Thursday, March 03, 2005
It would normally be time for Laura and me to be thinking of returning to the desert, since it's been two weeks since we were last there. The flowers are near their peak right now, but we can't go!!! Some of our friends from back there are visiting us in La Jolla planning to buy a home here. They'll keep the place in Kenilworth for the near future, but they have fallen in love with our little village by the sea.
The timing is fortuitous, since Laura can't really do much walking for a while. She takes yoga in Bird Rock, and was ready to move up to the next level when they asked her to test a machine. She obliged, but tore a calf muscle as she stepped up to it. Having torn a calf muscle myself about six months ago, I feel able to assist her, both physically and spiritually. That being said, she's still pretty miserable. It hurts!
The last time we were out in the desert, I spotted a tiny barrel cactus with one tiny flower. It was growing out of the side of a huge boulder, about 20 feet above the ground. Since I had my new trekking pole, I felt that I could get up and down the steep incline of the side of the boulder with no trouble. I got to the top, and reached into my pocket to retrieve my camera. As I did so, my balance shifted slightly so I pushed my trekking pole into the rock for added support, placing almost all of my weight on it.
The pole held for a millisecond, and then began to collapse, telecoping into itself. As I began my fall to earth, I said to myself "There is nothing to do but fall!" I did that with as much aplomb as I could summon. On my way to the bottom I left a streak of blood and gore as I tore most of the skin off of the palm of my right hand and wrist. To my amazement, the flesh under the skin looks a lot like steak! I cleaned it as well as I could in the middle of the desert, and then we drove home.
Later that night, Laura drove me to Urgent Care at Scripps. The hand had become inflamed and infected and most painful. It reminded me of how my soul and spirit felt in the presence of my ex-wife. A doctor and two nurses came in and cut off a lot of skin which was hanging in tattered flaps.
To my delight that they didn't suggest washing it out with alcohol! Instead, they squirted it with a Lidocaine jelly, which numbed much of the pain, but that much concern about pain suggested that they had more painful, more invasive plans.
I was right.
Like dentists, they waited for the anesthetic to do its work, and then came in and for the next 20 minutes, they dug bits of Borrgeo quartz out of my hand. It's almost healed now, and I'm going to go back up the same rock, but I'm going check that my pole is 100% LOCKED before I do that again! Also, I'm going to buy a pair of leather gardening gloves!
I'll put a couple of pics of that trip here as soon as I can.
with all of my love,
Bub
The timing is fortuitous, since Laura can't really do much walking for a while. She takes yoga in Bird Rock, and was ready to move up to the next level when they asked her to test a machine. She obliged, but tore a calf muscle as she stepped up to it. Having torn a calf muscle myself about six months ago, I feel able to assist her, both physically and spiritually. That being said, she's still pretty miserable. It hurts!
The last time we were out in the desert, I spotted a tiny barrel cactus with one tiny flower. It was growing out of the side of a huge boulder, about 20 feet above the ground. Since I had my new trekking pole, I felt that I could get up and down the steep incline of the side of the boulder with no trouble. I got to the top, and reached into my pocket to retrieve my camera. As I did so, my balance shifted slightly so I pushed my trekking pole into the rock for added support, placing almost all of my weight on it.
The pole held for a millisecond, and then began to collapse, telecoping into itself. As I began my fall to earth, I said to myself "There is nothing to do but fall!" I did that with as much aplomb as I could summon. On my way to the bottom I left a streak of blood and gore as I tore most of the skin off of the palm of my right hand and wrist. To my amazement, the flesh under the skin looks a lot like steak! I cleaned it as well as I could in the middle of the desert, and then we drove home.
Later that night, Laura drove me to Urgent Care at Scripps. The hand had become inflamed and infected and most painful. It reminded me of how my soul and spirit felt in the presence of my ex-wife. A doctor and two nurses came in and cut off a lot of skin which was hanging in tattered flaps.
To my delight that they didn't suggest washing it out with alcohol! Instead, they squirted it with a Lidocaine jelly, which numbed much of the pain, but that much concern about pain suggested that they had more painful, more invasive plans.
I was right.
Like dentists, they waited for the anesthetic to do its work, and then came in and for the next 20 minutes, they dug bits of Borrgeo quartz out of my hand. It's almost healed now, and I'm going to go back up the same rock, but I'm going check that my pole is 100% LOCKED before I do that again! Also, I'm going to buy a pair of leather gardening gloves!
I'll put a couple of pics of that trip here as soon as I can.
with all of my love,
Bub
