A final day in the White Pass, and I’m injured
Wednesday, August 7th, was my final day of a week-long RV outing in the White Pass, with lots of hiking and photography. It was a partial day, though, as I realized that I may have hurt myself in a fall the day before, and drove home.
The day began early as usual – at 05:24, the colours of dawn had begun to light up my world. The first photo, shot from the motorhome, looks north over Summit Lake.
By 05:49, the sky was getting very colourful, and it was looking like we might have another very good day coming.
I wanted to start the day off very early by making a short hike to the first waterfall on the International Falls trail, to do some low-light shooting. I’d been very pleased with the results of the early morning session at Bridal Veil Falls the day before. On the way, I detoured to get a shot of the Welcome to Alaska sign a few hundred meters beyond.
The next photo shows the start of the International Falls trail, from the highway. I was pretty sore from my fall at Summit Creek the day before, and was a tiny bit dizzy. I thought for a while about going down the very steep drop into the valley, finally deciding that I just needed to get moving and work the soreness out.
I arrived at the first waterfall at 07:10, and the light was near perfect for what I wanted to do. I should have been there a few minutes earlier, but it was still good.
I only spent 10 minutes shooting, then it starting getting too bright to accomplish these shots. I mentioned at Bridal Veil Falls that these shots can be done with neutral density (ND) filters, and yesterday I ordered another set to fit the lens I use most now, a 24-105mm.
The very steep climb back to the highway, with ropes installed by a tour company in Skagway to help their clients, but with all of us benefitting.
I’ve been unsure for the last week about how much to tell you (if anything) about what happened from then until today. Some of you have been with me for many years ago, though, and there may be a long silence after today. Here’s why…
The climb back up to the highway was tough – the soreness from my fall wasn’t working itself out, and the dizziness wasn’t getting better. We had a very quiet day, but by early afternoon I decided that I needed to get home – something wasn’t right.
By the time I got up Thursday morning, I was starting to get numbness in my core (around my tailbone where I’d hit) and tingling beyond that. By that afternoon, I started to feel like I was losing some important bodily functions. I drove into Whitehorse that evening to meet with my Klondike Road Relay race teammates. When I started to drive home, I only got a mile before deciding that I needed to drive to the hospital instead, to get checked out at Emergency.
Though there were a dozen people in the waiting area, within minutes of arriving at Emergency, I had nurses and a doctor assessing me. To keep a long story short, my symptoms got worse, and they worked on me all night. Multiple CT scans and other tests showed nothing definitive. A series of MRIs on Friday morning had the same result. The summary is “spinal trauma,” but there’s nothing definitive enough to treat. I shot the next selfie while waiting for the MRI.
About 20 hours after arriving at Emergency, I was admitted to Whitehorse General Hospital and moved upstairs to the surgical ward. I posted on Facebook that I didn’t want any visitors at the hospital, and my friends respected that request. In my case, misery does not love company.
People talk with distain about hospital food but I had no complaints. The roast beef dinner shown in the next photo was very good, and large. All the meals are made from scratch, and there’s lots of variety. I’ve certainly paid good money at banquets for lesser quality. Cathy brought a big box of Timbits on Sunday night as my bonus for being good 🙂
The view from my room on Monday morning. I had a bad spell later that day – nurses packed me in heated blankets to get me warm.
By Tuesday my basic body functions had returned and I had stabilized. My doctor was in daily consultation with a neurologist in Vancouver, and I was on the list to be medevaced out, but no beds were available in Vancouver.
On Wednesday morning, I posted on Facecook: “Okay, enough of this being sick shit. Ditch the hospital gown, to start – that’s just bad energy. My doctor, though, is awesome – I’m keeping her.”
Finally on Thursday night, with no bed in Vancouver yet, I told my doctor that I didn’t need a medevac flight – with assistance, I could do a scheduled flight. That was the key – on Friday evening, I was released from hospital. Cathy and I have reservations on the 07:00 Air North flight Monday morning, to meet the neurologist at the Emergency department at Vancouver General Hospital, to do some testing. Cathy needs to get a wheelchair for me at the Whitehorse airport, and a golf cart at the Vancouver airport to get us to a taxi.
I can’t say enough about how good Whitehorse General Hospital is. Everybody, from room cleaners to doctors, was wonderful. Although I have no definitive diagnosis yet, it’s certainly not from lack of trying, with all the most modern equipment. And the cost isn’t one of things Cathy and I need to worry about. Everything, including our flights and associated expenses tomorrow, is covered by the health care that all Yukon residents have.
It’s now Sunday morning. I’m simply waiting for tomorrow. I can walk as long as I have not too long a span between things to hang onto. I can’t come up the right word for what’s going on – dizzy, spacey, disoriented?
I won’t post anymore about this story on the blog until there’s a resolution to the problem. I hope to be back posting about Adventures soon 🙂
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