Australian Medicine

-

For the second time on this stay in Oz, I got to experience the local medical establishment up close and personal. The first time around, I had a friendly visit with a GP regarding an inner ear infection. Nice guy at the local office who took all of 5 minutes to look in my ears and to tell that both ear drums were being nicely distended. A 10-day round of antibiotics cleared it all up. Kind of interesting to go to a doctor's office and not see a single nurse in the process. And to only pay AUS$60 for the visit total. And to not have my blood pressure and temperature taken.

This second time around is turning out to be a two-step process. Today x-rays, later this week consultation with a foot surgeon. Looks like my right foot has a slight fracture in the third toes' proximal phalange near the metatarsophalangeal joint (how's that for a mouthful). Darn windsurfing.

This happened late in the day on Sunday April 6. The wind was letting down, and so was the sun, and as I came into shore to finish up the day I stepped off the board in shallow water. Right onto a small rock. Right under the middle of my foot. It didn't even register that I hurt anything at the time. But as I was derigging, I noted swelling and a burning pain. At first I thought it might be a sting from those humongous, ugly jelly fish that were out and about that day. Seriously, those things were beastly and there were lots of them. I must of turned a dozen of them into sushi with my fin. Every time I reached out into the open bay from the beach area, I could feel a slight thud as I passed though their swarms. Kind of distressing at the time and it kept me keen on staying upright and avoiding falls out there. Which I mostly did; and the few times that I didn't, I opted to quickly squirt right back out of the water and skip practicing my water starts and do on old uphaul instead.

Anyways, the pain really set in as I hobbled home, towing the windsurfing rig behind me. All last week it was bugging me pretty bad. Riding into the city for work, a 45-minute endeavor each way, was preferable to hobbling to the train station and walking the city streets to the office.

Ben took a look at it last night and wrote up a doctor's order to have an x-ray taken. Which, by the way, was on a walk-in basis, took all of 25 minutes, and only cost AUS$80 out of pocket. Ben will now be handing those pics off to a foot surgeon friend of his. We'll see what that brings...

Updated on April 15 - Heard back from the doc: I won't die from this and if I wear a supportive shoe for the next few weeks all will be better. Nothing to do for it otherwise.

Popular posts from this blog

Great Divide Mountain Bike Route 2020 - Gear List

-
Image
The summer of covid, the summer of people avoidance. Thus we spent July riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) from Boulder to Helena, Montana. Here's the route we took: (view the route details on RideWithGPS) It was super fun to start from home and catch a bus up to Nederland to kick off the ride. From there, a big ride up Rollins Pass and a day of dirt roads heading west from Winter Park brought us to the GMBDR near Ute Pass. A mellow pace, 1,152 miles and 82,373ft of elevation gain got us to Helena over 28 days. We spotted bears, moose, golden and bald eagles, a couple of badgers and a couple dozen fellow GDMBR riders along the way (all heading the opposite direction, north to south). And loads of wildflowers everywhere! We're so very privileged to have so much open space and beautiful landscapes to explore - and the time and health to make it happen. Here's my gear list: Bike Salsa Fargo Apex 1, 2020 edition ( details ) 1x32 with 11-42 in rear for me and 1...
Read more

New bike: 2020 Salsa Fargo Apex 1

-
Image
With the world closed off by corona, it's a good year to stick to the Rocky Mountains and ride the Divide. So we bought a pair of matching Salsa Fargo's to handle the dirt riding. Should be a good replacement for the old Vaya for future world travels. Wish I would have had it for Patagonia. More specs at  https://www.salsacycles.com/bikes/2020_fargo_apex_1
Read more

Bikepacking gravel roads around the Cloud Peak Wilderness in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming

-
Image
Here's a 7-day gravel ride we rode in early August, 2021. Yet another fine escape from the crowds! Stout climbs, smooth gravel, diverse ecosystems, undeveloped camping for all but one night.  We started and ended in Shell, Wyoming, parking on a side street after getting the OK by the cook at the Trapper Creek Lodge to leave our van there. The route took us all the way around the Cloud Peak Wilderness in the Big Horn Mountains. This mountain range is surrounded by fairly dry, high desert sage country. We yo-yoed up and down, into and out of the dry sage to the piney alpine three times over the 250 odd miles. Big, stout climbs and long, steep descents!  75+% of the route is on hard-pack dirt and gravel. There's a short 6 miles or so of more rugged riding past Medicine Lodge Lake on Forest Service Road 344, which is more of a motorcycle/ATV trail. And a mile or so of sandy single track just before dropping into Medicine Lodge Archaeological State Park. Both of these stretches wer...
Read more