Today is Day 4 however for me it was Day Van. My knees had started to hurt after the 2nd day but it was just a soreness. Yesterday it got progressively worse until I finally simply could not go down a hill. A couple of times I found myself, literally out in the middle of nowhere, standing about 1/2 way down a hill and unable to move. I won't go into the pain; I just blocked as much of it as I could but undeniably something was going wrong and doing it in a hurry. FINLLY I made it to the picnic spot, had lunch, then rode to the hotel with one of the Guides, Lu. I asked to be taken to a Doctor and that's when Jorge stepped in. He IS Spanish so he knows the drill. I told him I was probably going to need a cortical steroid/local anesthetic injection in each knee. He knew that the public clinics would not be able to go there so took a taxi out to a private clinic. Quick note here; it was already 6:30pm. In Spain, almost every business stays open much later than in the States because of their 10pm dinners and 3 hour lunch. These customs irked me when I lived here but I was grateful we weren't going to have to go to a Hospital Emergency Room. The Doctor (a Woman - I think a lot of Doc's are women in Spain because the men are too busy being Spanish) asked me if I had tried Ibuprofen. If I had a mouthful of something at the time I would have spit it all over the office laughing. I explained that this was not an Ibuprofen problem and he relayed that to her. Fortunately Jorge was VERY bilingual an I explained to him what she needed to do. Once she got the gist of what was going on, she ordered up a massive injection. I believe I heard her say 10cc. I don't know how many of you have seen a 10cc syringe but it's about the diameter of your middle finger (my middle finger); it's a big shot. But, the nurse that gave the shot was a magician. I showed her a cheek, she swabbed it with alcohol, then she was telling me she was done. I honestly did not feel a thing and if I hadn't seen the red spot where the needle went in and felt the lump under my skin, I would have sworn she didn't do anything. So today I rode in the van. We drove about 30 minutes, set up lunch then waited. And waited. And waited. Finally the first of our group showed up but it was hours before everybody made it. We left our last hotel around 8:30am and we didn't get here until around 4:00pm. Way too long to be on van duty. I'm trying to ascertain if it's safe for me to Trek again. Just because the pain went away doesn't mean that it's safe to put that tendon/muscle back to work. I've got feelers out to get an opinion I can trust. I really don't want to spend another day in the van but what would be worse would to harm my knees irreversibly and end up in the van for the entire 35 day trip and go home with yet another medical condition. Before anybody asks, yes, I am going to take the cautious route here.
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4 Comments
Marjijeter
Hi Bro, I just started reading your Blog and I love it!! Your stories and videos are very interesting and quite exciting. (Except for your watch and shirt situation at the airport and recent knees situation). I’ll be cheering you on as I read along and will be praying for your strength to be at it’s peak during the next 30+days of walking. Be strong!!!
erinvcaalaman
I’m sorry about your knees, but Linda is right. A few days in the van is nothing and will give your body some time to heal. Stay positive! We are all pulling for you. Love,E
antonialeivas
I’m trying to image you and Tim raising goats. I know you guys are great dog parents but..…yeah right! This is just a minor hiccup. Give yourself time to heal and get trekking.
Linda
KNEES are nothing to mess around with, when they are injured. What’s a few days in the Van in the big picture? I am so sorry for this bump in the road. Sending all my healing thoughts your way. Love