LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After climbing to the top of his profession, a Louisville doctor has reached another summit.

Dr. Victor Shpilberg, a primary care physician at Norton Healthcare, risked his life by taking his talents to new heights.

"It's always been on my bucket list," Dr. Shpilberg said. 

He's not just dreaming about his bucket list — he's living it.

"It's over about 90 miles of hiking the entire rout, and it took us about three, just over three weeks," he said.

In late October, Dr. Shpilberg and several friends climbed mighty Mt. Everest, and it was no walk in the park.

"The climbing days, a few of them were ... they are pretty vigorous," Shpilberg said.

In fact, not everyone he made the trek with was able to finish the journey.

"All of us made it except one," said Shpilberg. "She got altitude sickness and couldn't shake it and they had to take her back down."

Despite months of training and preparation, Dr. Shpilberg said even he had complications on the trip.

"And the altitude at the atmospheric pressure is only about 50% of what it is down here," he said. "So I started to really struggle with the breathing."

Along the way, Shpilberg had to play doctor on himself and several others.

"Almost everybody on my trip at one point needed to really start taking some medication," he said. 

The mountain is massive, and believed to be more than 60 million years old.

"This is way beyond physical exhaustion," Shpilberg said. "Way past that. It's more of a mental exercise."

That's why just over 6,000 people have reached the summit of Mt. Everest, although many more have tried.

"There are memorials everywhere," said Shpilberg. "Hundreds of them where people have perished."

It's the reason Shpilberg left behind a lot of concerned patients and staff at his office in Pleasure Ridge Park.

"I got a lot of unexpected hugs and good wishes," he said.

Lizzy Maddox, the office's supervisor, said she was worried about whether or not Shpilberg would return.

"I was nervous. Very nervous," Maddox said. 

Her concern peaked when their communication broke down at one point.

"I was texting him, checking on him, 'How's it going" Did you make your flights?' And then the text messages just started delaying and wasn't getting any response back so I started to get really worried," she said. 

It turns out, Shpilberg had misplaced his cell phone.

"A friend of his actually reached out to us and said 'Hey, just to let you guys know, he (left) his cell phone on a plane,'" Maddox said.

Once at the top of Mt. Everest, there are only a few ways to get back down. Shpilberg said they chose the helicopter option. 

Now that he has checked off one bucket list item, it's on to the next.

"We are going to go in August to Glacier National Park and do a six-day outback hike," Shpilberg said.

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