Date: 2014-06-30
From: lavellette, NJ

To: Richmond, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Let Me Catch You Up...Alright. I know I've left you hanging. My apologies. For a while I wasn't sure what was happening to me, then I wasn't sure what I was going to do about it, an then, once I was sure what I had and what I needed to do about it I didn't want to acknowledge it... which sadly included not publishing it on this forum. So if you have been worried for my health, thank you and I am sorry and let me bring you up to speed. The Tramily and I had made plans to jump off trail for a few days starting June 8 to go over to the New Jersey shore where my very generous uncle had offered us use of his cottage. We decided to make a push to get through PA in 2 weeks so that we could reach Wind Gap in time to meet our rental car and do a few odds and ends before we headed over to soak up the New Jersey sun (Yes, there is actual sun in Jersey. You can tell because it reflects of the gold chains worn by men.)It was a great plan and everything was going swimmingly until about the 6th. I'd been having on and off stomach cramps and intestinal discomfort for almost a week, but I woke up that Friday and felt nauseated and headachy. I started walking by 7, but quickly fell behind the rest of the crew. By 10 I was throwing up beside the trail very half hour. I managed to catches everyone at a road crossing before noon and try arranged a ride for me into Palmerton, where we had planned to spend the night anyway. There was a hostel called "The Jailhouse Hostel" that had caught our eye- because it literally was in the basement of the police station- and that was were I was dropped off for an afternoon of sleep punctuated by continued bouts of digestive problems. Everyone showed up that afternoon and I was starting to feel better, so we went to bed excited because in less than 48 hours we would be at the beach. The next morning all seemed to be copacetic except that I had no appetite and a persistent slight headache. It was 18 miles to Wind Gap and we set off in 2 batches. And I ended up again at the back of the first group. After 5 miles I was exhausted and by lunch I was beyond caring of I ever made it to Wind Gap, let alone the beach. Whenever I looked at good I wanted to throw up. I made it into town by the skin of my teeth and spent most of the evening curled up in my tent. The next day Da Vinci ad Geared Up collected our rental cars (because they were the only 2 in our group over the age if 25 AND had a major credit card) and we headed over to the beach. Everyone was excited: it was so good to see land that wasn't mountainous and so wonderful to be away from the trail. But while the rest of the group ate and caroused and went out into the beach I kept feeling worse and worse. Food was unappetizing and when I did eat I felt sick soon after. Moose took me to a doctor in the neighboring town and after an incredibly brief exam he said that I probably had either Giardia, Noro Virus, or E. coli poisoning and then wrote me prescriptions for antibiotics for all three. He was sympathetic about my symptoms, but essentially said "You're bound to get anything out there. Take your meds and get some rest. You'll be fine."The group was scheduled to leave the next day, but I lacked energy and wasn't eating, so I decided to stay at the beach house for a couple of extra days to see if the medication was working. They left and I went to bed and slept for almost 20 hours. And for one short day, following that sleep, I thought I was cured. I rode a bike down the board walk, are a bagel, flirted with the adorable 27 year old carpenter working on the house next door, sat in the sun and found a redbox to rent movies. It was a perfect day. It was so pleasant to be alone after weeks of constant "togetherness" and I reveled in the perks of civilization that I had missed while being away from it: grocery stores and restaurants right there and easily accessible, electricity and light, showers and laundry, a real bed with sheets and a pillow that didn't look like it had been used in a kennel for two decades.I woke up the following morning to a return I the nausea, fatigue, headache and stomach cramps. I called my parents and my aunt and uncle and my cousins who were due to arrive soon to use the beach house and it was decided that I needed to go back to the doctor's. My cousins came down early and my cousin Jennifer drove me to the office. This time the doctor was considerably less interested in me. "Are you take your meds?""Yes sir.""Are you getting enough sleep?""Yes sir, that's all I really can do.""Good good. Maybe you have mono or Lyme's Disease. I'll send in a nurse to take your blood."After three pricks the nurse finally found a vein and they sent me off promising to call in 24 hours when thy had results. Before they shoved me out the door I asked if they would weigh me. I hadn't jumped on a scale since Hot Springs, North Carolina. 178 pounds... 46 pounds less than the weight at which I began the trail... And no idea how much had been lost in the last week of not eating. No wonder I was tired. 24 hours went by and they didn't call. I kept taking the antibiotics and my aunt and uncle came down from their home in Connecticut prepared to either drive me back to their house or back to the trail. I had to make a decision of what I wanted to do. I couldn't stay at the beach but I wasn't willing to pack it in and go home. I finally decided to play it safe. If I went to CT with my aunt and uncle then I could go back in trail next to their house and if I didn't start to rally then I would be close to family and could be picked up and taken home. The three of us drove to Connecticut and I took a couple of days to check my equipment, clean my gear and do self evaluation. I still wasn't eating normally and I had a headache, but I seemed to have more energy than I'd had before. I finished my course of antibiotics and for on trail the next day. It was dreadful. The terrain was easy as cake and I could hardly plod forward. My brain felt like it was squeezed against my scull, seeking a means of escape. I couldn't seem to did my balance and my stomach retched when I opened my stuff sack that held all my food. The one good thing about the day was that I met a fellow named Ketchup, who had just started a flipflop hike at the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey. He such a dear. He made sure I made it to camp and chatted with me while we walked to try to keep me moving. He had just graduated as well and was still in the honeymoon phase of his hike. He'd graduated with a degree in geology from a school in North Dakota and he carries a rock hammer with him. Occasionally he will stop in the middle f the trail an start scrounging around by his boots to get a closer look at a rock. If you're lucky he'll tell you about it and why it interested him. I was intrigued. I know nothing about rocks or minerals or crystals or really anything about what lies beneath my feet. I felt like I was in school, but in a good way. A way that school had originally been intended to be experienced. Ketchup was asking me to to enjoy and appreciate something with him-- which is one of the best ways to begin learning something. Despite the geology lessons, though, I felt like hell and by the next morning I had called my family. My Uncle Dale came and picked me up at Cornwall Bridge and my father set off from Richmond, Virginia to come pick me up from my aunt ad Uncle's house. Have I mentioned I have a terrific family? I am blessed. So home again, home again jiggity jig. I arrived on the 22nd, two weeks after I had gotten off trail on the first place. My went to the doctor again and it was finally confirmed that I had contracted Giardia. The parasite was now gone, thanks to the antibiotics the doctor in Jersey had prescribed, but unfortunately so were all the beneficial flora in my gastrointestinal tract. The heavy dosage of antibiotics had probably contributed to my discomfort and, while irradicating the initial problem, had changed the pH of my body and intensified my stomach problems. As a result I had lost muscle mass due to my body going into starvation mode from not eating and I now had a urinary tract infection to accompany my lack of digestion all flora. But I was home. And for the moment it was all I needed.