A Week Off the Trail Turns into a Month Off the Trail?

Who was it that said, "When it rains, it pours."?  The next surprise after my foot infection was that I developed a case of pneumonia.  It was diagnosed Sunday night a little over a week ago.  It had started out as discomfort and difficulty sleeping the two nights prior.  Dr. Leeke had checked on me throughout that weekend and I had already scheduled to see him in his office that next Monday morning.  But that Sunday evening it turned into severe pain and the inability to take a full breath.  Dr. Leeke strongly suggested that I go to the hospital ER.  Anne dutifully drove me to St. Francis ER and our great friend Debra came by to keep Anne company.  I was well cared for by Dr. Thorn and the staff, who took interest in my Appalachian Trail story and checked my blog as we went through our testing.  The tests consisted of blood and urine tests, an ultrasound, x-rays and finally a CT scan.  As the results came in I went through a progression of thinking I had a gall bladder issue, to a clot in the lungs to finally the pneumonia diagnosis.  I guess if I had to choose one of the three I'd happily take the pneumonia.  My heel, by the way, has healed up nicely and I can now put shoes and socks back on.

That right heel looks better, huh?

The good news is that my body seems to be responding well to the antibiotic treatment, which is nearly complete.  I am completely pain and fever free now, and starting to work a little exercise in with my personal trainer KOA - just gentle bike rides and walking at this point.  I'm going to add to the exercise a bit each day and try to get myself ready to resume the hike.  My doctor wants to see another x-ray a week after the antibiotic treatment is over to make sure the lungs are clear.

I am just now starting to feel well enough to start thinking about when I can resume the hike.  I think that if the healing continues to go as well as it seems to be, that late next week would be the time I could think about heading back up to northeast Virginia and picking up where I left off.

The month off due to injury and illness has changed my approach to completing the hike.  I have two important family events coming up that I am excited about.  July 30th is the due date for the birth of our first granddaughter to son Phil and Andrea out in Ashland, OR.  I am told that grandson Austin is as excited as I am about that.  Then on August 9th my niece Stephanie will be married to her fiance Matt. I am pretty pumped about both those events, so I will be back off the trail again in August and early September to attend to them.  My plan is to hike in June and July without a target destination, just to get as far as I comfortably can.  Then I'll get off the trail for my family events, and finally get back on in September to complete the hike.  Son Kevin in Austin tells me that despite my having moved the end date around so much he still plans to join me for that final week and the ascent of Mt. Katahdin.

I plan to use the remaining time I have at home to prepare for the second half of the hike and to visit the kids at Frazee and share some of my experiences so far.  I hope to get to the Frazee Center this week.  Remember that one of the objectives of this hike is to raise funds to support the great work that is done there.  Check out the video to the right of the main blog page if you haven't done so yet.  I'll also be spending some time at the local outfitter stores with the objective being to find the right socks and trail shoes, and to lighten the load, for the second half of this journey.  I have to say that as much as this past month has been "off plan" it has been great to be home with Anne for Mother's Day, her birthday and Memorial Day.  It has been great spending time with family and  friends, and I definitely have been recharged and put a few pounds back on.  Anne says you can't see my ribs from the back anymore.  Those pints of ice cream seem to be doing the trick.  Now, I am excited about getting a move on again!