Monday, July 25, 2016

Intro to Indiana. One mis-step and... stitches!!

How can I put this in the briefest, gentlest way?  Well, on Friday I was making pretty good time towards the Erie-Lackawanna Trail, a route that takes you in a direct line to the town of Crown Point, my destination for that day.  The connecting road, Route 30, does not seem to be a good alternative route for this walk, as far as my short stretch of it would indicate.  A busy interstate highway across the northern U.S., it felt a bit like Route 6 -  not a nationally designated Interstate like Highway 80, but a heavily traveled secondary commercial route inhospitable for any sort of bicycle or pedestrian traffic.

There were no shoulders, no sidewalks, and no crosswalks east of the town of Dyer.  After hurrying crossing the wide intersection with Route 41 in the town of Schererville a piece of road trash caught me by the ankle, and, momentum being what it is, I was 'down' before I could correct, landing mostly on my chin in the grit...  Although I was bleeding profusely at at that moment, no one stopped to see if I was OK.  I was not OK.  But there was a Walgreens close by where I went to clean up and assess the damage. Before the day was out, I'd been to a hospital ED in Crown Point (thank you, Uber!!), had my chin stitched up and an Xray taken of my jaw. Friday afternoon none of my teeth would meet at all - talk about your serious 'malocclusion'! Today is Monday and I am situated in the home of the American Discovery Trail coordinator for the northern Indiana route (there is also a southern ADT route through the state.)  He has generously offered his hospitality until I can get back on track! Based upon the past few days of recovery, that should be possible in the coming week.

Bottom line(s) will be to avoid infection and learn to be more creative with 'soft food' options, as this trek requires calories. Have gained a lot of ground already with tooth alignment; however the imaging suggests that I have small fractures on both sides of the lower jaw at the TMJ points (right in front of the ears), which means no actual chewing for 4-6 weeks(!) Of course the rest of my body has to recover from its shock, sore muscles and whatnot.  I won't show you a photo of my face.  It's not too bad - just a mess of blooming bruises on the lower half.  I shudder to think how much worse that mis-step could have been!

The historic city hall in the town of Crown Point

More wildflowers I can't identify





4 comments:

  1. Rin, so sorry about your chin, jaw, etc. I wish you a speedy recovery and am glad someones are providing you with a place to recoup ... if there is something you need, please let me know. Hugs —

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  2. Have received many messages of concern and best wishes - all greatly appreciated. Lots of love back to ya'! Will be heading out again soon just seeing how far I get in this slightly impaired condition!

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  3. Checking in on you! Glad you had a helpful road angel for recovery! Take good care out there! Cold and wet in Gore Creek!

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  4. Checking in on you! Glad you had a helpful road angel for recovery! Take good care out there! Cold and wet in Gore Creek!

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