Recovery week…
Index
| Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| Lingesetfjellet | 1002m | 184m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP |
Monday, Feb 1 2021:
(Continued from week 4)
On Sunday, Mara Frattasio @ Kiropraktorklinikken i Sogndal did an ultrasound scan of my left leg and told me that she sat at least 3 blood clots and told me to go see a Doctor or a hospital as soon as possible.
On Monday, I called the emergency reception at the Sogndal hospital and was quickly granted admission. The appointed Doctor told me to drive to the hospital in Lærdal. Soon after, the Doctor called me back and told me to drive to Førde instead (104km). Then I asked “can’t I go to Volda instead? (195km)”, I was meaning to go home today anyway.
With Volda, I was on my own, as it’s a different county (and medical region). I called my local Doctor’s office and explained the situation. They quickly called me back and said I had an appointment at Volda hospital at 3:30pm. Holy cow! I’m really on the fast track here…
Due to tunnel work, I didn’t get to the hospital until 4pm and was quickly sent to the Ultrasound Doctor. I explained the background and he said he was pretty confident that I didn’t have any clots. 15 minutes later, he upgraded the diagnosis from 3 to 4 clots.
I spent the next hours going through a number of examinations. They seemed altogether confused about these clots. Eventually, I was dismissed, got some drugs and told to take them for the next 3 months. Then they would see me again. All the good questions I should have asked came while driving home. I guess I would have to rely on Google now…
When I got home, there was so much snow that I barely got the car into my driveway, just enough to stay clear of the main road. I was actually stuck for a couple of minutes until I called out all the horsepowers my Caddy Maxi had to offer. Clearing a passage to the front door wasn’t easy, being on crutches…
Tuesday, Feb 2 2021:
The drugs did a fantastic job. The leg was still a bit weird, but the immense pain was gone and the crutches were no longer needed. After working from home, I got in the car and drove back to Sogndal. I would still rely on Anne to walk the dog for the coming days.
Mollandsmorki, Feb 6 2021
Saturday: Being idle drove me plain crazy and on this gorgeous Saturday, I just had to get out. My leg wasn’t aching, but it got stiff as soon as I put some weight on it.
We decided to drive to Mollandsmorki, just to hike along the road and enjoy the fjord views.
We had good fun up there, but I didn’t feel like walking much,
Afterwards, we drove down to lake Hafslovatnet. I was able to walk a little on the lake, but it was indeed a short walk…
Lingesetfjellet (1002m), Feb 7 2021
Sunday: Today, the leg felt better and I really, really wanted to live a normal life again. I told Anne that I wanted to go skiing, and proposed Lingesetfjellet as the destination. We could always turn around if I ever felt this was a stupid idea.
We skied out from the local airport (~500m elevation) and my leg was so stiff that I was literally limping along the track. But I didn’t want to give up just yet. Not just yet…
And sure enough, as the leg got warmer, it got better and I started to get positive about the thought of reaching a top again, for the first time in 10 days. Along the way, I reminded myself to stay humble. Being able to reach a mountain top is not something to be taken for granted. And so, I was able to convert my restlessness to gratitude.
Anne had misunderstood my intentions. She thought I wanted to ski to Lingesete (the ruins from the old summer farm), and not the mountain top itself. I looked at her, confused. When did I ever aim for a summer farm?
So, to the mountain we went…
Anne complained that if she had known, she would have brought her Randonee skis, and not her mountain skis. But, with this perfect snow, the descent would not pose a problem at all.
We followed a set of tracks up to the summit, which Karma seemed to appreciate for a little while…
But then again, maybe not…
MAN, it was nice to be back again. Not back as in *back here*, but … back.
I sucked in the views, realizing that I need to be in places like this in order to stay sane. Otherwise, I would probably get lost in the cold and lonely world of overtime hours…
As expected, Anne’s descent went just fine…
And then we headed home – looking forward to return to life as I like to know it…
Trip statistics: 13km, 520 vertical meters, 2h:32m
