There’s No Point in Having a Bucket List if You Don’t Tick Things Off

Day 21: Egypt with 50% lung function

Photo Credit: Grant Parsons

I kicked off 2010 with a holiday in Egypt

Egypt was a destination that had been on my bucket list since I had been little. Given the way my lung function had suddenly dropped the previous year, Grant decided it was time to make a trip to Egypt a reality instead of an item on a wish list.
Just before we left, my lung function peaked at 50%. I was ready to go exploring!

The Great Pyramid
I walked around the base of the Great Pyramid. If tourists were allowed to climb it, I probably would have given it a go. Instead, I used the Robber’s Tunnel to climb to the resting place of Khufu.

The Robber’s Tunnel is a narrow, airless passage. The air quality is extremely low. For most of the climb, I was bent double, barely able to breathe. At the resting point, where most people stayed long enough to catch their breath before they continued, I needed to stand, and just breathe for ten minutes. Even then, I could not properly regain my breath.

A constant stream of people squeezed past me whenever I paused and tried to pull a little more oxygen into my lungs. But I had come many kilometres to climb this tunnel. And so I pulled air into my lungs and forced myself to keep climbing. It took me three times as long to climb than most other people, but I made it.

Reaching the King’s chamber with a lung function of 1.6 litres remains one of my proudest achievements.

Valley of the Kings
My second challenge was at the Valley of the Kings — once again hot and crowded, but this time, the tombs had industrial fans to increase the air circulation.
Increased air circulation sounds like a good idea in theory, but the tombs were also somewhat dusty. The fans created a whirlwind of dust.

​I pretty much sucked at breathing to begin with — so breathing through a cloth to keep the dust out of my airways was not my strong point.
But I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.

Next in the 31 Days of Cystic Fibrosis series - The Chat You Never Want to Have With Your Doctor

I went home from hospital with an oxygen concentrator and a referral to the transplant team at Royal Perth.

31 Days of Cystic Fibrosis is an awareness-raising campaign to coincide with
the national Cystic Fibrosis (CF) awareness month in Australia.
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​If you’ve just joined the journey and want to start at the beginning, you’ll find the first post here: Your Daughter Has Cystic Fibrosis