[at-l] One Month Ago Today
Art Cloutman
Art at crystalacresnh.com
Tue Sep 18 15:13:12 CDT 2007
I headed to Rutland, VT to attend the Long Trail Festival and see
Jan's presentation. The traffic was very heavy particularly through
North Woodstock, VT, but i made it on time to hear most of Jan's
talk. Then Jan, Suz , Rick and I went into town for a nice dinner at
an Italian restaurant. Back at the fairgrounds I set up my tent then
walked around talking with hikers, a local cop, and listening to
music. The next morning plans had been made to ride up to Stowe to
hike to the summit, Chin, of Mt. Mansfield. When I awoke in the
morning, I went down to the Twelve Tribes' stand for a big breakfast.
I was feeling kind of peculiar but I took down my tent and went to
find Jan and the rest of the gang. Stumpknocker drove Mrs Gorps car
with the addition of Jaybird and Scarecrow. Jan rode in my truck
with me because I was going to return to NH directly from Stowe to
save about 2 hours of driving. We drove up the scenic auto road to
the vistors center in one car then walked 1.5 miles to the chin for
some great views. I was still feeling kind of strange. Not my
normal talkative upbeat self, but I really needed some time with my
hiker friends. Monday morning when I woke up at home I felt
terrible. Maybe it was the lack of sleep and change of diet over the
weekend. I took it easy. I was better on Tuesday but relapsed on
Wednesday. Thursday I had chest pains so it was off to the emergency
room of Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia. The staff there
was wonderful. I just a few minutes it was determiined that I did
not have a heart attack. The following morning they did an ultra
sound scan of my liver and gallbladder. The liver look fine but the
walls of my gallbladder were thickened and the gallbladder appeared
collapsed. We scheduled more tests for the following week that
confirmed my gallbladder was not functioning. So, Thursday 9/13/07
it was taken out laproscopically. I now have three holes in my
belly, one directly under my belly button. All are held closed with
metal staples. It was quite an experience for me because even after
65 years I have never spent a night in a hospital. I had never
experience an I.V. The night in the hospital after surgery I refused
any pain killers. I was discharged the next morning after a
scrambled eggs and bacon with toast breakfast. I was back at home on
Crystal Lake before 11 A.M. At 2 PM I took a little walk - didn't
tell my wife. Next Day I walked about 1 mile round trip. Yesterday,
I walked 2 miles and today I walked 3 miles. On Monday 9/24 the
staples come out. Maybe after that I can get out on the trail for a
day or two.
--
Life is Good!!!
Art Cloutman
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