Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Free at Last! Cast Off, July 23; Hiking Dude Peak July 24, 2020


10 days after surgery and the cast is getting hold . .  and stinky. I tried hiking a couple of times, but it was quickly drenched in sweat which never really dried out.  
July 23rd Doctor visit, surgery follow-up and the stinky cast is gone, but WOW, my arm looks like that of an 80-year old man who never lifted more than a can of Diet Coke. 
Pilot hole drilled through Radius, with a larger diameter hole drilled half-way through the Radius for insertion of the torn end of the tendon into the Radius, held in place on the far side with a suture and a Titanium button inserted through the bone vertically then toggled horizontally against the underside of the Radius. The other four white lines are caps inserted into arteries for blood management.  


New splint is to hold arm at a maximum of 30-degrees past 90-degrees. 

I can't just sit on my ass for eight weeks while this thing heals. Biking is forbidden because a crash could snap the drilled Radius which would increase the magnitude of repair by 100, requiring major surgery and over a year to regain full use. As it, I'm eight weeks from full use. That said, hiking may not be great either because a fall could also snap the bone, but I haven't face-planted while hiking for years. It's a risk I'm willing to take. 

All the way up Dude Peak, and half way down, I kept hearing a low, barely-audible humming, and I kept wondering if it was sirens responding to a distant disaster or F-35s out of Hill Air Force Base on a west-desert bombing run, but half-way down I saw it, a flock of gnats hovering one to two feet over my head. When I moved, they moved, but always just over my head. Not sure why they were dogging me, but they never lit or bit, so no harm in having hiking companions.

Central Wasatch. High points, left-right starting in the middle of the photo, Dromedary Peak (11,107 ft.), O'Sullivan Peak/Sunrise (11,275 ft.),  Jenson's Folly (11,129 ft.), Broads Fork Twins (East Pk. 11,330 ft. - West Pk. 11,328ft), Pfeiferhorn's west-neighboring-peak (11,137ft), North Thunder Mtn. (11,150ft), South Thunder Mtn. (11,154ft).  



Dude Peak USGS marker and my brace with my cycling sun-shield acting as a compression sleeve to hold down the swelling. Sweaty, but otherwise the splint is not too bad. 

Fire Ant? I've seen these my whole life and have never identified these furry little beasts.