Date: 2012-03-25
To: Prep Entry for my earlier 2010 attempt
Miles today: 0.0

2010 Thru-Hike prep....   starting April 2010So... it happened again. A family emergency pulled me from the trail ...the 3rd time in 4 attempts at thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. It's starting to get spooky that I seem to be the person who comes to someone's aid, be it family, friends, or strangers. My first recollection of "being there" was as a teenager when I saw a young kid drowning about 50 yards from shore. There were many people around but it was me that dove into the water and swam to keep him from going under and bringing him into shore. I never thought much about it and didn't think I'd done anything special until years later I was having a drink with a friend when her cousin joined us and thanked me, explaining he was the kid I saved.   Another time I was driving and saw a car go off the road, and roll over onto it's side at an exit from the highway. I turned off the highway and without thinking ran to the car and jumped up on the undercarriage climbing onto the top and leaned down through the passenger's window to get a woman unclipped from her seatbelt then pulled her out and away from the vehicle. In 1985 my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and it was me he asked to make all arrangements for his passing even down to getting his clothes out of the closet and placing them into a suitcase for the undertaker while he lay in his bed making the final choices. Over the years I was always in someway helping others, be it physically or financially. If you've read my previous journals you've seen that I had the honor of taking care of my mother as well as my father-in-law in their final years. Then when I thought I was going to retire to Florida and live the "good" life, God had other plans for me. By chance? we moved next to an elderly couple; the husband had Parkinson's and the wife had early stages of Alzheimer's. Over the next 3 years they came to count on me and I gladly gave my time and energy. I was called at all hours of day and night to pick one or the other up off the floor when they slipped or fell. One night I was called to pick the wife off the floor and when I arrived I was confronted with a large amount of blood streaming from her arm. She had torn an 8 inch piece of flesh from her forearm and it was pushed into a mass that looked like an accordion. I'm squeamish at the site of blood, but took a breath and picked up the flesh by one end and unraveled it placing it back in place. I washed and dressed the wound before she headed to the ER. The doctors told her I'd done the correct things which surprised me since I had no previous medical experience. Then the scariest thing of my life until that time was the day before Thanksgiving in 2007 her husband came to my door saying "She's dead on the floor". They had become so dependent on me that he didn't bother to call 911. I rushed over and found her laying on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood so deep that when I placed my hand under her head as I gently pulled her away from the cabinets she had hit when she fell that my hand was beneath the level of the blood. I also felt my finger slip into a gash in her scull but kept it there to stop any more blood from draining from the wound. Her husband had no idea how long she had been laying there as he was outside. She was not breathing, and while I had my left hand under her head my wife held the phone to my ear so the 911 operator could coach me on CPR. Luckily it only took one good push with my right hand to get her to gasp and begin breathing again. That was not the end, however. Over the next year both had more medical issues and like one year earlier but this time the day before Christmas her husband was in a nursing home and I had arranged a signal to know she was ok by having her open her kitchen shutters when she woke in the morning which was always before I woke up. This morning the shutters remained closed and when I called she didn't answer. I rushed over and when I entered I called to her and heard a moan coming from another room. Sure enough she had fallen again but this time there was no blood or visible wound. She was semi conscious and it appeared she may have had a stroke. After a stay in the hospital she recovered and returned home but it was obvious she couldn't continue to live alone and I couldn't provide the attention she and her husband needed. Speaking of her husband... he had been in the nursing home recovering from a hospital stay when I visited and noticed he was deteriorating quickly. He looked similar to a gentleman I was across from in a bed in a hospital 40 years earlier who was dead but no one knew until a nurse came in to check so I was concerned about his condition and asked about the food on his plate. He said he couldn't eat because he was so weak and couldn't see his food due to eyesight affected by the Parkinson's. I went to an orderly asking if someone could help him eat his dinner while I went to the nurse's station and the orderly assured me someone would help. He must have believed I was leaving as I walked down the hall toward the nurses station to ask about the condition of my friend because when I returned only 3 minutes later the orderly had removed my friends dinner without helping him eat. Knowing I would only get "lip service" from the staff I immediately went outside and called the children of my friend explaining the situation, telling them he was in such terrible shape that I believed he would be dead within the week. It took them some time, but they did have him transferred to a better facility where he recovered and today while both continue to be afflicted with their respective diseases they live together in facility where I visit regularly to make sure they live their lives as best as the circumstances allow but most importantly they live their lives with the dignity that all living creatures deserve.   ....update...   On one of my visits I entered his room to find his daughter at his side, and he was barely responsive and unable to open his eyes. It was obvious he was at the end of his life, but he had the energy to whisper to me asking for a back rub as I had done many times due to his Parkinson's causing muscle cramps. He didn't realize it, but it was a gift from him to me to be able to give some comfort to my dying friend. He passed away 6 days later ....the day after "Thanksgiving".Then if you've read my journal for 2009 you saw Ned-the-Fed gave me credit for helping him get off the trail to recover from an unknown illness. I appreciate the compliment, but I have not forgiven myself for leaving him on the side of the trail that day even though I was on the verge of hypothermia and had to keep moving to stay warm. That was unlike me as you may tell from the story I've told above.And while I got off the trail in Hiawassee to help my brother when he needed me most, my "being there" wasn't over. In August I traveled to New Hampshire to help bury the ashes of my friend in the White Mountains not far from the trail. As a matter of fact it was on the same day I traveled through Kinsman Notch to bury my friend that Ned-the-Fed whom I had helped and last seen 1,800 miles earlier, crossed the road to enter the White Mountains.The "spookiness" continues...   On the day previous to the White Mountains I had gone jogging with my deceased friend's daughter on a very hot, humid morning. Only 1 mile into the run she complained of being dizzy and before my eyes she stiffened up like the Statue of Liberty and her eyes turned to the sky. I grabbed her to keep her from falling and lowered her to the shoulder of the road. What happed next far surpassed the scariest moment in my life I expressed earlier about my elderly neighbor. She started frothing at the mouth. I don't recall how I had the knowledge to roll her over on her side and reach into her mouth to pull her tongue forward and stop her from choking on it, but that's what I did. I held her steady as she was shaking violently having a seizure. I thought she was going to die in my arms. I saw a car coming down the road and ran into the middle of the road to make it stop. The driver tried to call on his cell phone but was unable to get a signal. I had him and his wife stay with my friend while I ran to a house a short distance away and had the occupant call 911 while I ran back to help my friend. She recovered enough when the ambulance arrived to ask what had happened and had not remembered anything prior to collapsing. Thankfully she recovered completely and the next day we were able to climb the side of Cobble Hill in the White Mountains of N.H. to spread her father's and my friend's ashes where he and I had hiked a number of times.So here I sit once again contemplating a hike on the A.T. starting April 2010. Will it be a thru-hike or will I settle for a section hike. Only time will tell, but in any case I will continue to move forward trying to keep old age at bay and hopefully staying "upright" until the day I no longer am able, and I decide it's time for a "one-way walk into the woods" .....Hypothermia can be a friend.