up from Birmingham who fancied taking his dog for a walk up in the Glyders - we know this because he stopped and in we jumped - good man! He dropped us in the large lay-by at the foot of the Milestone Buttress shortly after 9am and we were ready to start on hill number one, my favourite British mountain, Tryfan. I first did it when I was about 15 with my Dad and mate John and have loved it ever since.



The initial pull up from the road is pretty steep and got our lungs working - it was fresh, dry but a bit cloudy, and as we climbed I wondered whether we would be lucky and have a clear view - a strong northerly wind was keeping the clouds moving and I kept my fingers crossed. The higher you go up Tryfan, the less grass / heather there is and the more rock and soon we were picking a line up through the rock buttresses that loomed above us. One of the great things about Tryfan is that I never seem to go the same way twice - you can avoid a lot of the difficulties or set yourself a challenge by taking a more interesting line. The hard bits never last that long but give you a real sense of exploration. Karl's first taste of tricky scrambling looked like ending in a tie but I think he sneaked a win on points - judicious use of the knee securing him the first of a series of victories!



As we moved up, the rocks started to be covered in a thin layer of ice and some small rime ice growths. The wind was fairly strong but the summit was clear of cloud more often that not and I was becoming more optimistic of having a good view from the top. I was starting doubt however that we would be able to complete the traditional jump between the 2 stones on the summit, Adam and Eve.




I had done it on my first trip and I was keenfor Karl to become a 'Man of Tryfan', but the closer we got, the more it was clear that it wouldn't be prudent to try it. Icy rocks and a strong wind are not a good combination when jumping across rocks 6 feet in the air on the top of a very exposed mountain...

Descending to the south west, pausing only to say hello to Spencer, a friend of mine I used to work with and was out enjoying the conditions (small world!), we reached the col and moved up the classic scramble of Bristly Ridge. This dark looking gully brings the climber out high on the NE shoulder of Glyder Fach (hill number 2) and gives you a great sense of exposure. The climbing is not sustained but is in a great position - unfortunately, the cloud had descended again, meaning we couldn't see much. It all added to the sense of adventure and when we suddenly found ourselves on the summit plateau, I felt a sense of shame it couldn't have gone on for longer.

We passed the summit (where has the OSBM gone?), the cantilever stone and Castell y Gwynt (Castle of the winds) and dropped down to the col between Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr. The intention was to turn south and drop all the way down to Pen-y-Pass so we could then go on to the Snowdon Horseshoe. It is not a descent I can recommend, being very wet underfoot, steep and covered in heather-bound boulders - ideal for disappearing into an unseen hole and twisting as ankle. It is also quite a long way down to Llyn Cwmffynnon and entailed crossing a river - regular readers will know I do not have a distinguished track record in this area, but this time at least I stayed dry. We had lunch by the lake in a delightful spot that would be great on a hot summer's day with the kids, before dropping the rest of the way to the youth hostel.

We refuelled on cake and water and set off up the Pyg track at about ten past two. The wind seemed to be getting stronger and was very gusty and as we got to the point where the path splits, between Crib Goch and the Pyg track, we started up to Crib Goch but after a few hundred metres I was not happy with the conditions. I knew the rocks on this very steep and exposed mountain would be icy and the Northerly winds would be trying to blowing us off the knife-edge ridge, as most of the time you are on the South side of the ridge. Given this, we decided to not risk it and traversed across back to the Pyg track. A disappointment, as Crib Goch is one of the finest ridge scrambles anywhere, but it will be there another day - and so will we.


A rather dull trudge up the Pyg track was enlivened by the fabulous views of the summit - covered in snow and ice, no cloud and occasionally bright sunshine. In fact, when the sun came out on the upper reaches of the path, where we sheltered from the wind, it was very warm. We passed all the day trippers coming back down, many of them in jeans and trainers which never ceases to amaze me, until we reached the col at Bwlch Glas. From here we were a short but windy trip up to the summit (number 3), currently undergoing a massive redevelopment for the tourists, and timed our appearance on the summit so that we had it to ourselves. One of the finest places in Britain, it is said on a clear day you can see 4 kingdoms - the kingdoms of Wales, of England, of the Isle of Man and of Heaven. We could certainly see the coast of Pembrokeshire, a good hundred miles or so south. I grimmaced in a T-shirt (it was a very cold wind!) and we set off down, south-east toward Lliwedd at a little before 5pm.






We dropped height quickly and got a good view of the crags on the north side of this impressive hill, where legend has it King Arthur's knights wait for his return in a cave somewhere. My intention the next day was to do one of the easy long rock climbs so wanted Karl to see where we would be climbing the next day. As we toiled up to the summit, the odd pangs of cramp setting in, the pace slowed and we both started to get tired. It feels like you are not getting anywhere on Lliwedd, but the twin summits suddenly appear (number 4) and we had a great view of the Crib Goch ridge, the stragglers coming down the miner's and Pyg track before setting off down to the valley floor. The miner's track provided some relief for our knees and thighs but not the balls of my feet which were on fire! We arrived back at the hostel for around 6:45pm - around 18km covered, 1600m climbed and nearly 9 hours on the hill. A good parallel for the sort of thing we will need to do in the Alps. Only at altitude.



Once back in the hostel, somewhat stiff in the legs and nursing sore feet, we showered, changed and set off in search of dinner. The famous Pen y Gyrd hotel doesn’t do bar meals in the evening, presumably to keep the riff raff like us out – and in case that didn’t work, the officious manner of the lady behind the bar certainly did - we dwelled long enough only to read some of the famous climbers and explorers who had signed the ceiling before heading off to Cobden’s in Capel Curig. Unfortunately the back bar was closed, so we nabbed a table in the main bar and ordered a couple of massive burgers. It wasn’t a formal competition, but Karl left more chips than me because he is a wuss and overdid it on the garlic mushrooms.


We limped / rolled back to the car, absolutely stuffed and drove back to Pen y Pass in the heaviest hail storm I have ever seen – rather disconcerting when driving a Skoda Fabia. We had a beer or two in the bar, made it to 10pm and made our excuses, going to bed worrying how the legs would feel the next day…

The answer came at 7am the next day when one of the other occupants of the dorm awoke, looked out the window and said ‘Snow’. Oh. Wasn’t expecting that. Getting gingerly out of bed to find the lower half of my body had survived the night, I checked on conditions and found there was a think layer of hail / snow that made conditions underfoot very icy. These conditions, the serious nature of Lliwedd and the relative inexperience of Karl meant that this was probably not the best place to go. I decided instead we should go round to the Idwal slabs and do something less committing.



We packed up and arrived in the Ogwen car park in beautiful sunshine, conditions that made the gentle walk in to Cwm Idwal feel very relaxing. As we approached the crag, I was disappointed to see someone had beaten us to it and was approaching the first belay on the classic easy line, Ordinary Route. I thought briefly about trying something harder, but conditions took a turn for the worse – a snow storm swept up the valley from the north and before long we were in a blizzard. This was going to be fun!

Ordinary Route is not technically difficult and as the party ahead of us moved up, we started climbing. The rock was very wet and in places held a reasonable amount of snow, making the whole thing feel quite adventurous. A tricky step at the beginning of pitch two led to an open groove, where I caught up with the couple ahead of us. The leader was taking his time and I waited, chatting to the second (a lady from Kenilworth, but she didn’t know my friends who live there) who was on her third trip on outdoor rock. She was doing alright, but wasn’t really prepared for the conditions – small rock boots and no socks!

Eventually they moved up and I brought Karl up a few more pitches, all the time being chased by a party of three who were moving very quickly. The top of the route peters out somewhat, leaving us with an exposed and exciting scramble while we looked for the descent. We found the couple ahead of us still roped up and looking for the descent, while an RAF rescue helicopter that was presumably on an exercise in the valley came and had a look at us. I think he was just showing off.

We found what looked like the descent, but as it was covered in snow it looked quite serious so we set up an abseil rope. The group of three behind us had caught up and agreed to throw the rope down after us, which was great as pulling abseil ropes down always runs the risk of it jamming. Karl went first and as he reached the lip and looked nervously down, I shouted a few words of encouragement – something like ‘Come on, get down there’ I think. He eventually did, and I set off after him, to discover the lip was in fact an overhang, explaining Karl’s hesitation. It was a little entertaining I have to admit. The long scramble back down past Suicide Wall was done in reasonably heavy snow, so by the time we reached the rucksacks at the bottom of the crag, they had a good covering on them. We stowed the gear and set off back to the car.


On the walk out the storm cleared, the sun came out and we had a fabulous view of Cwm Idwal, Tryfan and the Ogwen valley, crisp and white. We were back in the car for 1:30pm, plenty of time for the traditional stop off at Pete’s Eats in Llanberis. Pete’s has got bigger since I was last there but the hot chocolate is still great, as was Karl’s pizza. My chilli was odd, as it didn’t come with anything, which was strange and a disappointment – I could have done with a massive infusion of carbohydrate. We set off back to the airport and, bar the enormous queue of traffic caused by an unnecessary (as far as we could tell) coning off of one lane, the journey back was much more relaxing than the journey out. I dropped Karl off at Liverpool airport and set off home, interrupted only by a traffic jam on the M6 and Karl phoning me to say his flight had been cancelled and the next one wasn’t until Tuesday. Bloody Easyjet. What a bunch of jokers. I arrived home safely after 7pm, tired but happy to be back where I belong – among my family.








Next time we meet will be in the Alps and Karl will have another baby – I can’t wait for either…