How My Priest Made Me A Cripple

In my previous post, I mentioned my bum leg resulting from the Rainbow Falls/Bull Head/Old Sugarlands hike.

The motto of the hike, in my perspective, was "it's mind over matter." That is true to a point, yes. However I did not fully explain the driving force that kept me going. So here it goes...

When I unfortunately realized that something had gone awry with my right leg, I stopped. Excuse the inaccurate medical terminology, but I'm no doctor. Anyway, it felt like my femur or "hip" (yes, I know, your hip can't pop out) had popped out of the socket or something. Obviously, that was not the case as I could still walk on it, albeit gingerly.

I told Fr. Christian about the recent development. He said, "Try and put it back in place." Much to my amusement, and his, I tried to put whatever it was that had popped out of place back into place. Nothing worked. We walked for a few more minutes when I finally decided that I could not go on. "I don't think I can make it!" cried poor little Ashley.

Fr. Christian, my priest and dear friend, made me a cripple with the following statement, "Yes you can! It's mind over matter." Begrudgingly, I trudged along in the back of the group for the rest of the hike. I was never given the option of turning around. Thinking back, I would not have wanted to turn around and not finish the hike. If it were not for FC, I would not have found the motivation to keep going. He's a good friend to have the faith that I would finish and to believe in me. Still...

Walking uphill hurt like hell. Each step was painful, especially when I would hoist myself up a rather large rock with the wrong leg. Even better though, was my uncanny ability to trip over every damn rock and tree root on the trails.

We finished our hike around 6 that Friday night. On Sunday afternoon, I finally decided that I should have my leg checked out. I went to the emergency room. The x-ray was all good, said the doctor. He believed that the pain came from a ligament between my pelvis and femur that was all wonky. I'll believe that.

The discharge report said, "You have a sprained joint. This means there is a tear in the ligaments that hold the joint together. Severe sprains often need 3-6 weeks to heal completely."

For obvious reasons, Fr. Christian and I won't be having a hike for a few weeks. Once my bum leg gets better, we'll be back out on the trails.

My leg doesn't hurt that much anymore. I know that hiking comes with the added risks of injury. Fr. Christian and our friend Fr. David have told me about their numerous aches and pains during their Appalachian Trail hikes. After this incident and upon hearing stories of far worse injuries, I feel that I am better prepared to embrace any future injuries while hiking.

I just never figured that my priest would make me a cripple on our first hike. To that, all I can say is lol.

Stay tuned!