POST # 20
PART 1
Last week prior to my second visit to the hospital for my second operation on my leg, my dear friend Tim, whom I have had the sincere pleasure of knowing now for 45 years came by my place to see how I was doing but also to go and check out the hill that I had tumbled down a couple of weeks ago. I was curious to see some photos of what exactly I had fallen down, the height, both vertical and along the ground and also the angle of the slope. So off Tim went with Sadie the faithful dog by his side. It would be his first visit, but a return to the scene of the crime for Sadie. I cautioned him to be careful. After all, if he tumbles down the slope, I won't be able to come looking for him in my condition. But Timmy's a pretty sure footed dude, so I was quite confident that he would return with some hard evidence.
Now, I knew that I had fallen a significant distance and the slope angle was fairly steep but even I was shocked when he returned with his assessment and the photo evidence to go along with it. It only took a few moments for him to upload the photos on his computer, and then for the first time since the accident I got to see with my own eyes exactly where and how far I had fallen on March 4th. In Tim's estimation which I would suggest is fairly accurate, the angle of the slope at the top of the hill was close to 60 degrees, the vertical distance about 100 feet and the distance I tumbled head over heels down the hill was around 200 feet. The slope is covered with various shapes and sizes of rather sharp looking rocky outcrops. I was dumbfounded. To have taken the fall that I had, on that slope, I to this day can't believe that all that I ended up with was just one broken leg in 5 places. In my humble opinion, and as the title says, death came knocking and I really did slip out the back door once again. And even if the fall wouldn't have killed me outright, the fact that I didn't break my back, both legs and arms, ribs, head etc. etc. was quite amazing really. Maybe it was my good luck dog Sadie who helped me pull through.
Now as a result of the adventurous life that I have chosen to live, I have had numerous occasions in the past where death hovered close by and one day I have promised myself to try and remember them all and write them down, but one instance that does come to mind as I write these words happened back in the year 2000 and just happened to involve my friend Tim and a couple of other friends from Calgary.
Looking west from Calgary one of the mountains that stands out is Mount Cornwall at just over 9700 feet. It was a mountain I had wanted to climb and with my mountain buddies we decided to climb not only Cornwall, but also Banded Peak and I believe the other was Outlaw peak, all of similar altitudes. The last of the three climbed was Mount Cornwall. We sat up there enjoying the view, and one moment we were having a very relaxing time and the next instant, KABOOM!!!!! The flash of lightening and the thunder clap were simultaneous, and we went from being four very relaxed dudes sitting, to four very freaked out dudes each trying to outdo the other in attempting to flatten our body lower than the next guy. "Ya, I love these guys, but if another bolt of lightening is on the way, then I want to make sure that my ass is lower than anyone else." It would have made for a comical youtube video, as you watched the four intrepid mountaineers turn into big bundles of nerves as we scrambled to collect our gear and lose altitude as fast as possible.
It could have been death to the four of us, and I guess there could be worse ways to go, as it had been just a magnificent day spent with close friends, and surely that would be a great exit from life, but it was not to be. We all had a good belly laugh about it later and even when I think about it now, it still makes me chuckle.
So I'm not sure what to conclude about all this. Maybe just the fact that yet again, I have been very lucky and the biggest upside to this recent brush with death, is that I feel even more alive than I usually do, so all things considered it's been a difficult yet very rewarding experience and I am grateful to have had it and come out relatively unscathed.
A few years back on a sailing voyage across the Indian Ocean, I had felt the fear of death, even though the situation wasn't life threatening at all, but experiencing that fear was more frightening than what I have just been through.
So I'll quit my rambling now in part one, consider myself VERY lucky indeed, and move forward from here with a smile on my face. What could be a better choice than that?
PART 2
I was chatting with my sister Gerry last night and during the conversation I began to talk about all the wonderful people who have cared for me during my two hospital visits, both here in Grand Forks and in Trail. When talking with her, and now as I write these words, tears are welling up in my eyes due to my sincere gratitude to all these incredibly caring strangers who in one way or another attended to my every need, with the goal of nursing me back to health. Their list of names would be very long indeed and their job descriptions varied from the person who was there to clean my room right through to the kitchen staff, the hospital admin staff, the physios, the many nurses and doctors as well as the ambulance crews who have helped to make what could have been a very difficult time, very comforting indeed. In my humble opinion they are all heroes to me, and I will be forever grateful to them all.
And in addition to all of the hospital staff, I of course have to thank my neighbours Greg and Leigh and the children for helping me out(and continuing to do so), Bill and Darlene from Midway for substitute housesitting for me, my friend Tim, his mom and his brother David, for being here, and of course my family members and other friends spread far and wide who have sent thoughtful emails or phoned just to have a chat and see how this old adventurer is coping.
Well I'm here to say that I am coping very well, thanks to all of them, and my four legged friends have been great company to help me get through the days.
There is a long recovery road ahead, as I won't get my permanent cast off until June 12th and by then it will be 100 days without weight on my leg, which will probably look more like a thin piece of spaghetti at that point. But hey, compared to the many other possible outcomes, I am one happy camper today.
Hopefully now, I can get back to my regular 4 blog per month schedule. After all I certainly have the time to write.
Thanks again to one and all for just being there and helping me out during this little bump in the road.
Thankfully yours,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
THOUGHTFUL: showing consideration for others; occupied with or given to thought; contemplative; meditative. WANDERER: moving from place to place without a fixed plan; or having no permanent residence; nomadic.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
SADIE AND PAUL'S BIG ADVENTURE
POST #19
To all of my blog readers, I must first take a moment to apologize for the fact that there was no blog last week on March 7th. As you will soon be able to tell, I was no where near a computer on that, or many other days, until today. So let's get on with the story shall we.
Sunday, March 4th dawned a beautiful spring day here, and I felt like it would be a good day to do a different walk with Sadie the dog. My first few days here we had done a walk out to the end of the road and back, with me throwing the tennis ball and Sadie having great fun chasing it, and then waiting for me to catch up and throw it again. She has boundless energy, so there was no chance at least from her point of view, that this was ever going to be boring. Still on Sunday the 4th, I decided we should trek up the hill that is situated directly south of the property we're on. We hiked up the north facing slope closest to the house through the snow, and after about 15 minutes or so we found a great spot to sit down and relax and take in the view looking west across the river towards the village of Niagara. This was bliss, sitting in the warmth of the early morning sun, a faithful happy dog at one's side, and surrounded by trees, water and mountains. What a great way to start the day.
I could have remained here for hours, as I was very content, and Sadie seemed to reflect that mood as well, however I decided that it was time to head home and get some oatmeal going for breakfast, so with that, I said, "Come on Sadie, let's head home shall we?"
She started down the slope with me following. It was very steep at the top and if I were to have to guess I would suggest about 40-45 degrees. However, the slope, being on the west side was dry and was a mix of solid ground with rocky outcrops. I had only taken a couple of steps and was about to take the next one onto a rock and my gut instinct told me that I shouldn't step there, and even though in latter years I have been good at trusting this instinct, this time I didn't and as a result would face some very serious consequences.
As soon as I put my foot down, I knew it was the wrong thing to do, because a split second later I was going forward head over heels plunging down the slope. I do remember thinking right then, "you stupid idiot Paul, you shouldn't have stepped there" but of course by then it was way too late. I continued to bounce down the hill head over heels, sometimes seeing sky, then dirt and rocks, then sky again. I am not sure how many times I tumbled over but my guess would be at least 3 times but probably up to 6. As you can probably imagine, I wasn't concentrating on counting how many. All parts of my body made multiple contacts with the rocks and I do remember hitting my head but only once, and thankfully not hard enough to knock me out. That would be my first blessing.
I came to rest finally near the bottom of the slope in a pile of snow. It took me a few moments to try and get a grip on what had just happened to me and again I was mad at myself for not listening to my gut. But there was no turning the clock back now,and as I sat there, the pain began to rise, in many places all over my body but specifically in my right leg. I eased myself over the lip of the snow so that my legs were hanging down and I moved my right leg. Right then I knew that something wasn't right. Instead of moving in unison with my leg, my right foot just flopped around on it's own accord, and just watching that put a very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
NOW WHAT? If I don't get back to the house I am in serious trouble here, as nobody knows we're out here.
Sadie is standing beside me with the tennis ball in her mouth, and an expression on her face which implied something to the effect, "OK so you've had your fun so can we go back to playing throw the ball now?"
Needless to say, I had more pressing issues on my mind, like how in the hell am I going to get back to the house? Relatively close to where I ended up was an old cabin that the owners have on their property, and so ever so slowly and gently I struggled along the snow covered ground to get to the cabin, where I managed to find a stick and an old spade shovel that I could use as makeshift crutches. As the pain level continued to rise, I managed to get myself upright on these "crutches" and begin the very slow trek up the hill back to the house. I was slogging through heavy snow which didn't make my task any easier, and with the sun beating down I was rapidly overheating and my mouth had become dry as a bone. Each step was a challenge, and with each step, Sadie would grab the ball and drop it down in front of me hoping I guess that I would pick it up and throw it, or at least kick it ahead. "No Sadie, we can't play ball right now." Ever so slowly and very painfully I made my way back up the hill. I wanted to just sit down and wish it was all a bad dream, but I really had no choice at this point. I had to get home and get to a phone and call for help.
It probably took me at least a half hour to get back to the house and as soon as I did I fell over on my bad leg, which certainly didn't help my mood. I managed to get up the stairs on my rear end and into the house and called next door for help.
"Hi, I am your new neighbour, and I wonder if I could bother you to come over and take me to the hospital, as I think I have broken my leg."
"We'll be right over was the response." Another blessing to count.
Greg the neighbour arrived almost immediately and after a quick introduction he drove me straight to the Grand Forks Hospital, where after x-rays and some morphine to help ease the pain, I was informed that I had a very serious break. How serious?
Well three breaks of the tibia near the ankle, a break of the same bone up near the knee and finally one break in the fibula for a total of five. Funny, the day before was my birthday, and I could proudly proclaim that I had never broken a bone in my body and then one day later and I've really gone to town.
By the following day I was heading east to Trail to have an operation done, and the journey over was nothing like I've ever experienced as every little bump along the highway, and there are more than you ever notice, caused major pain in my leg. By the time I was admitted at Trail I was certainly in the mood for some more morphine.
To make a long story short, I was told not to eat anything after midnight as I was expected to go into the OR the next day, Tuesday. Finally on Friday, I had the operation. But this was only the first of two as it turns out. There was so much swelling in my leg that they had to stabilize the leg first. So as I type these words, my right leg is propped up on a stool in front of me and it has what is called an "External Fixator" attached to it. Basically I have four metal bars through my leg, two near the knee, one in the heel and the other in the arch of my foot. The bars are anchored in various bones in order to keep the broken bones stable and help the swelling subside.
I only found out today that the next operation takes place on March 20th, so for all you blog followers, I won't be doing one on March 21st, as I will still be in Trail Hospital. During that operation, plates and pins will be put in place and then I am looking at about two months before I can put any weight on my foot.
In the meantime, I have plenty of great pets to keep me company and a priceless view looking up the valley, so I really can't complain. Things could have been much much worse, and so I am counting my many blessings every day. One of those blessings is my neighbours who have cared for the animals during my absence and I will be forever grateful to them for being here and helping out at total stranger. In fact this past 10 days I have been surrounded by very caring people and it warms my heart to know that so many of them exist.
So over the next few months at least, I guess the thoughtful part of my blog will play first string to the wanderer part, but such is life as it throws lessons at us, and no doubt something good will come from this one, even though the price of the lesson was rather high this time.
My leg needs a rest, so I will end this now and write again on March 28th.
All the best,
Paul
The THOUGHTFUL wanderer
And a PS. Happy birthday Bill
And one more final thought. During my last housesit I was nursing poor Felix the cat back to health as he had injured his right leg. Maybe old Felix was trying to tell me about my future.
To all of my blog readers, I must first take a moment to apologize for the fact that there was no blog last week on March 7th. As you will soon be able to tell, I was no where near a computer on that, or many other days, until today. So let's get on with the story shall we.
Sunday, March 4th dawned a beautiful spring day here, and I felt like it would be a good day to do a different walk with Sadie the dog. My first few days here we had done a walk out to the end of the road and back, with me throwing the tennis ball and Sadie having great fun chasing it, and then waiting for me to catch up and throw it again. She has boundless energy, so there was no chance at least from her point of view, that this was ever going to be boring. Still on Sunday the 4th, I decided we should trek up the hill that is situated directly south of the property we're on. We hiked up the north facing slope closest to the house through the snow, and after about 15 minutes or so we found a great spot to sit down and relax and take in the view looking west across the river towards the village of Niagara. This was bliss, sitting in the warmth of the early morning sun, a faithful happy dog at one's side, and surrounded by trees, water and mountains. What a great way to start the day.
I could have remained here for hours, as I was very content, and Sadie seemed to reflect that mood as well, however I decided that it was time to head home and get some oatmeal going for breakfast, so with that, I said, "Come on Sadie, let's head home shall we?"
She started down the slope with me following. It was very steep at the top and if I were to have to guess I would suggest about 40-45 degrees. However, the slope, being on the west side was dry and was a mix of solid ground with rocky outcrops. I had only taken a couple of steps and was about to take the next one onto a rock and my gut instinct told me that I shouldn't step there, and even though in latter years I have been good at trusting this instinct, this time I didn't and as a result would face some very serious consequences.
As soon as I put my foot down, I knew it was the wrong thing to do, because a split second later I was going forward head over heels plunging down the slope. I do remember thinking right then, "you stupid idiot Paul, you shouldn't have stepped there" but of course by then it was way too late. I continued to bounce down the hill head over heels, sometimes seeing sky, then dirt and rocks, then sky again. I am not sure how many times I tumbled over but my guess would be at least 3 times but probably up to 6. As you can probably imagine, I wasn't concentrating on counting how many. All parts of my body made multiple contacts with the rocks and I do remember hitting my head but only once, and thankfully not hard enough to knock me out. That would be my first blessing.
I came to rest finally near the bottom of the slope in a pile of snow. It took me a few moments to try and get a grip on what had just happened to me and again I was mad at myself for not listening to my gut. But there was no turning the clock back now,and as I sat there, the pain began to rise, in many places all over my body but specifically in my right leg. I eased myself over the lip of the snow so that my legs were hanging down and I moved my right leg. Right then I knew that something wasn't right. Instead of moving in unison with my leg, my right foot just flopped around on it's own accord, and just watching that put a very sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
NOW WHAT? If I don't get back to the house I am in serious trouble here, as nobody knows we're out here.
Sadie is standing beside me with the tennis ball in her mouth, and an expression on her face which implied something to the effect, "OK so you've had your fun so can we go back to playing throw the ball now?"
Needless to say, I had more pressing issues on my mind, like how in the hell am I going to get back to the house? Relatively close to where I ended up was an old cabin that the owners have on their property, and so ever so slowly and gently I struggled along the snow covered ground to get to the cabin, where I managed to find a stick and an old spade shovel that I could use as makeshift crutches. As the pain level continued to rise, I managed to get myself upright on these "crutches" and begin the very slow trek up the hill back to the house. I was slogging through heavy snow which didn't make my task any easier, and with the sun beating down I was rapidly overheating and my mouth had become dry as a bone. Each step was a challenge, and with each step, Sadie would grab the ball and drop it down in front of me hoping I guess that I would pick it up and throw it, or at least kick it ahead. "No Sadie, we can't play ball right now." Ever so slowly and very painfully I made my way back up the hill. I wanted to just sit down and wish it was all a bad dream, but I really had no choice at this point. I had to get home and get to a phone and call for help.
It probably took me at least a half hour to get back to the house and as soon as I did I fell over on my bad leg, which certainly didn't help my mood. I managed to get up the stairs on my rear end and into the house and called next door for help.
"Hi, I am your new neighbour, and I wonder if I could bother you to come over and take me to the hospital, as I think I have broken my leg."
"We'll be right over was the response." Another blessing to count.
Greg the neighbour arrived almost immediately and after a quick introduction he drove me straight to the Grand Forks Hospital, where after x-rays and some morphine to help ease the pain, I was informed that I had a very serious break. How serious?
Well three breaks of the tibia near the ankle, a break of the same bone up near the knee and finally one break in the fibula for a total of five. Funny, the day before was my birthday, and I could proudly proclaim that I had never broken a bone in my body and then one day later and I've really gone to town.
By the following day I was heading east to Trail to have an operation done, and the journey over was nothing like I've ever experienced as every little bump along the highway, and there are more than you ever notice, caused major pain in my leg. By the time I was admitted at Trail I was certainly in the mood for some more morphine.
To make a long story short, I was told not to eat anything after midnight as I was expected to go into the OR the next day, Tuesday. Finally on Friday, I had the operation. But this was only the first of two as it turns out. There was so much swelling in my leg that they had to stabilize the leg first. So as I type these words, my right leg is propped up on a stool in front of me and it has what is called an "External Fixator" attached to it. Basically I have four metal bars through my leg, two near the knee, one in the heel and the other in the arch of my foot. The bars are anchored in various bones in order to keep the broken bones stable and help the swelling subside.
I only found out today that the next operation takes place on March 20th, so for all you blog followers, I won't be doing one on March 21st, as I will still be in Trail Hospital. During that operation, plates and pins will be put in place and then I am looking at about two months before I can put any weight on my foot.
In the meantime, I have plenty of great pets to keep me company and a priceless view looking up the valley, so I really can't complain. Things could have been much much worse, and so I am counting my many blessings every day. One of those blessings is my neighbours who have cared for the animals during my absence and I will be forever grateful to them for being here and helping out at total stranger. In fact this past 10 days I have been surrounded by very caring people and it warms my heart to know that so many of them exist.
So over the next few months at least, I guess the thoughtful part of my blog will play first string to the wanderer part, but such is life as it throws lessons at us, and no doubt something good will come from this one, even though the price of the lesson was rather high this time.
My leg needs a rest, so I will end this now and write again on March 28th.
All the best,
Paul
The THOUGHTFUL wanderer
And a PS. Happy birthday Bill
And one more final thought. During my last housesit I was nursing poor Felix the cat back to health as he had injured his right leg. Maybe old Felix was trying to tell me about my future.
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