Attitude Determines Your Altitude, Unless You're Visiting Colorado

There is a very famous success phrase that your attitude will determine your altitude in life.  It's not 100% of course, but having a positive attitude not only is good for your career, but also your health.  When we were planning our trip to Colorado I looked up and found out that the Denver area is one mile above sea level and it is common for people visiting to temporarily get "altitude sickness." This occurs when there is lower amounts of oxygen at a higher altitude.  I wasn't worried about it, but my concern was that it might be a problem for my wife.

I had spoken to a number of my riders who either lived in Colorado or had lived there in the past.  They said it probably would not be a big deal and to drink extra water and just be aware if you have some trouble breathing.  We drove three hours into Colorado to our daughter's house and had dinner and was up for a number of hours before going to sleep the first night.  

I didn't think about altitude sickness until about two hours later when I woke up and could not breathe.  I'm used to sleeping with a fan on above us at home, but I was now in the living room comfortably sleeping on a couch.  I knew there was air, there just wasn't much of it.  I went into the bathroom and found some. With the door closed, the air that had come from the air conditioner was still in there and I inhaled every bit of it I could.

Coming out of the bathroom I looked at my situation: I wasn't in my house, I didn't want to wake anyone up and it appeared that the air conditioning was not on. So here's the conversation I had with myself:

Positive Jeff: "It's going to be okay. You're tired, you'll be able to fall asleep."

Negative Jeff: "What if I pass out? Should I go outside and get some "fresh air"?

Positive Jeff: "Keep drinking water, relax, this is normal."

Negative Jeff: "You are 61 and you do have motion sickness, maybe this will be serious?

Positive Jeff: "I could spend more time in the bathroom, I know there's air there and I'm going to be peeing for awhile after I finish this whole water bottle."

And, that's when the air conditioning went on! I looked across from me and there was a large vent on the wall a few steps up the staircase.  I walked up there and stuck my face right in front of it and sucked as much air in as I could.  Pictured below was my new best friend:

As it turns out there was one chair at the kitchen table that had air blowing on it, so I sat there for a little bit. Then, I sat down on the couch, put my feet up and could still feel the air when I fell asleep.

The pressure on my head lasted about 30 hours which is normal and I kept drinking as much as I could. I felt much better outside during the time of my altitude sickness.  My wife? She was fine and had no trouble at all.  So, when visiting Colorado the first time and probably any time, for some people-it's the altitude that will determine how you feel.