Almost!

Yesterday my crew was ordered up to complete some trail work down in Vallejo. I got to go! No pack, and no tool with the exception of a tiny rake we call a monkey paw, I would be quality control at the back of the line. About an hour into the drive, we got a fire call to the Klamath National Forest. So we turned around to drop me off back at the base. Bummer!

Tomorrow though, I have to drive up to the camp up there (Happy Camp) to pick up my captain. So at least I get to see everyone. Or at least fire camp. It'll be awhile before I get to take part in one of those.

It's hot here. 91 degrees right now. Unpleasant humidity. But I'm back in the office for the time being. Can you believe I was actually happy to be helping out the crew pulling weeds this past week? It got me out of the office and let me hang out with all of them.

And now they're off to enjoy Happy Camp....hehehehe..... those of you who have been there get it.

More Info on My Surgery

Here's a basic diagram of what's going on with my arm/shoulder (copied from http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/generateexhibit.php?ID=5&ExhibitKeywordsRaw=&TL=&A=2). This is a picture showing the left shoulder and side of the neck, and sternum. Under the normal anatomy picture on the left, you can see a vein (blue), an artery (red) and nerves (yellow) going under the collarbone and above the top rib. You can also see two muscles attaching to the two ribs shown in the picture. My case looks somewhat like the "post accident" picture on the right side where the muscles are enlarged, bringing the rib up higher and pinching the nerves, artery and vein. Except my muscles aren't enlarged because of an accident, it's due to working out and carrying a heavy pack on my shoulders. Also, when I carry that pack, it pushes the collar bone down a bit making it even worse.
The picture also shows the surgery I will have, removing those muscles and the rib. As you can see, there's a lot more room for my little veins, arteries and nerves to happily move about.

I go in for pre-op stuff and an angiogram on the 30th, and surgery on the 1st of July. Barring any other issues with my stubborn vein, I'll be back to full duty around the first week in August.

50th Post!

Wow, I feel like I should have some sort of party! Not really. I went for a run today and unfortunately it was later than I had dreamed of going. The weather had started to get hotter and more humid, but it had to be done. It was 5.8 miles of hell. I remember the days when 6 miles was a short run. I'm building the miles again (at least at heart) so Debbie and I can run the Silver Strand Half Marathon in November in San Diego... any other takers?



It was the same trail I had rode my bike on a few weeks ago. Passing familiar markers reminded myself how much safer I was on foot. But on the way back, all I could keep thinking about was how much easier it would be on the bike. There's no coast option on my running shoes. Maybe I should start running in those shoes that have the wheels built into them.



On another note, I got this new hair removal creme for my face. I have a very hairy face. Seriously. Well, I don't know if I did it right or not, but my face feels sort of icky. I can't really explain it, but where the thickest hair was (along my "chops" I guess) it got sort of gunky. Not the creme, but my hair. And didn't really come off. So I had to shave the gunk off. Now it feels like I have small nubgs of hair, like the creme just melted it off mid shaft instead of going into the pores and making it flush. Very weird.



And those who are interested in knowing, I'm scheduled for surgery July 1st and UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. They're going to completely remove my rib, and the muscles attached to it. That would be my first rib, or top most. Apparently most people do just fine after the surgery. Candace is going to fly up to SF to keep me entertained in the hospital. I demand sock-puppet shows, Ghiradelli chocolates and cool games to play. I think she's got her hands full this time. In reality I'm sure if I get too froggy she'll just push the button on my morphine pump and go take a break for awhile.



When I'm released from the hospital, I'm going to fly back to San Diego with her and laze around for a week or so. If everything works out the way its supposed to, I'll be back to full duty around the first of August. If the vein to mangled or if there's any clot stuff left in it, he may put me back on blood thinners, and I'll be on light duty for the remainder of the season. But we're not going to think about that right now.



I'm going to go graze through the kitchen to keep myself from taking another nap... hopefully I don't get trapped by the evil ice cream monster...

Light-Duty Log Day 13

Oooh, lucky 13! So today is my 13th day sitting in the office. I realized that tomorrow will be a month since I actually started light duty, but since I was out on the spike when it started, then had several days off, then was committed to the hospital-- I only have to count the days I've actually been in the office. That way I know how bad my cabin fever really is.

Today actually started out quite nicely. After a morning run (in which nothing spectacular happened) I got ready for work and took the long hike across the compound to get to the training center, where lies my new office. It's a whole 45 second walk. We're real close. In between the barracks and the office, there's a memorial site for victims of an airplane crash that happened at the base. Well, this morning there was also a law enforcement vehicle parked there (we have our own law enforcement). In the memorial area, there were campers with a tent, an umbrella and various other camping supplies. I thought it was odd but decided to keep walking. I didn't want to be late for work, and I usually only give myself two minutes to get there.

As I crossed the street to get to the office, I noticed a guy in a Forest Service jacket sitting on the picnic table with his pants rolled up to his knees. There were beer cans strewn on the lawn in front of him and another couple next to him on the table. I think I did a triple take, and then figured it must be some sort of law enforcement scenario going on. The guy laughed and said it had been a good night, and said I could come join him. I hurried past him into the office, I know better than to talk to strangers, especially ones in Forest Service jackets.

I asked the ladies in the office if there were law enforcement scenarios going on today and they weren't aware of any. So we peered out the window at green law enforcement walking around talking to the campers and beer guy while a Highway Patrol officer pulled up and parked in front of our building. This was getting interesting. Not only that but apparently there were two other campsites around the other side of the compound with law enforcement talking to them as well. I started to wonder if maybe this was real. I decided I would question the Highway Patrol officer, but as I stepped out of the building I decided I would talk to the beer guy instead. Probably safer. Just then one of our law enforcement ladies walked toward the building. I asked if these were all scenarios. She said they were and were going to go on all day. Interesting that no one on the base was aware of it.

I just finished hooking up all this computer stuff in the classroom for a computer class that's going on next week. It was a pain in the butt. Myself and the training assistant were working on it yesterday and had got quite a lot done before the Training Coordinator came in and informed us we were doing it in the wrong classroom. Argh! Let me just paint a little picture of this for you so you too can feel my pain. We're hooking Ethernet switches to the Ethernet (Internet) port in the wall. From there, dozens more Ethernet cords are being connected and lined throughout the classroom so that in the end 20 people can sit at the desks and be hooked up to the Internet. And of course we've got to tape everything down and out of the way so it isn't a trip or tangle hazard. We don't need anyone suing the government.

Of course, around this time was when the assistant had to go back to what she was doing and leave me to move everything over to the other classroom. After working on it for another hour (so 2-3 hours so far) I went into the office for a break. I got to talking with the coordinator and one of the guys using the classroom next week... and decided we could move everything back into the initial classroom to make everything run smoother. After about 5 seconds thought I decided this was no good and there was no way in hell I'm moving everything again. So it's staying put. I had to call it quits yesterday and get my brain away from computer cords and tape, so I finished the rest this morning.

Ooh, and the other day I found a $25 gift card to Starbucks stashed in one of my shopping bags. I had completely forgotten about it. It was part of this whole crazy deal I got when buying my new camera.

I'm also excited because tomorrow I'm flying to San Diego for a long weekend. Woohoo!

Not only that, but for PT's (I'm allowed to work out on the clock) I'm heading over to the pool and gonna give one of our captains some pointers. I guess he needs some help. He's a "sinker", not a "floater". So I'm also going to get a bit of a swim in (don't tell my doctor). It'll be nice to get out of here for awhile today.

Well, I'm going to sign off for now and act busy doing something else. I'd hate to ramble on blogging, this could get out of hand real quick here.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. I bought a book on how to ride a mountain bike, complete with how to go downhill and around turns. Yea!

The Trail Ride... and Deep Thoughts

I think when you spend a lot of time with only yourself, you learn something new. Being as my crew is still in Colorado and the smokejumpers are where ever the heck they are, I've been getting a lot of alone time.

Today I decided to head out and explore the trails on wheels, after exploring some on foot yesterday. I wish I had my camera on me yesterday, but running is tough enough without having to figure out where to stuff a camera and run with it. Redding has a pretty amazing trail system, I guess it's pretty new. Yesterday I ran up Chamise Peak (5 miles roundtrip) and got a 360 degree view of the Sacramento River, Shasta Dam, Shasta Lake, and Redding. It was gorgeous! And the rain decided to hold up for awhile while I was out there!

Today I pumped up the tires in my neglected mountain bike, put on my helmet and set out to explore. That's when it hit me: I suck. Why do I suck? Not for lack of technical knowledge on how to ride a bike. No. I believe it is caused by a strong fear of eating shit. I gave this some thought throughout my extremely slow (I run faster than I bike) ride. I went faster uphill than down. My heart was pumping so hard downhill that my arms were shaking. At about 1 mile per hour. Seriously. I was afraid some one might see me. And I had no idea what I would say to them.

So I started asking myself why it was I was afraid of biffing. I'm also afraid of biffing when I surf. Waves bigger than 3ft high scare the crap out of me. No, not when I'm standing beside it, I'm not that pathetic. I mean when I'm paddling headfirst down the face of a three foot wave and it picks me up and hurtles me toward shore at neck breaking speed, and I'm supposed to continue on and stand up.

.

I'm also afraid of heights. And getting in car accidents. I'm a wuss when I rollerblade. Downhills are extremely scary on rollerblades. All this was going through my head as I enjoyed the flat parts of the trail today.

That's when I noticed a pattern. Whenever my body is moving at a speed faster than what I could normally make it do, I get fearful. Fearful of biting the dust (or rocks or surfboard, whichever the case may be). Thus when I'm on a bike, surfboard, rollerblades, or in a car- it's scary because of the thought of what could happen should I suddenly come to a complete stop on not so soft ground. And heights, well that's just obvious. Who wants to plummet to their death with plenty of time to consider the consequences on the way down?

So I pondered this today on my slow Sunday ride. It proved it's point as I stupidly layed my bike down at about 0.5 mph on a tight turn down hill. See, I believe that speed going into a turn is important in order to just bank off the turn. Well if you're at a snail's pace like I was, you lick the dirt on the embankment because you were going too slow to retain control of the bike. Embarrassing. But nobody saw. It's one thing to crash while doing something cool, it's a totally different story when you end up on the ground because you were going too slow.

So I've got to come up with some courage somewhere if I ever plan to surf pipeline or do jumps off cliffs on my mountain bike. Ok, not really. I'll probably never surf pipeline or come remotely close to any cliffs while cycling. But it would be nice to not have to get off my bike in order to make a turn. Or go down a hill.

Anyway, here's some pics of my bike ride.

Light-Duty Log, Day 8

It is my eighth day of work since being put on light duty, 35 minutes left of the day. I just received a fax from my superintendent who's in Colorado with the crew. They did some faller (chainsaw operator) certs and had them faxed in. It just made me want to cry. That's what I need!!! Do you know how long I've been trying to get some one to recert my Faller card?! Oh my heart! It hurts!!

Seriously though, I'm incredibly burned out on my huge inventory project, and staring at the computer waiting for some one to send me mail is putting me to sleep. I've printed maps of all the local running trails, found out the submerged town is under Shasta Lake and not Whiskeytown Lake, read about our new security LincPass thingy and nearly got sucked in to online shopping once again. Oh, and I discovered that they really do make transdermal caffeine patches. Seriously, google it.

My caffeine intake has tripled and despite my more active lifestyle (as compared to the last couple of weeks) I still crave (and consume) frightening quantities of brownies, bon bons and ice cream. I cannot run enough to deal with those sort of calories. Doctor's orders will not let me swim, hike with weight, or raise my arm above shoulder level, and even then- not out to the side at all. Yeah right.

I have had to explain to everyone who walks into this office exactly how I found myself separated from my crew. Simply saying I'm on light duty doesn't cut it. They look me up and down and can't spot anything obviously wrong with me-- which must mean I'm a wimp trying to get out of the rigors of a hotshot crew. Yeah people.

I've also checked my mailbox (snail mail style) several times today and haven't found anything at all. Yesterday I finally got the remainder of my federal tax refund, from my ammended taxes. Still awaiting the last of my state refund.

Tonight I'm going to wander into town to buy salad stuff, hair stuff, and small travel bottles so I can carry-on my luggage to San Diego instead of paying $20 to check it. Then I'm going to try to get to bed early. The smokejumpers here have been my companions since the crew left, and they're a bad influence on me. They head out to the bars just as I'm getting ready for bed. Of course I have to go with them, they're all I've got at this point... that's sad. No really, they're cool guys and fun to hang out with. But late nights haven't been meshing well with my 0530 wake up time. Yes, I wake up at 0530 to work out. Gotta burn off those bon bons somehow. That's another thing. One of the guys is a big sweets addict. Not good for me. The last thing I need is some one encouraging me to eat ice cream and brownies. I'm helpless to resist. So tonight I have to avoid them. Better sleep and nutrition is on my horizon!

Redwood Coast

This last weekend I went over to the coast to visit Corey on her side of the state. Always a good time for sight seeing and nature walks, as well as good, easy camping. We gathered some food at her place and headed west, stopped at a grocery store for more goodies, then headed south to see big trees, ferns, and the ocean.

We stopped at the Big Tree trail and saw the Big Tree, some gorgeous vegetation, and the world renowned Banana Slug. We took the scenic drive to the campsite stopping to take pictures and identify tree species along the way. Once we got a camp spot right on the beach we wandered down to the water to do some beachcombing for awhile. Losing daylight, we decided to head a couple miles down the road to Fern Canyon. On the way we took a dozen pictures of some very uncooperative elk.













Fern Canyon was absolutely gorgeous. The pictures don't do it justice, but it was this small canyon with a creek going through it that was lined on both sides by ferns. Basically the walls were made of ferns, with several springs dripping down from the top.

We headed back to camp for a gourmet dinner of hotdogs, chili and marshmallows. It didn't take long before we were both exhausted and ready for bed. We both slept relatively well with the sound of the waves in our ears as we fell asleep. In the morning I awoke to some drizzle outside the tent, but it didn't last long. I read a little of my book "The Sex Lives of Cannibals" (not at all what you think it's about) until it dried up a little. I started a fire so we could make tea and breakfast, and sat by it to read a little more. Corey finally crawled out of bed and we ate, did a little more beachcombing and then head back to her place to make Shelf Fungi- lasagna with the meat, mushrooms and onions simmered in beer.

With a little more room in our tummies, we walked down to store to get ice cream. After that it was pretty much time to leave. It's a little over four hours between her place and mine. It's too bad we're not closer, but we've been doing pretty good seeing each other in despite the distance. That'll change when fire season gets going, just like it always does.

Here's some video of the drive back to Corey's place. The camera was sticking out the sun roof, so there's a lot of noisy wind going on. You might want to turn the volume down.