2009.10.24 Surgery One Year Anniversary

This is a cut and paste from an email I did today which describes the day and my thoughts right now. It was written to dear dear friends and thus the references to visits and wanting to hear from people.

Today is the one year anniversary of my brain surgery. I am happy to say that Don and I met our first mountain climbing goal for Pinnacle this morning. (Pinnacle is part of Crowder Mountain State Park and is a more challenging mountain to climb than Crowder Mountain.) We both made it to the area where the climb becomes extremely steep and difficult - still quite a distance from the top I am told. We took instead what is called Turnaround Trail and made our way back to the beginning from there. This was our first goal - to make a round trip on Turnaround Trail rather than turning around even before we got to the trail and going back down the way we came. Both of us are enjoying these hikes and they are challenging for me but we do take it slow especially when we come to some of the rockier patches. Nancy, there is one patch of rocks that Don calls "Nancy's rock pile" because he remembers your saying something about it when you made the climb some time ago. (This rock pile becomes a minor thing as you go on up and realize you are now getting into boulders rather than rocks.) We will try this path several more times before we try to start seeing how far up the really steep end-climb we can go. Don says we can spend an hour or more on the last bit if we need to - we just want to arrive in one piece each. I may have been on Pinnacle's top twice and want to do it again. Some people who pass us as we are making our way up are out for 8 to 12 mile hikes. You can go all the way to Kings Mountain (the mountain, not the town) from Pinnacle's top. It is a 6.2 mile walk along the ridge line. Of course it is then 6.2 miles to get back - to say nothing of the distance to the top and back down to the bottom. That probably adds at least 2 extra miles to the whole trip - maybe more. Today's "walk" took us 55 minutes up and 45 minutes down. I do not go over rocks and boulders without being super super careful. We got passed more than once by speeding 20 year olds but then Don and I are a little past that age and tried to use some sense about our conditions. We may try this walk a few more times before we make a go at reaching the top. Today's hike was certainly do-able as we proved to ourselves today. (Of course now I am having a hard time moving around the condo. Milo, my cat, is concerned about that a little.) About every other word out of our mouths is "Careful here now, Be careful" and we are very deliberate about where we are stepping especially around the rocks and boulders. We surely do not want any falls on that terrain.

What Don and I really wish for is to go back to Mt. LeConte. If any of you are interested in hiking, that is a great one and it has a web site that tells about it. The way we went up LeConte, it was apx a 6 mile hike almost literally straight up most of the way and I think I trained for 2 years to get in shape for that one. I don't know if I could ever do it again but there is a longer less strenuous route to the top of LeConte that might be more possible for a more mature person. There is also something called Alum Cave that you get to on the way up and we could most surely do that at a minimum. When you climb to the top, you can spend the night (make sure you have a RESERVATION) and they feed you well and put you up in a cabin with cots for the night. The sunset is gorgeous (take a camera) and the only amenities are the really great food and water you can pump if you want it. I think someone came in and lit some kind of heater to keep us from freezing during the night also - so there is another amenity. No lights except candles and such so take a flashlight as well. We hiked up to the top one day and back down the next (after an all-you-can-eat breakfast). The hike down was accompanied by RAIN. I still remember it and I still am in love with the sights and sounds of that trip. Some people are lucky and get to see the llamas carrying the food up to the top. They use llamas since the only other way to get supplies in is by air (which they do if they have to). No kind of vehicles allowed on these trails. I did not get to see the llamas but Don has been with some of his family and they were lucky enough to witness the llamas delivering the food. I believe we climbed up in April and at a certain level, there were still patches of snow on the ground. I bet October would be beautiful with the leaves changing color. Link to the LeConte web site is below:

http://www.leconte-lodge.com/

Way more than anyone wanted to know, I guess, but I was right proud of today's hike and I did have fun doing it. (Last year this time, I had a hard time reaching to turn off a light in the bedroom; more than once had to be lifted up out of a chair; and, Lord help me, the bathtub. I haven't taken a bath since - only showers. It is a horrifying experience to be down in a tub and completely unable to get to your feet no matter how hard you try. My legs and arms only seemed to work. They really didn't. I will have to try a bath again soon as I like baths a lot. But I think I will have to have someone in the house in case I need help for some reason - or at least a cell phone within reach. (Psychological block, I hope.) I might have to write my surgeon, Dr. Asher, and tell him I think this climb today is evidence that his skills are outstanding. I don't think we knew last year this time how this tumor removal would end up but I am doing pretty darned well. (And taking Hebrew to boot - now that is difficult.)

Hope to hear from some of you soon. I do love you all, you know.

Looking forward to lunch with Pam and Lynn on Wednesday and with Nancy and Ann on Friday. I really do look forward to visiting with these great friends. Wish I could be with you all at one time but separately or two at a time is good too.

Linda

P.S. Just my own entertainment news. Saw Amelia, the movie yesterday and liked it a lot. Of course, we all know the ending and it didn't change for the movie. But they didn't make it gory and horrifying. You just knew doom was about to happen. Also loved Julie and Julia in case any of you missed that. It is still on at some places. And Rod Stewart has a new CD coming out Monday. I always liked that guy and guess I will be looking into getting the CD soon.

2009.10.19 Walking up Mountains

We went for a little stroll this morning - about half way up Pinnacle Mountain. First we had to drive about 30 or 40 minutes to get there for the privilege. Then the walk we took today was 35 minutes up for me and about 40 minutes up for Don. (He did go further than me.) I just love doing this and our goal is to make it all the way up. We've done it before but it has been years. I find that it reminds me of times when I used to walk Olivia, mine and my father's dog, in North Wilkesboro. The dog and I would go pretty far into the woods and up hills and while I rested from the climb, she would run around and have great fun. We don't run around doing anything and we are careful around the rocks and muddy spots that we encounter but both of us enjoyed it very, very much. We have done it in the recent past to a lesser extent, maybe 4 times previous to today. But today, we were especially proud of our progress because we got almost to the really hard part that is almost straight up. Our next goal is to make it to Turnaround Trail and come back down that way instead of backtracking the way we went up. If we can do that 4 or 5 times, we think we can start trying to do the hard climb and see how far we can go with that. Once we decide to go the whole way, we are going to do it slowly - even if it takes a couple hours. But we want to get there.

I also want to do Kings Mountain again, mainly to go see the museum there but also to get to the top again and see everything there. We can take cameras and get us some pictures at the top of all these mountains. We are also planning to do Crowder just to have the exercise and variation of scenery.

It makes me look forward to exercise to have something visually interesting and to have someone to talk with who is also enjoying the work of climbing. I do need a stick for some of the Pinnacle Trail as it can be a bit treacherous in spots. So far though, nothing we can't handle. If it were, I would wait and turn back when Don came back for me.

I saw some pictures of me last year around this time. Nothing anyone wants to see. I have climbed a great healing mountain in the past year and I am so grateful for the chance to try things like this again. Somebody did a good job helping me get put back together and I am grateful to one and all who worked with me and wished me well. It seems to have been successful.