New Mexico Story

I have only shared my entire New Mexico experience with two other people. Now it's time to share all that has happened.

On arriving in Albuquerque on February 3rd, I took a taxi down town to figure out where I would stay for the evening. I first, stopped at a restaurant to get a meal and make a couple of calls to folks in Seattle.

Afterwards, I decided to walk around Albuquerque before I decided on a motel to spend the night. I am not familiar with Albuquerque, at all. As things turned out, I found myself in a "rough" part of the city in the evening and the next thing I remember was waking up in the ER at the University of New Mexico hospital the following morning, bleeding from several places and not remembering how I got there or what happened to me. The hospital said I arrived by ambulance and some people found me sitting on a corner, bleeding and obviously, with a concussion. I had been hit with either a bat or cue stick type of object and after all was over and done with, only had one broken bone.

However, being discharged was inappropriate as I had not really been examined thoroughly, so decided to go to Presbyterian Hospital where they kept me for a week. My right knee had been hit very hard and I was sent to a physical re-hab complex for another week. During that time, I went to see an orthopaedic surgeon who told me they suspected the adhesive from a partial knee replacement surgery I had 3 years ago had been cracked and that I had a fracture on part of the bone surrounding one of the metal pins attached to a plate.

Things did not look good for me as far as being capable of following through with my hiking plans. The surgeon told me my knee would not be able to handle the weight of a backpack of anything over about 20 lbs. I was not sure what to do. But..... I decide to give it some time and do the yoga poses I knew would strengthen the muscles around the knee cap. ( I was also robbed of everything I had which further complicated my situation).

So.... I guess you can say things worked out all right and as for me, all I can say is the human body has shown me once again, what an incredible healing capacity it has to overcome the worst case scenarios.

On top of that, my first two weeks of training, when I did start, found me hospitalized 3 times with severe dehydration. Again, doctors were telling me my body could not handle the demands I was expected to carry out for the project. Well, time and patience paid off again. Amazing stuff.

Now you know some more of the story. Tomorrow I'll share a bit more. I'm off to Albuquerque for my final medical check-up before the trail. I feel great and don't anticipate any problems.

Take care, all!