Ok. First off I would like to thank all the people that come by to see me and for sending great thoughts. And a big thanks to the people that helped me out on the river and literally giving me the shirts off their backs. Thanks. Now onto the good stuff. We started the day off canoeing down the Colorado River. They put you in at the base of the Hoover Damn and away you go. We stopped off at a little place to go hiking into some hot Springs. I should tell you that there is a BIG warning about the hot springs. Apparently there is an amoeba that lives in the hot water and will eat your brains. I am not kidding! They keep telling you not to put you head in the water and not to snort the water. And when we started the trip they told us an 14 year old boy just died from this. Along this canyon hike there are some small water falls with ropes that you climb up. Some are just about 5 feet in elevation but you need the rope. (I think we have a video of one of the water falls). At the last rope climb I went up. Robyn then followed (doing a great job by the way). While we were at the top I turned around and slid in some algae. This is when things start to go very bad. As I slid trying to grab anything I could find that was not algae, I continued my descent down 20ft of rock, algae, and hot water. Landing on my feet but with enough force that my shoes came off. (I don’t understand that but whatever.) I was aware the whole way down and when I was on the ground looking at my knee and my knee cap; my friends started taking action. One of the great things about working for Cirque is that they train their people to be First Responders and we had significant others with us that work in the Health Care industry. But back to ME…. My knee got wrapped up, I got up on my feet and starting hiking the mile back to the canoes. And any water fall rope I climbed up, I had to climb back down. After getting back to the canoes friends were already on the phone with 911 who wanted us to paddle upriver against the current of a BIG Dam, letting out A LOT of water. This was not going to happen. We got in the canoes and started down river, the 911 people said they would send a boat up to meet us, but we needed to start heading downstream. About 1.5 hours on a canoe later, a boat stopped by and helped us out. They got us to the marina and eventually into an ambulance. Fast forward to the first hospital. They started to take x-rays and cleaning my knee out. They soon realized that this was going to be much more than they could handle in their little hospital, so they sent me to the second hospital. We have photos of my knee from the first hospital. And the X-rays also. I will try and post them. So, after the second hospital, three surgeries later, and some fever/infection control, I am now at home and had my first checkup. They removed the drain from my knee and the doctors say things look good. In about a week I have to check in with the infectious disease specialist to see if all is good on that end. They were a little worried that an infection may have gotten into the joint, but they say things are looking good (I dodged a bullet by not having to go home on Iv antibiotics, I got away with just oral meds, one of which you take when exposed to Anthrax…). Thanks again for all the visits, help, and well wishes. They are truly appreciated. And to a great wife… When you say “I Do” these are the days they are talking about. Donald
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 20:59:36 +0000
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