084 THE BEGINNING OF, ALMOST THE END (PART 2)

Over the next couple of days, everything was fine.  My right ankle was still sore, but there were no symptoms or pain from my left foot.  I still had no idea of the extent of the injury to my left foot.  The next day we took the boat out for a cruise around the lake and I am still walking around in bare feet, except when we did our walks down the logging road and then I would wear my runners.  This is also significant as I later learned, that running shoes are breeding grounds for bacteria.

July 8^th rolls around and we didn’t get to take the boat out yesterday or today because there is a major wildfire burning in Ashcroft and the smoke is pouring into the lake area and reducing visibility to near zero.  This is the first time Renee has experienced the smoke at the lake, but for me it is eerily like the McClure/Barriere wildfire in 2003.

Renee is due to leave tomorrow and I’ll be driving her into Kamloops to meet the Greyhound.  She must be back to work on Monday.  We were trying to time it so that Renee would be in Kamloops for her departure, while at the same time my daughter Tamara and her boyfriend Stephen would be arriving.  This would save me making two trips into Kamloops in two days. My son Karl and his girlfriend Lizeth would be arriving by car later in the week and hi old friend Mat and his girlfriend would be arriving a day after them.  We had a fun week planned.  Little did I know that we would be going to Kamloops far earlier than that and for a far different reason.

In the morning my left foot had been hurting, so a put a large Band-Aid over it and taped it with adhesive tape to keep it on.  We continued with our normal routine.  Late in the afternoon, I decided to take some photos of the Humming Birds at the feeder.  They had been swarming it, but were very skittish this year.  I took the screen out of the front window and laid down inside on my recliner holding the camera.  I was ready.  The humming birds weren’t.  I use a Nikon D4s with a 600-mm lens and the whole combination is heavy, around 20 pounds.  I sat like that for two hours and didn’t get a shot.

Suddenly my left shoulder and mid back went into severe spasm and from there I went into full on hypothermia and could not stop shivering.  It was 31C out and I had 4 blankets on me but could not get warm.  My head was pounding, and I felt like puking.  I was in bad shape and I knew I was in real trouble.

My left foot was now hurting as was my right ankle.  Renee looked at my foot and was shocked to see what it looked like.  So much so, that she took a photo of it.  During the day the tape and Band-Aid had slipped further down my foot and you can see the tape in the photo.  I begged Renee to call 9-1-1 and get an ambulance.

MY FOOT MINUTES BEFORE AMBULANCE ARRIVED

They finally arrived 45 minutes to an hour later, having come all the way from Clearwater.  They loaded me up and we headed for Kamloops Royal Inland Hospital.  When we hit the highway in Barriere and they flipped on the lights and siren, I really knew I was in trouble.  From there, I don’t remember too much.  I don’t remember the trip from Barriere to Kamloops or even arriving in hospital.

After arriving at emergency, I was fading in and out of consciousness, but I distinctly remember spinning around and around in a large black basin like a toilet.  I was literally going down the drain.  I remember reaching out and grabbing something and holding on for dear life.  It may have been someone’s hand, but I don’t know.  I do remember my Mom coming to me again.  It wasn’t as long a meeting this time, but she delivered the same message, “it’s not your time you have to go back”.  Mom had passed away in 1992 and so the visit with her was significant.  I had been visited by her once before in 1996 when I was almost killed after crashing my patrol car during a chase.  I’m told that I woke up for a short time, which was right after her visit, although I do not remember that at all.