Worst Week, Part II
Current mood: tired

Okay.

So. At this point we are both pretty tired and are ready to hike down. The down trail is exactly the same trail we hiked up. There are a few places where the scree is loose or it is a bit gravely, but for the most part it's a pretty easy, solid although steep trail. As we are hiking down, we kind of lose the trail for a bit and come up on Miles' slidy little snowfield. This time we are up high on the snow, whereas on the way up we crossed lower. We also talked about sliding down the field for fun earlier but decided it might not be a great idea. The snow extends about 100 feet on a maybe 26 degree pitch. Could be slightly less steep, but whatever, I'm guessing.

So to cross the snow, I have to slide down this little dirt, scree slide before I get ot the snow. Heidi is hiking in front of me cause I have Charlie leashed to me and I lose sight of her as she goes around this rock.

A second later I look up and see Heidi sliding down the snow on her butt. She is kind of squealing and I think, "Huh, thought we decided that's a bad idea." As she nears the bottom she kind of slides off the side about 75 feet away from me. She slides into the boulders and as her feet hit the rocks, I hear a loud slap of her feet hitting a larger boulder.

Then she yells, "I broke my leg. I've never broken my leg before."

And I think, "She's totally fucking around. Trying to freak me out."

And then she starts screaming. And she's not screaming like she's kidding.

My heart just drops when I realize the slapping sound of her shoes was actually the snapping sound of her leg. As the adrenaline kicks in, I start to move fast....but I have to remember I still need to cross this snowfield safely to be able to help her. I make it across okay and tie the dogs up.

When I finally get to Heidi I look down and see that she is trying to hold her leg just below the knee and that her foot is just kind of dangling at a completely unnatural angle.

Seriously gross. Leg's shouldn't look like that.

So let me add a disclaimer here: My adrenaline level at this point was maxed out. It is difficult for me to remember the exact sequence of events from here on out. If you talk to Heidi she may say a few things happened in another order, but then she's not a reliable source at this point either. Regardless, everything I'm about to write did in fact happen.

Ok, so I touch her leg and she screams again. Now Heidi is maintaining a relatively calm composure considering her foot is at a right angle to her leg, but she is obviously in distress.

Obviously.

Okay, disclaimer number two...or maybe a slight jump in the story. I did not take pictures until Heidi was stabilized and help was on the way. In addition, Heidi agreed we should take pictures....cause we had the time to waste taking them.

Back to the story.

At this point there are a lot of things going through my mind.....sounded something like this...."Holy shit it is going to take hours to get her off of this mountain. I hope this all goes well. I need to make calls. Gross! Man that must fucking hurt! I really hope this is a delusion I'm about to snap out of....! Okay, lets do this."

So, I start asking Heidi questions. "Did you hit your head? Do you feel light-headed? Nauseous?"

K, going into narration for the next part. Like reading a book.

Me "Heidi, this is really going to hurt and I'm sorry."
Heidi "Okay, no no no no no no!"
Me "Heidi, I am just going to try to make you relatively comfortable for a few minutes so that I can make two phone calls, okay."
Heidi "Okay, (scream as I prop her foot with a pack) okay, that's okay."
Me "I'm going to make two phone calls, one to a friend and one to 911. I think you know who the friend is."
Heidi "Cody?"
Me "Yes."

Then I walk away from her. I get cell service about 40 yards away from her. I call Cody first cause I know five minutes isn't going to get search and rescue up here any faster and Heidi's injury isn't life threatening. I do know that Cody will get here long before S&R.

I call Cody's cell. No answer. I don't bother to leave a message.

I call the office phone cause Cody's on the clock. He answers in one ring.

Cody "Sunny Cove, Cody speaking."
Me "Cody, Heidi fell, she has a unstable lower right leg injury. As soon as I hang up with you I am going to call 911. We are on the lookers right ridgeline of Alice at about 3000 feet. I'm not kidding."
Cody "Okay, what do you want me to do. Do you want me to hike up with Peter?"
Me "Please at least be at the trailhead. I gotta go."

And I hang up.

I called 911 at 4:50pm. The call is still in my call log on my phone.

"911 emergency, this is Phylis."
"My name is Stephanie Millane. I am on Mt. Alice on the lookers right ridgeline at about 3000 feet. My friend Heidi fell about 75 feet and has an unstable lower right leg injury. It appears she has broken her tib-fib. I need search and rescue."
Phylis "What?"

I think "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WHAT?!" And then I pretty much repeat myself.

Phylis takes my cell number to relay to S&E.

Oh, and on a personal note. To every single one of you who ever made fun of me for carrying my cell phone and first aid kit with me every time I went on an adventure......

Fuck you. I'm glad I totally ignored all of you. Oh, oh yea, and I love you all, so please, please carry this stuff with you when you go out into the wilderness. Do you know how horrible I would have felt if I didn't have anything with me? If I had ended up having to leave Heidi alone so that I could run down the mountain and drive to town to get help. Seriously, take that shit with you. Someday you might be so grateful you did.

K, onwards.

So, I go back to Heidi. And ask her the same questions again.

"Are you nauseous? Do you feel light-headed? Are you still feeling okay?" I ask her these questions repeatedly in the future. Instead of typing them over and over I will simply refer to them as 'the questions'.

She tells me she is feeling okay but in a lot of pain.

Me "Heidi, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to hurt you again. I have to take your shoe off so that I can see your foot. I am going to cut it off."
"Do you have to?" This is kind of funny, cause the shoes are pretty new and she really loves them. I'm pretty sure she is more concerned about her shoe for just a minute.
"Yes, I have to, but I will cut the laces off first and if we can slide the shoe off relatively comfortably, I won't cut it."
"Okay."

So I cut the laces off and her shoe comes off surprisingly easily. This just leaves her sock.

Okay, let me give you a visual here. I can see the bone ends pushing against her skin. The ends are side by side rather than in line. Her leg isn't fractured, it's broken apart.

I pull her sock off and my stomach drops. Her foot is blue. BLUE. Anyone with medical training can clue you in on decreased CSM. It's bad. Her foot is dying. Literally.

And now I know that I can't just splint her leg and leave it alone.

So I look at Heidi and I say something like "Heidi, I'm sorry, this is going to hurt a lot, but I have to do it. I'm sorry."

Heidi just kind of looks at me like she's not completely registering what I am saying. She is definitley shocky at this point and she's pretty white. I explain to her that I have to get circulation back to her foot or she's going to have complications far worse than just a broken bone. I don't tell her leaving it alone can lead to serious muscle/nerve damage or even eventually amputation due to necrosis.....aka dead tissue.

Then I put my hands on her foot and she just starts saying "no no no no no no no no!" But I can't stop cause it has to be done. And I'm feeling horrible for hurting her, but I can't stop cause prolonging it will prolong the pain. I can feel crepitus.....bones grinding together....and I can hear crepitus. And Heidi is screaming while I'm pulling and turning. And I'm wishing I were doing anything but this. Anything....but I keep pulling. I'm hoping the break is clean and the bones will slide together. Crepitus and pulling and then......

the bones slide together and Heidi yells "Stop right there!" And I look at her and she isn't so white. And her grimace is less, she's looking more relaxed.

And her foot is turning pink. I'm so utterly relieved.

Now I'm stuck holding her foot in this position. While all of this is happening, the phone is ringing and ringing but I can't answer it. And I know its S&R and they are freaking out cause I'm not answering.

So I tell Heidi that I have to let go of her foot, but the second I do she is in complete pain again.

I hold on. And think.

Here's what I come up with....I prop it and pad it. And then I take an Ace and wrap it around her ankle. Pull the Ace towards me to figure out the tension that makes her comfortable and rig some rocks to hold the tension.

I let go and she's comfortable. And I'm relieved.

So I call back S&R. The coordinator answers and is obviously relieved to hear my voice. I immediately give him the same rundown I gave 911 but with a few more details......

Heidi Strow, 30. Decreased CSM that has been stabilized. Needs to get out soon.

He says, "About how long do you think it took you to hike up to that spot?"

I say 1 1/2 hours.......

he says it will take them three. But I already knew we'd be here for hours. It's already been half an hour.

So I head back to talk to Heidi to see how she's doing, and we decide to snap some shots.


Brave faces....Heidi has just been put into traction.


She was an awesome patient....kept it calm the whole time.


So if you look closely.....start from Heidi and work your way up. You can see her slide track. It's easily 75 feet from the top.


MacGuyver's got nothin on me.

So while she's waiting....I'm communicating with S&R. I'm putting up markers to make us more visible.....

I use my emergency blanket....you know the 8x8 silver space blanket....as a marker by draping it over a rock at the top of the ridgeline. My purple fleece and red water bottle are in the middle of the snowfield where they will be highly visible. I am running 50 feet up the ridgeline every 10 minutes to look for people on the lower trail.

We talk a lot. A lot. We were alone for almost two hours.

More to come......