Whirl Wind of Events

So if you havent heard from friends, family, or myself yet, I have a broken left hand, which, being a lefty, has made writting anyone or typing near impossible (this is being written after many pain meds).

So the short and skinny of the situation: We left Sept. 18th for the Wind River range in WY. The first day was about a mile on trail and then cutting due south cross country to a high alpine lake. we followed a drainage up hill to the lake. Since there was no trail (that we could see, there ended up being one just out of sight the other groups took) we crossed the stream a few times to find the easiest terrain to travel on. The stream was no more than 6 feet wide at most and trickling at best, the last spot we crossed was alot of large boulders that were angled and ridged. I tried to step with my left foot onto a slanted ridged boulder when my foot slipped, I went down to my left and fell onto the ridge of the boulder with the top of my left hand. As soon as i fell i knew i had hurt it in some way, cursed under my breath and got myself out of the cold water. I immediately got dizzy and light headed and i lost some hearing for a few minutes.

Claire (my proctor) and I looked it over and it didnt seem broken or badly hurt, so after some pain killers and a ace wrap we were back to hiking. The whole trip i used my hand. Obviously i was careful with it, but was able to be a full participating member of the course. I managed it with pain killers and ace wrappings with some icing in the streams when i could.

After getting out of the backcountry,we came here to the 3 Peaks Ranch for WFR. Monday morning i went to the local medical center for x-rays, the doctor knew instantly that i had broken it. What i didnt know was how bad. I was told it was discplaced 1 mm, which was not surgery worthy. The next day i drove up to Jackson Hole to see a specialist and to get my NOLS formed signed off on to continue. There the doctor saw a 5 mm discplacement from the fractor, and showed me how my bone was actuallyu shortening, which was elongating the tendon, making it useless if i let it heal without surgery. So after deciding i needed to get cut up, we found out the top and specialists in Jackson had a surgery opening that evening and since i had forgottton to drink any water or eat lunch i was a candidate for surgery.

So within 48 hours i went from having a "hurt" hand and dealing with it, to having 8 titanium pins and a steel plate drilled into my hand bone to put it all together. it is the 4th metacarple in my left hand (the hand bone for your ring finger).

Right now my continuance on this course is in the air, i will do pretty much anything to stay. I am doing alot to expedite the healing process. NOLS obviously has protocol and things to think about with injured students. So there have been alot of meetings and talks about what is going to happen. I will know more as to what will happen this week.

For now that is all my hand hurts. I miss you guys and thank you for your prayers and support. I miss you all and hope God is doing awesome things in your life.

until the next time.....