Next week I will make a bid with my son to summit Grand Teton (picutred).
The first lesson came earlier than I expected. The adventure of a summit bid apparently begins long before you start the climb. Earlier this week I ended up in the emergency room when a glass bottle exploded near my foot. After some glass sliced off part of my little toe, the wound would not stop bleeding and needed to be cauterized.
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| The front porch was the closest spot at which to elevate my foot to stop the bleeding. It didn't work. After an hour, I found a more comfortable venue |
Except for direct application of the cauterizing instrument to the troublesome veins, the whole incident has been surprisingly pain-free.
Since then, I have been couch-surfing, avoiding any activity that would create a risk of saying afterwards, I wish I hadn't done that. No swimming. No cycling. No running. No hiking. My family kindly enough gave me full custody of the channel changers and power cords to keep the lap top running all day.
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| I.V. care of Apple |
Every day the toe looks a little better. I walked around this morning, causing it to start aching. That sent me back to the hammock.
Tomorrow starts two days of climbing classes with Exum. I will wrap my toe pretty well, and perhaps borrow a larger approach shoe for the next couple days. The ER doc assured me that even if the toe started to bleed during the summit bid, I wouldn't bleed to death. Confidence is running high.
Stay tuned.
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