Flirting with science

I now rank with Mr Fleming and his accidental discovery of penicillin.

Thursday walks with Pete have been erratic with absences on other sorties, but we were back this Thursday.

Pete is punctilious and attaches importance to reliability in friends. When I arrange to collect him at 10:15 it means 10:15 precisely. I am similarly inclined, so when concentration on a difficult game of Freecell found me overrunning I panicked and rushed off to keep lateness to a minimum.

At Arkholme, an attractive village upstream from Lancaster on the River Lune, I found I had forgotten my now famous Mountain Warehouse trail shoes. I was still wearing my Crocs. 

Tarmac was followed by the footpath following the river Lune, over stiles and through long grass, and sections of rugged cow-trodden pasture. and then more Tarmac. Even though I had previously removed the heel strap  from the Crocs for packing and lightness when backpacking they remained comfortable and fit for purpose over more than five miles.

Since my shin wound last September, which took six months to heal, I have had problems on that ankle resulting in consultant's diagnosis of venous eczema which is uncomfortable, and not a pretty sight. I have to daub the affected part with emollient and wear knee length compression stockings permanently. Boots cover part of the ankle so for some time I have been wearing trail shoes. but my Fleming moment came on Thursday when I realised the Crocs' performance across off-road terrain, combined with their low sides may provide a practical aid to my problem.

I hope to do another twenty day backpack before the end of summer, and subject to awaited medical advice on the ankle I intend to wear the Crocs on Tarmac and dry paths and tracks, but also taking the trail shoes to use in the wet or in case the experiment fails. I think there is some tunnel-vision about walking footwear. I agree boots are advisable for Munro type mountain territory, although I understand Chris Townsend generally only uses trail shoes, but for benign country backpacking I don't think stomping stout footwear is necessarily essential. Comfort is the most important factor.

Now that's what I call a proper stile. If only they were all like that

River Lune. Ingleborough in background

At the top of the hill

Tufted vetch I think , enthusiastic botanists feel free to dispute if you want

There's always a way

I hesitate to inflict more of my medical history on you, but my need to boast about my latest  ingenious achievement leaves me no alternative.

The wound on my shin inflicted last September took five months to heal; it was complicated by accompanying cellulitis. The residual redness and flaky skin has now been diagnosed as some kind of eczema necessitating the knee length compression stockings previously mentioned.*  I also have to daub the area with Epaderm (an emollient). That is enough of the medical stuff which I do not want to discuss further.

The Epaderm comes in a weighty (500g) plastic tub. I hope to set off on another backpack on the 19th of this month and do not want to carry that. It is not sold in smaller amounts.

My current tube of toothpaste has just finished. I cut off the bottom, cleaned it out and stuffed it with Epaderm. I then folded the bottom edge back on itself and stapled it closed then put insulation tape round the bottom to protect myself from possible staple lacerations and to complete the seal, et voilà.

To avoid brushing my teeth with gungy ointment, I attached a label.


* The stockings are not worn at night. I thought I was doing ok with the difficult task of donning them in the morning having developed a good technique, then the last medic I saw told me I should do this whilst still in bed, before the blood rushes down the leg !  That task is at the limits of my body's pliability. I am hoping that my aforementioned ingenuity will develop an easier technique. 

Preparations

The clips were removed at my gp's surgery last week after my recent appendics operation. The practice nurse is a wise, middle aged, no-nonsense matron type. Beforehand I wanted to query the advisability of my forthcoming trip to Scotland to climb some Marilyns which would be three and a half weeks after the operation, and then embarking on a three hundred mile backpack later in May. Confronted with Wise Pragmatic Nurse I had the pessimistic sickening feeling of possible outright condemnation.

"Hill walking?" she asked sharply.

 "Yes." 

 "Do what your body tells you and use your common sense."

That was a relief. But now I am not sure if Common Sense and Body are battling it out between themselves both trying to fool each-other.  When I posit a sort of opinion pole on friends and acquaintances by idly sketching out my plans I sense thinly disguised thoughts assessing me as ill-advised, stupid, mad or obsessed beyond help. Well, I'm going anyway.

The complicated medical history of Left Leg has resulted in me having to wear hideous knee length, black compression stockings (forever). At first I thought this would preclude me from my preference for walking in shorts on summer backpacking trips, but then I hit on the idea of knee-length socks to cover the depressingly medical looking blackies.

On Wednesday I was on a mission to purchase long socks and soon discovered two things - firstly, since outdoories stopped wearing breeches back in the fifties long socks are now rare, and  secondly there seems to be a dearth of size Large socks in general (I wear size ten to eleven shoes). Gaynors in Ambleside had some monster long socks apparently designed for going to the South Pole, but not in my size anyway, and costing over £20. The Climbers Shop shook their head and advised me to go to a farmers' welly shop. Down the road at Blacks a pleasant young asian girl responded to my request as casually as if I was asking for a loaf in a bread shop - she went straight to a rack and took off  a pack of Peter Storm Midweight Knee Length Hiking Socks in a tasteful shade of blue, two pairs for £16. I was well suited.

Earlier at Lakeland Outdoors near Staveley I had had another abortive sock search, but found myself casually looking, with no intention of buying of course, at a good selection of trail shoes. As is often the case prices were not easy to see, but I picked up the pair I thought were most suited for me and then found that my impeccable taste had selected the most expensive ones on the rack, and of course I am now their new owner. Most trail shoes have silly names - Trail Blaster, Ventilator, Quadra, Intercept etc., but my new ones are exclusively low profile, just having their brand name alone: Scarpas.

Big Brother, RR, must be anticipated here before he adds a high flown crit. of my addiction to fashionable, pseudo scientifically designed outdoor gear taking precedence over the metaphysical attributes of great open spaces, but my previous footwear has worn out, and even though I am not normally concerned about my appearance from a fashion stance I do not want to be backpacking looking like a model from a medical supplies catalogue. 

Easter 2015

Yesterday I wallowed in my convalescence. Daughter High Horse and son W arrived with granddaughter Katie.  HH, unaided, cooked us a full scale Easter chicken dinner - that was after the egg hunt.

Tomorrow I go to my gp's nurse to have the stitches removed from my appendics operation ten days ago and all seems to be progressing well. I had booked the caravan at Brora (NE coast Scotland) to go and do some Marilyns there from 22nd April, but that is now looking doubtful, but if I do feel anything like I will take proper medical advice before making a decision. I have further plans for a 300 mile backpacker but we will have to see.

From home

Sorry folks. After yesterday's post I realised I hadn't referred to the original symptom of my ailment which was constipation.  When my son W. heard sbout this he wanted to bring me the guaranteed solution in the form of a kebab from a place he knows of in Morecambe.

The medics were baffled - nothing showed up on an x-ray, but then appendicitis did on a ct. scan, much to everybody's surprise. And, dare I say, the main thrust of the original problem is now solved,and I am back at home, but virtually immobile, just enough to keep myself fed: I am heeding seriously all the advice to take things easy. 

Healing Day

Thursday - 8:50 am
5th March 2015
I pay my weekly visit (on-going since last September) to the nurse at my gp's since I inflicted a wound on my shin on 19th September last year - that is almost six months ago. Today the wound has healed over and stopped discharging for the first time. Wow! That's been a long haul.

The problem was complicated by cellulitis in the same shin area, and also by discovery of a blood clot. I have lost count of the medical people I have seen (mostly with differing opinions),  self injections, swabs taken, hospital car parking problems, and doses of antibiotics consumed. Recently the cellulitis re-emerged after being more or less banished, and after another course of double-dose (risky according to one gp) antibiotic it has retreated again, and I feel now that Leg and I are nearly there.

Readers will see that I have been active in the outdoors during most of this period with day walks, and providing I don't wear boots to chafe my ankle I am doing ok with trail shoes, but left untreated the problem could have been very serious.

I am feeling stir-crazy and straining to be off on a caravan Marilyn expedition and then another backpacking trip after Easter when weather has warmed. The daily routine at home is becoming tedious, and conversations with people seem to revolve round old age, illnesses, and recent deaths and I want to be off for new encounters, and to let the wind blow, the sun shine, and the rain to cleanse.

I have walked on the last two Thursdays, first with both Petes and yesterday with regular Pete. Regular Pete, at the age of 80 is combatting rheumatoid arthritis, and responding quite well to treatment now, but we are restricting our walks to maximum five miles and wherever possible on Tarmac.

Here are a few photos:

Thursday 27th February - Dalesway country north of Crook on the way to Windermere

Thursday 5th March - to the east of previous photos, between Windermere and Staveley

Holbeck Ghyll Country House Hotel (and below).
Do guests arrive by helicopter? Rooms upwards from £225. The hotel is actually a few miles away close to Windermere lake, but their lettering is on the helicopter.

An attractively located and well laid out Camping and Caravanning Club site.

What are the odds?

Amidst all the frustration of my leg wound healing, oh so slowly, I have had a free health check with my gp’s nurse.

Prior to getting the results, and considering the mountains and lakes of cheese, red wine and cakey sweetie confections I consume Imagination tortured me convincing that at least diabetes would be diagnosed, along with cholesterol off the top of the graph, and perhaps something else Imagination had failed to anticipate. 

In the past, Imagination was so good at creating the “what if…” scenario I was invariably second on the rope as a rock climber and rarely the leader.

Everything was fine, so nurse said? I don’t understand these things and work on the principle that the less I know the better. Amongst stuff about blood sugars, and a resting heart rate of 54 I was told there is good and bad cholesterol and my good outweighs the bad.

Nurse put all the stats into some sophisticated number crunching software, even asking me to confirm that my country of birth was the UK, which seemed to be the largest influencing factor.

I was told the national average chance of having a “cardio vascular event”for a 74 year old, within the next ten years was 26%, and mine came out at 23% .

With my ignorance of things scientific I am now not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Busy but not walking

Leg seems to have recovered, more or less, from the the cellulitis type bacterial infection after taking on board enough antibiotic to solve the World health problem, but he still continues to rebel against the whacking I gave him with a branch somewhere around 15th September on my SW Coast Path walk, and which received another whacking when my hooped carbon fibre tent pole, under tension, released itself and struck again in the same place. Leg therefore has two wounds close together on the shin about a centimetre diameter which are not healing well and are still painful, and Leg seems to have the capacity to transfer that pain to me in retribution.

There is also the added problem of the blood clot in Lower Leg, not a dvt, and therefore not too serious, but I am still giving myself daily injections, and attending fortnightly at the hospital for scans, and also at my gp's nurse for attention to the wound. Lower Leg I am told is behaving himself according to the scans.

Of course, I am not whinging. Daughter High Horse may not agree.

I need to rest and keep the leg up as much as possible which I do in the evenings, but during the day I am always busy.

Have you heard of hacking? Buying an item as new and then modifying it to your own requirements, having a high hit rate with IKEA products. High Horse is into this and we’ve bought a bunk bed, from IKEA, for Katie’s birthday later this month, and I have been co-opted to hack.

As bought from Ikea (after the half day you have taken to assemble it)

An elaborate "hack" using two units

Work in progress - finished photo may appear later

Thursday walks with Pete are suspended for the moment - Pete has joined the wounded, suffering from arthritis and is taking tons of pills which he is assured, will, after some time, relieve things.

Today our walking substitute was a visit to a picture framers in the wilds  beyond Kendal used by Pete’s wife who is a talented amateur artist. The mission was to have framed a superb photo of Annapurna taken by David Ensor (David Ensor Travel Photography, www.davidensorphotos.co.uk ). David is the proprietor of Chiltern Lodge b and b at Worth Matravers where I stayed on the second night of my recent walk on the SW Coast Path (highly recommended), he has travelled extensively and organised his own treks to the Himalayas pursuing his passion for photography.

Photo by www.davidensorphotos.co.uk

The picture framer was located in a mini industrial estate hidden under the slopes of Scout Scar in the middle of nowhere. You could hardly move inside the place for stacks of wood that looked as though they had accumulated over a hundred years. It was a pleasure to chat with Michael the owner knowing it was he who would do the job, all so much better than handing over to some faceless multiple in the middle of town (watch out Gimmer - it looks as though I’m going conservative -  small c).

After that, despite not having walked, we still went for our usual wind-down at Café Ambio (located in the newly built livestock auction mart). It was a busy auction day, and as usual we followed the trail to the café of mixed sawdust and livestock leavings scattered, incongruously along the recently laid pristine vinyl flooring. All the farmers, in their working worn tweed suits and waistcoats, flat hats, wellies and boots were seated together at one end of the room, troughing, and telling the tale with lively bavardage - this is obviously a cherished social occasion for them (no ladies), and despite the clinical architecture of the building there was a strong atmosphere akin to attending a shepherds' meet in a seventeenth century pub in the Dales, belied by expensive 4 x 4s and nearly new Landrovers evident outside.

Time-out for the farmers at Ambio

**************************************************

KATIE UPDATE

Perhaps she may get on The Two Blondes team?
twoblondeswalking.com

Gurnal Dubs and Potter Tarn

I have been asked about the knee, so let's get that out of the way first.

I have been doing local walks of 5 to 6 miles. It is not painful whilst walking, but that distance is enough - swelling and stiffening  are the signs. If I move the leg in a sort of sideways direction, for example when getting over stiles, there is specific intense pain in a particular area about the size of a 50p piece - perhaps where a tendon attaches. There are other minor niggly internal pains and clicking and clunking sensations. The muscle on top of the thigh still feels weak. Despite ongoing exercises I can't get the leg to go completely straight. I am using the exercise bike once or twice a day for 20 min sessions. For the first few turns of the pedals the pain is intense causing me to break into a forehead sweat, but then it settles down and I pedal away. I have had several sessions with a local masseuse which have been particularly beneficial, and for anybody else with similar problems this is something I highly recommend.

On the 4th September it will be four months since the op, and I hoped for a better outcome than this after that amount of time. I cannot see me doing any full day walks this year. Yes, I am frustrated, and I guess perhaps too impatient. The thought of possibly having to go through all this again with the other knee doesn't bear thinking about. For the moment I am thankful that I can do decent little walks in uplifting environments which is more than I could do before the op, but that is nothing like the day to day unfolding of a multi-day backpacking trip with all its happenings,  surprises and problem solving combined with the overall sensations and enjoyment of merging through one region into another.

Two recent local walks

Kentmere: from Kentmere village up the eastern side of The Kent to Kentmere Reservoir and back down the western side.

Looking north up the Kent valley

Yoke, Ill Bell and Froswick - the western side of the Kentmere Horseshoe which is a celebrated fell
race

Kentmere reservoir - Lingmell End is the pointy one - Thornthwaite Crag and Beacon in background

Gurnal Dubs and Potter Tarn: From Garnett Bridge via paths and track to Gurnal Dubs and Potter Tarn. Return via Burneside to Garnett Bridge road.

Distant Kendal

Gurnal Dubs...

...trout were rising in abundance, and swallows were skimming the water

Arrow points to a rare moment - a swallow resting - I was trying to snap them but was hampered by no viewfinder on the camera - this pic is a 12 x zoom shot...

...and this is a crop from the pic above - goodness knows how many times it is magnified.

Potter Tarn

Word verification etc.

I have reinstated Word Verification. I did not receive an avalanche of spam, but I did receive some which was a jumble of nonsensical prose in English and other languages, and strange URLs which I was not happy about. These “Comments” were received by Blogger and consigned to a folder  in Settings/Comments/Spam which I was not previously aware of, so they did not appear on the blog. I have deleted these “anonymous” comments from that folder.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Knee reinstatement continues slowly with noticeable improvements. Today I walked up the road to the start of the footpath for Arnside Knott, and then back - just over a kilometre, and in the pleasant sunshine it was great to be undertaking what I might almost define as a walk. After all, this was more than I was comfortable doing before the op.

I  bought an exercise bike on Ebay (a trip to Penrith yesterday to collect - Jill driving), and I'm doing five minutes on this before each of my four daily exercise sessions. I anticipate building up that time as I feel it is appropriate.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

A new tension has entered my life with the cricket test matches. I do not have Sky Sports1 so can only watch the highlights on Channel 5 at 7:00pm, so I have to avoid seeing any reports of the games progress throughout the day, not I hasten to add whilst watching daytime tv. I do like to watch the BBC news at 6:00 and I have to be ready to cut when the cricket report comes up - all very stressful.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Katie update

At seven months, although she can't actually walk she can stand herself up against support, and she can climb the stairs - she is very active.

Hubris and admonishment

When the French say “I look forward to”, their limited vocabulary only provides “j”attend avec impatience”. The literal translation of that phrase describes my present mood.

Last Friday I proudly presented myself to the physio without crutches, only to be rebuked and shown some exercises that proved my knee and leg were not yet strong enough to support proper walking. I had to shamefacedly accept that not using support would only encourage bad habits, and furthermore I had broken the promise to myself that I would do as I was told by the medics, and not rush things because of my leash straining.  After analysis the physio agreed to let me use a stick,  and I have been pegging around with this for the last week.

Yesterday was a milestone (or perhaps a kilometrestone) - I walked round the block from home which measures on Memory Map 981m, which is, as near as dammit, 1km, and I repeated this today; I took nineteen minutes, so nearly twice as long as normal walking, although I emphasise that these practice sessions were not motivated by a desire to secure pole position for a forthcoming race.

The knee is still uncomfortable, and painful when doing certain exercises.

Today I was able to ascend the stairs at home, still using the stick, but not peg-legging. I tentatively tried descending like this, but decided to leave that until I see the physio again next Thursday.

What I am looking forward to is discarding the awful anti-DVT stretch, full length stockings I have to wear for six weeks - they are uncomfortable, and fiendishly difficult to put on when I change them (L da P - you have my sympathy). Discard date is 15th June. 

As I write my follow up appointment with the surgeon has just landed scheduled for 20th June.

______________________________________

Belatedly, I would like to praise the care and attention I received at Kendal NHS Treatment Centre (Ramsay Health Care UK), and also the excellent, no nonsense advice provided by the physio. At all times I have felt I was being treated as an intelligent individual, and not just an NHS number.

Not for the squeamish

Well, I had my knee op clips removed today, and I see the physio tomorrow at the hospital.  I am now walking without crutches, but there is still some pain, especially when I do my four times a day exercises. I mentioned before that some people keep the clips as a memento, and in fact the nurse asked me if that was my intention. I had suggested putting them on Ebay in my last post, but then I had a better idea, sparked by my use of the via ferrata simile, and enabled by time on my hands to devote to a lot of faffing about with Photoshop.

Yes, I know that on a via ferrata the rope wouldn't be used like this, but it just adds to the pic here.

To knee or not to knee?

Well I’m back from the knee op.

Impressions:

After the spinal anaesthetic, being wheeled into theatre and vaguely seeing a group  of gowned and masked figures, one with a yellow leg over his shoulder, which, after a bit of rational thought I deduced must be mine; I had no sensation whatever that the leg had anything to do with me

A screen was erected above my middle. From thereon the only memories were the brief sound of a saw, and a chinking hammer and chisel kind of noise, not from mild steel, but ringing stainless or titanium I guess.

Back on the ward the less said about insertion of a catheter to relieve my bladder the better.

A visit from the surgeon. I was sitting in a chair. He asked me to bend my bandaged leg back as far as I could which I did. It was not at ninety degrees. He said,

 “now hook your other heal round the ankle and pull back further”,

which I did with a fair amount of pain, so he said,

“further!”

I managed another half centimetre, and he said,

 “further, you can’t do it any damage, I got it to a hundred and twenty degrees in theatre”.

Yesterday, the dressing was changed. I was interested to see a vertical row of about fifteen metal clips running up my knee looking like a mini via ferrata. I have an appointment with my gp’s nurse on 17th May for removal - I was told some people keep the clips as a memento. I think I might put them on Ebay?

I have been emphatically told I must carry out a series of exercises four times a day, taking them well into the pain barrier, and for the moment my life is revolving round that programme. I am walking with crutches, and generally experiencing a lot of pain.

Do I recommend this procedure to anybody else? I’m not sure yet.

Bikes, knees, cows and Katie

This blog should be renamed Conrad Walks Not.

The  pre-op examination for my knee replacement was as far back as 7th February. I reckon the relevance of that will be considerably devalued by the time I get to the op. I rang the waiting list people and was told it would be unlikely before May. In the meantime the other knee is becoming just as painful, and I have no doubt I will be booked in for that as soon as possible after the first one. It looks like this year is going to be a write-off.

Fortunately cycling is not a problem, and I have bought a new “hybrid” bike (Claud Butler Voyager) to replace the Giant Terrago mountain bike, and I hope to investigate the possibility of “cycle backpacking”, but not until I have had the op or ops, followed, I suppose, by weeks and weeks of rehabilitation. So I reckon I have now got a month ahead when I can go out for day rides and try to develop muscle build up and stamina required for cycling.

_____________________________________________________

Katie update:

KATIE MEETS THE COWS:

Cabin Fever

The pre-op assessment took place last Tuesday and I am now awaiting an appointment. In the meantime I have not been able to go out on the bike because of inclement weather, and I am envious of my fellow outdoor bloggers who are up to all sorts of interesting escapades.

I have been pressing on with the new book which is a collection of reminiscences under various headings.

The Headings so far are:

Youth

Fear

Getting  Lost

Trespassing

Encounters

Heroes

Epics

Memorable Happenings

So far: 15,000 words and 60 pages (with photos)

_________________________________________

Whilst watching television during the evening I have been making a list of frequently used clichés and the like which irritate me - if anybody wants to make suggestions I will consider them for addition to the list.

The word “amazing”

Well oiled machine

Feeding frenzy

Massive (heart attack) - it would seem that the media reckons nobody has an ordinary heart attack - it is always “massive”

Journey - Here I mean celbs who may be talking about a film they have made, or a spell in rehab, or the trauma of a recent divorce etc., where they relate to having been on a ”journey” preceded by the appropriate adjective -”wonderful, “lonely”, “amazing” etc.

Age old

Unique micro climate - wherever anybody lives they always say that they have one of these.


I hope the title of this post doesn't qualify for the list.

Another Lulu self publishing project

I have started a new book using Lulu  (self publishing website - if you're interested click on the link).

The idea is to group anecdotes and thoughts I have assimilated over the years under a number of headings such as "getting lost", "fear", "trespassing" etc. and experiences and thoughts will not necessarily be restricted to outdoor activities. So far I have written 3000 words and sourced a number of photos which will be integrated with the text. My previous six books have all had the themed titles of "Conrad Walks...", so for this one I have provisionally decided on "Conrad Talks".

The knee

I now have a pre-operation appointment for 7th February, so I will get an appointment after that for the operation. In the meantime I have had a few more modest bike rides. The only consolation (for me) is that the weather has been horrible.

Views from the house

The knee is  worse than before the recent operation. I have an appointment for 9th January, and I reckon I'll be offered a replacement knee joint. What this bodes for future walking I will have to wait and see. For the last couple of weeks I have literally limped around and have done no recreational walking.

My daughter Jill and  brother William have taken a four bedroom, first and second floor flat in Arnside with extensive, uplifting views over the Kent Estuary, and across to the Lakeland and Shap hills, which are now covered in snow. I have been helping with both moves. William is in residence.  Jill and Katie will follow after Christmas. Within the last few days Jill's furniture etc. has been moved from storage into the flat.

I have a similarly enviable view from my living room window across the M6 corridor to Hutton Roof with Ingleborough and Whernside jutting above the horizon twenty miles away. I never tire of observing the birds, helicopters, aeroplanes, vapour trails and endlessly changing clouds, enhanced by two of the Three Peaks. Unfortunately a neighbour's house sports an obtrusive chimney pot which jars. I vow that when I win the Lottery I will make them an offer they can't refuse then have the house demolished.

Today with intensely white snow the distant horizon is even more dramatic, but it cannot be captured with my inferior camera, so I have driven a few hundred yards up the road from my house and taken a better shot in the last of the afternoon sun, without the necessity to walk any distance.

This is 4 x zoom, hand held - Whernside appears off pic to the left

In case I don't post again before forthcoming festivities I wish everybody compliments of the season.

Photoshop, medical, baby

 :

Final version of the Attermire Scar Photoshop painting.
Click to enlarge

The trees and the sky have been completely reworked, and the foreground colouring strengthened.

The Knee.

It is now a week since the arthroscopy. My impression is one of some improvement, but no miracle. I visit my GP on Monday 5th December for dressing removal and assessment.  

Following hospital advice I should then be able to tackle modest walking (there are differing opinions  interpreting that phrase amongst friends and family in relation to my observed regular activity). I am promised an appointment with the surgeon in 6/8 weeks when a new knee joint will be discussed. In the meantime I perform recommended exercises three times a day, and cabin fever is building.

Katie update

Jill is threatening a sale on Ebay if the recent crying episodes persist - this pic shows a rare moment of peace.