Surgery!

I have made it out of my Percocet haze and back to the blog. I was thinking of ending this thing, being that I am not longer adventurous and touring the world, but maybe I will keep you all up to speed on the recovery. It seems that some of you are still reading.

Last Thursday the 24th I had an outpatient surgery to repair my right biceps tendon. It had torn at the musculotendinous junction and best guess I have is that the rope actually cut it when I fell. Yeah, sorry, a little too graphic for some maybe. Up until a few years ago this injury would not have even been repaired (so my research and my doc tell me) because the did not have the technology to do it. Tomorrow I will see the pictures of what he actually did last week. He described it as making a sushi roll with my muscle as the rice and this synthetic sport mesh as the seaweed paper. It's not hurting nearly as bad as it did 5 days after the initial injury, so I'm happy. I'm hoping that I'm in good enough shape to heal up fast and be back to my chin up pyramids by Christmas.

We've been staying at my friend Dave's place in Denver and can walk to the river and downtown pretty easily. I was offered my job again in Three Rivers and Jay has had some promising interviews in the area, so we are looking forward to settling down with a little stability soon.

Game Over.

Well, for anyone out there who is still reading this, it looks as though the climbing trip is over. We are being tourists in Denver now and attended a Rockies game last night and Water World the day before that. Tuesday we go the news that I tore my biceps tendon in the fall and I need to have surgery to repair it. I have a follow up appointment with my MD today to see when that will be scheduled and get an idea of how far in debt it will be taking us. I do have INS but it's a $5000 deductible with no follow up coverage. What are we doing about this health care system? Maybe I should have just gone to the hospital in Canada.

Anyway, we have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with friends and family and have both enjoyed that. Brutus is hanging out with his cousins Abby and Norman and is currently sleeping on their beds. We checked out Grand Junction and the western slope and we liked it, but are more drawn back to California than we thought. Jay is in the process of job hunting in California and I am eagerly awaiting a decision of where we will be living and working.

Luckily I really need to spend hours studying for the PA recert exam, so I can occupy myself with that while I recover from the surgery. I might continue to post on here until we get back to work, but if not, thanks for listening. It's been an incredible year and I highly recommend it.

Gimp.

That'd be me. I type here in the Bellingham Library and I have 26 min left to get this story out to you...

So, yesterday Jay and I decided to do the Grand Wall, which has two pitches of 11a (hard) on it, but all in all we are climbing at that level and it should not have been at all a problem for us. Two days before we had done another Squamish classic called Angel's Crest which is significantly easier, but a long day at 14 pitches. We rested for a day and went out yesterday morning to do the wall. It's a popular climb and we were happy to find no one on it, but they are doing a ton of roadwork in Squamish to prep for the Olympics and there was a HUGE jack hammer being used which made it hard to hear each other and just a bit unnerving the whole time. I was feeling kind of tired and a bit cold, but the pitch above me was only 10b (which I can easily lead without a problem) and a party had arrived below us, so I started off. There's a technique called lie backing where you essentially grab a crack with both hands and put your feet on the wall in front of the crack and walk yourself up. Think of sitting in a piked position in a corner and then walking yourself up the wall using a crack between the two walls. It's tough for me on a lot of levels, I don't like the exposure and I feel scared to take one hand off to place gear... mostly I'm just wimpy about lie backing. So-- it's good for me to do things that I am wimpy at, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger... Anyway, I got a piece in and worked my way another 6 feet or so up and then got a bit freaked. I got a piece in and it was good, but somehow in the midst of trying to clip it, I fell. That would have been ok except that I had the rope in my hand and somehow as I fell it wrapped around my right arm, so essentially all my weight landed on a rope wrapped around my arm. I wish I had a video, but that's how I remember it. If Jay would write on his blog you could hear a different perspective on what happened, but we all know that's not likely. So, I screamed like a little girl and was SURE that I had broken my arm. Jay lowered me about 20 feet to a rappel station and I used my left arm to clip myself in. I was holding my right arm as if it were broken and trying not to throw up or go completely into shock. We were about 400-500 feet off the deck at this point and needed to get down fast because I was almost hysterical. From that rap station Jay could lower me clear to the ledge that we started climbing on with our 200 ft rope. There was a guide there who was also a ski patroller and his client was a nurse. By this time I had a climbing sling supporting my arm, but the guide cut his t-shirt off and made me a more proper full sling. Jay did two rappels to get to where I was and then the guide lowered both of us down the to ground and we hiked out. Colin, the guide, also had called an ambulance for us, but we met the paramedics on the trail and had decided to come back to the states to go to the hospital in case it was something that was going to need our crappy insurance. I took two vicodin at the car and laid in the back of the Rialta making calls to my V-town friends who have friends and family in Washington. We made it to the ER about 4 hours after the accident and I finally got a chance to look at my arm. As I got less cautious with it (thanks to the vicodin) I was realizing that probably nothing was broken with the amount of pressure I could put on my elbow and my shoulder, but good lord to look at my arm-- it was HUGE.

To make a long story short, nothing is fractured. I don't know if this is good or bad. My bicep is the size of my calf and I can't straighten my arm at all. I have it wrapped in an ace bandage with two bags of ice on it and it's in a (real) sling. I am officially a gimp.

I have 6 minutes left on the internet. Mom, I hope this explains more about what happened. I'm fine is what it comes down to. The nurse and NP that I saw were worried about compartment syndrome, but it seems that is not likely at this point. I'm ok... :) Oh-- and Jay was incredible getting me out safely and reassuring me. He never ceases to be an amazing man!

Canada Dry

Now we are in Squamish, British Columbia. It's raining a bit today and so we are connected for a while. I've been wasting hours trying to balance the pros and cons of Colorado versus California while Jay sits and reads his book patiently. California-- coast, good friends, excellent climbing, low mortgage payment, good job for torey, but HOT... Colorado-- friends and family, wilderness accessibility, probably a good job for Jay, SKIING... It's so hard. But, that has nothing to do with what we are doing now.

If you are planning a trip to Canada anytime soon remember to BYOB. The prices are about double what we'd pay in the States, hence the title of my post. Even crap wine is about $10 a bottle. We REALLY should have loaded the Rialta with cases of two buck chuck to hand out to all our Canadian friends.

We have climbed a few days here and the cracks are yosemite-esque. Beautiful granite and some excellent splitter cracks so far. Yesterday we went sport climbing with a friend that we met in Argentina and then we spent about two hours at the amazing rec center. We are cleaner than we've been in weeks and I even got to play on the diving board.

Prior to Squamish we spent a night at the Marina where Drew Layda's boat is docked. We hung out and ate lots of red meat and even paddled the little row boat around and looked at the floating houses. There was a squirrel there that had been raised by a woman at the marina and Jay got a pretty big kick out of it eating nuts from his shoulder. We also saw a bald eagle fly by. Beautiful country that Scappoose, OR. Drew and his family are doing well and we enjoyed our time with them.

Jason Ivanic is my favorite.

Here I am in the library in Tigard, OR (just outside Portland). We are catching up on emails and paying bills and things and soon I will be going to see Blake's brother and his family on their boat. Since they are four people, I do hope it is at least twice the size of the Rialta. Drew has always been a character so I am sure the evening will cocntain ample entertainment.

Yesterday we spent our last day climbing at Smith Rock and it was beautiful. After many windy, cloudy, near freezing days at Smith, we finally got a splitter weather day and we went with Theo and climbed Monkey Face. Monkey Face is a free standing tower that has a whole monkey head complete with mouth and ears at the top. We climbed two pitches of easy trad to a bolt ladder that took us into the cave which makes the mouth, and then Theo led the most exposed 5.7 sport pitch I've ever climbed. It ended with a 200 foot rappel most of which was free (out in the middle of the air). We then took showers (for the first time in too long) and headed to the all you can eat pizza buffet. We shared a pitcher and ate way too much food and then Jay and I went back for one last night in the Redmond Wal*Mart parking lot.

We discovered one great thing about Wal*Mart since my last post, and that is a recycling center. Right there in the Wal*Mart, not fifty feet from the RedBox! You feed the cans and/or bottles into the machines and then it issues you 5 cents each (can you believe there is no cent sign on my keyboard...?). So, you print the little ticket out and take it into the evil Wal*Mart and they give you cash to spend. Incredible. I can clean up the campground and make money doing it. And yes, I do realize that I am walking a fine line next to bag-ladyness.

I need to do more research on Wal*Mart. They sell some good products, things that are healthy and very inexpensive. I know Neil Sabol could probably convince me that it's ok to shop there, but I'd like a 500 word essay from him first. I need more information. I'm rambling. I'm sorry.

I should get out of here and go see Drew. We're headed to Squamish next and will probably be up there by tomorrow.

Oh, I almost forgot to expand upon my title. Sometimes when Jay and I are together all the time and we have no outer influences I beging to take for granted what an incredible partner and man he is. When others are around I am reminded of how fortunate I am. Not that when we have other people around I compare him to them, but more that I find myself being very proud of him and wanting to talk about him to them. It's refreshing. It's inspiring. We are having such a great time together and we are doing a good job of appreciating this year for everything that it is. So, he is my favorite human and of course, Brutus is my favorite animal. I am a lucky lucky (bag) lady.

Pics soon, I promise.

"Force of desperation"

These are the words our new Swiss friend, Theo, used to describe how he made it up the 5.11 climb that I couldn’t even do the first moves on. I found the words excellent and hope to incorporate them into my ever-broadening climbing lingo. We have climbed another three days at Smith and did the classic multi-pitch Zion last Friday. We climbed some sport routes on the Phoenix wall with Theo last Thursday and it rained on and off that day. We had him over to the Rialta for Indian cuisine and a slide show of the areas that he might be hitting on his North America tour. He is very well traveled and interesting to talk to as well as having an excellent sense of humor, so we are very glad to have made his acquaintance.

The weekend was spectacular weather wise, but we had already scheduled our rest days for the weekend to avoid the busiest climbing days. We ended up having a great time in Bend filled with balloons, bands, art, and, of all things, church. We spent several hours at the Balloons over Bend festivities in the Old Mill district listening to live music and being tempted by food reminiscent of the Canfield fair. They ended the evening with fire dancers which didn’t quite live up to the show Derek put on last fall at the Red, but were good non the less. Also, they had four or five hot air balloons inflated that they intermittently fired up which created a big glowing balloon in the night. We thought the balloons were taking off from that same area the next morning and so we slept in the parking lot (in the Rialta of course), but awoke to find the place empty. The balloons were supposed to take off around 6:30 am, so we figured out where they were and headed that way. The school grounds were covered with young happy families and lots of dogs. The kids are so cute with Brutus and it seems like he misses little David, maybe he’s expecting some green beans or cheerios from all little people.

So it was 7:30 on a Sunday morning in Bend, we had seen the balloons and we were planning on resting that day, so I suggested we go to church. I’ve been thinking a lot more on the subject basically just because I’m ready to have a little structure to my spirituality and some community involvement at the same time. Obviously we are not moving to Bend, so this is just a test balloon to see if Jay can appreciate some of the aspects of a non-Catholic Christian service. We were looking for a simple non-denominational church, but Jay hadn’t ever been to a Presbyterian service and their church looked bigger, so we tried it. We got cleaned up and went to the contemporary service at 9. It was good. The sermon was about letting things that are going on in the world upset you. The pastor spoke of torture and hunger and violence and that we shouldn’t let ourselves numb to these things. After the service there were the standard Presbyterian cookies and coffee, which we participated in, and then there was a lecture on Kenya and the violence that has been going on there. A retired History Professor gave a lecture on the history of the country and the government and we briefly discussed what we can/should do about it. There were about eight other people that came to the discussion probably all over 60. Really, would I have taken the time to go to this if I wasn’t unemployed “resting” yesterday? Amazingly, after the Kenyan discussion group, they had a lunch with a slide show and lecture from some members who just returned from Bolivia. Free lunch, we’re in. We ended up spending four hours at the First Presbyterian church of Bend, OR. Many of you reading this are probably amazed right now. I know, I know, I’ve been down on organized religion for many years. And, there are aspects of it that I am still very conflicted about, but all in all, I liked it. I want someone to make me aware of things and then ask the questions that should follow Fox News 10, what are YOU going to do about this? Even if the answer is nothing, because I don’t know enough or it’s not my place, at least we don’t just chalk it up to it’s over there, it doesn’t matter. And, I hope that it also makes me more aware of what is right here, where I am relatively educated about things and I can do something about it.

So, I am in the back of the Rialta finishing typing this and getting car sick. I’ve gotta go climbing now.

We sleep at Wal-Mart

We decided a rest day was in order after three days of climbing at Smith Rocks. It is beautiful here when it’s not raining. We’ve been lucky to get some sunny days and enough time on the rock for my right elbow to be making me worry a bit. Must preserve the tendons! So we came into town the day before yesterday and have been resting. We hit up Fred Meyer (which I hadn’t been to since college) and rented Charlie Wilson’s War from RedBox the first night. Yesterday we biked all over Redmond and even went to the matinee showing of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. It was fun—better than I would have expected. We bought some organic grass fed ground lamb from the farmer’s market and made pasta with meat sauce! It’s kind of fun being in town, but looking out at the Cascades makes me want to get into the mountains too. The Wal-Mart parking lot is a good deal because they basically encourage it. They think that vagrants will sleep in their parking lot and then come into the store and buy all kinds of crap. We are not who they want sleeping in their parking lot. We haven’t spent a dime, but we do use the restrooms and research digital cameras. I love the greeters. I think that if Wal-Mart changes its ways and makes me at all interested in working there when I’m old I’ll be a greeter. They are so sweet, how can you not want to spend all your hard earned money on plastic crap made in China when a friendly senior citizen greets you with a welcome when you come in the door.