Date: 2009-04-23
From: Moreland Gap shelter

To: Dennis Cove
Miles today: 6.0

My eyes were as bad as ever in the morning. I got out of my hammock at 6:50 am and I had to shield them with my hands in order to see anything at all. They were worse than yesterday. I tried to see if Papa Doc was still around and saw someone retrieving a bear bag. Then I looked in the direction of his tent and saw someone else! I did an alarming double take! How were there suddenly more people than there were the night before? I thought I had heard a human walk near my hammock the night before and instinctively switched on my headlamp, knowing Papa Doc would not walk over to my area. The extras turned out to be none other than Spike and his wife, who had hiked in between 10 and 10:30pm! I abandoned my plan to cook oatmeal and instead packed up all of my belongings. Papa Doc came over and I told him I could not see. "You've got to make it into Kincora and get help, Wendy. It's just 6 miles. If it was 20, it might be okay to zero in the woods, but it's only 6." I started to cry a little. I was worried about the damage I had caused to my eyes, and about the hike I had ahead of me, unable to see, and in pain. I could not even open my right eye at all, and my vision in my left eye was blurry. Since I was all packed up, I was ready to leave at the same time as Papa Doc. I told him he could lead. All I would have to do is follow him. However, on the first uphill, Papa doc told me to go ahead. He didn't want to slow me down. I stumbled along the path, telling myself that if Bill Erwin could hike the entire length of the AT with no sight at all, I could hike partially blind for 2 days. I realized I would have to be particularly careful to look out for the white blazes in order to stay on the AT, which was not so easy for me with my limited vision. When I reached a summit and found that I had cell service, I called Erik to update him on my condition. Papa Doc passed me and after I had finished talking, I hurried to try to catch him before getting to Dennis Cove. I just made it. He said that he felt bad about leaving me up there and had been hoping that I was not still up on the mountain crying. I, in turn, did not want to hold him up as he had to get to town by 5 in order to pick up his mail drop.   I started up the road to Kincora, moving slowly, shielding my eyes from the sunlight, and avoiding a near sprained ankle as I almost stepped off the road into a ditch. I arrived at the hostel to find a group of hikers sitting on the porch. I told them that I could not see and that I needed to go to a doctor. Unfortunately, Bob Peoples was already in town, taking another hiker to a foot doctor. While 'Not So Crazy' used the shower, I went upstairs to one of the bunks, laid my head on a dirty pillow, curled up, and draped a grimy comforter over my body. I felt sick and injured. I heard Bob pull into the driveway, and hoped that one of the hikers would tell him that I needed help. The message was not conveyed. Because Bob is hard of hearing, and never having needed an eye doctor himself, he was not receptive to my problems. He merely brushed it off as "pollen" which I knew was not the case! I became more frustrated and distraught at the lack of help, and was ready to pack up my things and head over to the nearby campground, where there was surely someone willing to help me. First, however, I needed to pick up my mail drop. When Bob said there were no packages for me, I was beside myself. How was I going to get to Damascus without my food? Now I did not have the freedom to even leave this place...   Bob told me to look up doctors in the phone book after I asked him again. The pages were wet and crawling with bugs, and I didn't even know what towns we were near. Spoons starting helping me, and as I was about to call, Bob came in with his own phone book and pointed out two names in Elizabethton that I could try. Luckily, the receptionist at the first place I dialed was very nice and accommodating, and she made me an appointment for 2:15 that afternoon. It was now 1:00. Bob offered to take Spoons and Patch into the grocery store and then drop me off at the eye doctor. He pointed out a cafe across the street, where I could wait for him to pick me up.   The women at the eye clinic could not have been nicer. They kept apologizing for the wait, which was nothing compared to the waits I have had in Boston (2-4 hrs with no apology!) The doctor told me that the night I kept my contacts in on Roan mountain had done me in. My eyes had become starved for oxygen, and had become severely inflamed and irritated in response. They were filled with fluid and white blood cells, which is why I could not see. They had asked me to read some letters, and I could not make out a single one with my right eye, no matter how large the letters were! She prescribed a steroid/antibiotic eye drop to decrease the inflammation and prevent an infection to my cornea, and made an appointment for me to be seen again the following morning.      In order to get to the cafe across the road, I had to cross 4 lanes of traffic! This was far more difficult than any stretch of the AT (especially in the bright sunlight with burning eyes!) I finally dashed midway across the street, and waited for a break in the traffic coming in the opposite direction. When I got to the cafe, I found it closed! There was a Subway next door, so I headed over there instead. This time, I ordered a foot-long turkey sub with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers, a fruit juice box, and 3 cookies (2 chocolate chip and 1 peanut butter)! And I ate it all very quickly! I called Erik and he could not believe how fast I had consumed it all!   Bob returned to pick me up, take me over to the other office where I picked up my eye drops, and then to the grocery store, where the other hikers were gathered. I put in my eye drops, and bought some peanut butter, an apple, a banana, some junior mints, and my first box of Poptarts! I did not know that you are required to tell the cashier that you want cash back BEFORE the transaction, so I was pointed toward the ATM, where I had to pay a $2.25 fee! Grrr... I saw Hellbender come into the store in an outfit he had found at Kincora, and found Bound talking on her cellphone outside the store. Once summoned by Bob, we all piled into his truck- many of the hikers holding their Little Caesar's pizza boxes, and we headed back to the hostel. My mood started to improve, as I was happy to know that my corneas were not slit or infected, and that they were on their way to improvement. A bunch of the guys decided to play a rousing game of Monopoly, and I started the task of repacking, as I did my laundry. Bob had a trail maintenance job the following day, so I had to be ready to leave at 7:45 am for a ride to Elizabethton, where I would wait for my 10:45 eye doctor appointment, and then wait for Bob to pick me up later in the day, when he was done with his stair building project.