Be careful while hiking in the woods!

This is just a short note to let regular readers know that I may be out of the loop for a few more days. Last Saturday I took a nasty spill while hiking down one of the trails on the north side of Mt. Adams. And I broke my right lower leg! My wife had to carefully race down to the nearest town to get help. Five hours later search and rescue showed up and carried me down to the road. An ambulance took me to a not-too-far away hospital (though it seemed too far away!) where they took x-rays and then I was transferred to Tacoma's St. Joseph hospital for surgery the next morning. I had to go without pain killers until the doctor at the first hospital in Morton could ascertain the extent of the injury! That was about 12-13 hours. Long time to wait.

Two hikers who were on their way up  the trail stopped and provided me with extra clothing and even fashioned a splint out of ski poles and spikes (one was a skier). They saved my life because since this was supposed to be a day hike, I didn't have cold weather clothing, so I would have succumbed to hypothermia. When they found me I was already shivering hard. They built a fire and waited with me for the search and rescue folks to come. Several other extreme skiers came down later in the day and stopped to see if they could help fashion a liter out of skis and some webbing they had. They worked hard but in the end we decided the trail was too risky for non experienced people to attempt it. So they took it apart and went on down the mountain to check on the progress of search and rescue.

The S&L folks were volunteers, as were the ambulance folks who delivered me to Morton hospital. I am profoundly grateful to all of these people for their work and efforts. Needless to say I will rearrange my priorities vis-a-vis charities this next year!

In any case I spent the last several days in the hospital and am now home to recuperate. When I am less loopy from drugs I will write more on the subject. Especially I want to share with you how, as the search and rescue team was carrying me down the mountain I could look up at the incredibly beautiful sky and see the Big Dipper among others. It was a strange sensation to be aware of the pain at every jostle and still feel lucky to be looking at those stars! (I know, it is probably the drugs now.)

So, if any of you are planning a walk in the woods, be careful!

In a few more days I will be back on-line with some more thoughts on this and other recent events.

George

Comments

[Robin Datta]

Terrible thing. Hope no knee involvement - which often does not quite return to normal. Even the distal tibia - the slowest healing fracture in the body - is a better prospect in the long term. Get well as fast as possible.

[chris]

Ouch!
Get well soon.

Love the tag "The Human Condition."
Marvelling at the stars between waves of pain. Indeed.

[Molly Radke]

My husband says, "Hey, Twinkle toes....watch your step!" He is ALWAYS yelling at me, "Watch your feet!" as I'd MUCH rather be watching the big dipper....or....

So, I say,UNLIKE the old man, SO sorry to hear about this, but so glad to hear that you fell into good hands ALL along this rather tortured route! We're still up on Vancouver Island, and I've saved a bunch of stuff in case you came up here, but don't reckon you'll need it this year! VERY best wishes, and take VERY good care of yourself (and listen to your dear wife, as I'm sure she'll want you to err on the side of caution!).

[Patsi]

Wow, what a story! I am so glad you are home safe! Don't push yourself too hard or start too early. I have had plates and pins in my leg, ankle and foot and slow and easy wins the race. Take care George!
Patsi

[Sudeep Bhaumick]

Take care and get well soon...

[Florifulgurator]

Get well soon!

If it isn't an open fracture, try a poultice wrapping of comfrey root (Symphytum officinale). (E.g. http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/comfrey.html . Unlike told at this link, I won't risk it on open wounds - the allantoin might close them too quick and leave pus inside. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allantoin )

I had lots of comfrey in my garden, for green manure and in case for medicine. Luckily I haven't yet suffered an accident to try it out myself...

[Tiité Baquero]

My best wishes for a speedy recovery...

[Ganesh]

Take care and Wish you a speedy Recovery

[GaryA]

A broken right lower leg-? Pah thats nothing!..in my twenties I was involved in a nasty RTA and had 2 broken Femurs and a broken pelvis and it took the ambulance crew 20 min to get to me before they could pump me full of morphine. I had multiple pins inserted, in a wheelchair for 3 months, relearned to walk in a swimming pool and was walking normally a year later-I was lucky. So stop whining Morbus and get well soon!

English tongue-in-cheek sarcasm therapy for you there George....

All the best.

[Rajiv]

George,

Sorry to here about your accident. Hope you recover soon(est)

[George Mobus]

All,

Thanks so much for the warm wishes. Of course GaryA is right. I should have a stiffer upper lip and just soldier on with it!

I am down to just a few pain pills a day so should be getting back into productivity mode before long. Have been thinking a lot more about the impacts of peak net energy on the economy, more thoughts about a project to nudge eusapience along, etc.

Warmest regards to all,

George
PS. Will also try to get to some hanging thread comments elsewhere soon.

[Marc T. Cryer]

I'm a regular reader and I'm sorry to hear about your accident but glad to hear that you are somewhere safe where you can recover. I'm pretty much a solo hiker and I am often off-trail by as much as a day's walk; I worry about just the scenario that happened to you but I do leave my itinerary with someone who would look for me if I didn't return. But that's a cold comfort if you are in great pain in an unfamiliar place. I also always have a sleeping bag or blanket and often have prescription strength pain killers with me still you can probably never be well enough prepared. Hope to hear from in your normal mode again soon.

[Phil Henshaw]

Ouch!! Hope you continue to have good care. The meds sound fairly good!

[Gary Peters]

Hi George,

I'm sorry about your nasty fall but glad to hear that you are both on the mend and planning to provide us with more ideas to think about.

Gary

[james]

I feel for you. And am glad you were able to retain your feeling of reverence for the stars.