Date: 2009-04-24
From: Dennis Cove, Tennessee

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Ok, first a word of explanation for: (a) all of the abbreviated entries that led to enormous frustration for Break -- not to mention her snarky comments....; and (b) for the lack of entries for the past three weeks.Regarding (a), I was in my tent one night trying to recover some memory for my pocketmail device by deleting old journal entries (emails that had already gone out and that I knew had been posted). I was making good progress when, suddenly, the outbox went blank. Somehow, it decided -- on its own (I couldn't possibly have hit a wrong button by mistake...) to delete my entire outbox, both those emails/journal entries I'd already sent, and those five that I had already completed but hadn't had a chance to send yet. Damn. Soooo, I basically had to recreate those entries as best I could. From memory. Which explains their somewhat cryptic contents and their short length. Honest, Break, that's what happened! Ok, now as to the lack of entries for the past three weeks: I'll do this by day, so keep reading:So, on Thursday morning, I caught a shuttle with Bob Peoples to Damascus where I checked into the hostel across the road from the Mount Rodgers Outfitter, and run by them. I checked in, shed my pack, and then had a look at my toe. It was ugly. The entire end of one toe on my left foot was ulcerated and oozing stuff. The corresponding toe on my right foot was not as bad, but doing the same thing. "Doc", who happened by at that precise moment, took one look and concurred with my opinion: looking like a good candidate for osteomelitis -- an infection that starts in soft tissue and then goes into the nearest bone. That would be a problem...So, I rebandage the toe, put my crocks on, and hike my butt over to the nearby health clinic. Long story short: they take one look, shoot my butt full of penicilian, give me a prescription for 14 days worth of anti-biotics, and tell me I have to stay off the foot for at least two weeks. That, to put it mildly, was not something I wanted to hear. I mean, I REALLY did not want to hear that I had to stop hiking for that long. But I could hardly argue with them. The toes were ugly, and they weren't going to get better unless I cut them some slack. And if I were foolish enough to do otherwise, then I would undoubtedly end up with a bone infection in my toe. What's worse, since infections like this travel throught the blood stream, I have this other vulnerability: the infection is likely to travel to my right knee, which I had replaced with titanium things, since the body percieves them as "foreign bodies". If my femur and/or tibia bones get infected, then life gets even more complicated. See, if the bone gets infected, they may have to remove some of it. And that would greatly complicate more than just my AT hike schedule! So, no choice but to accept their diagnosis and their advice to get the hell off my feet for awhile.Ok, then I focus on where to spend the next two weeks -- and quickly conclude that it makes no sense to sit around in Damascus when I could be home with my family and enjoy all of those creature comforts not available on the trail. So, I call my wife and she starts working on the travel options. Meanwhile, I continue with preprations to resume my hike, including replacing my old '05 backpack, which is not holding up, plus my camelback, which has sprung a leak, etc. I am trying very hard to be philosophical about this, but frankly, it's not easy. "Been there, done that!" My last hike was similarly interrupted. Ok, so the lesson is that it is possible to get back on the trail, and that's what I'll do again this time. Only this time, I will resume my hike wherever my friends are at the time, and come back and complete the section from Kincora Hostel/Dennis Cove to wherever I get back on. Otherwise, I'd be missing my new friends too much!So that's the new plan.