Turkey Mountain, Yorktown Heights, NY

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
03/17/2020	1.7 miles		370'		52

Map: Turkey Mountain Map
Parking: Locke Lane, Yorktown Heights
Directions: Blue trail out and back

This was an after work hike I wish I never took. I had brought Krummholz this time, and was hiking with him on leash. Glen was also with us. The hike has a short steep hill which is badly eroded. It can be very slippery, and this time of year, there are often leaves covering the trail. Underneath those leaves are rocks and roots. We were hiking down the hill, with Krummholz in front of us. I tripped and fell in a very awkward position. It didn't hurt too badly, but I couldn't stand up. I wasn't sure what to do, so I ended up butt scooting down the hill, with my left foot in the air, figuring that I'd twisted my ankle and would be able to stand up once I reached flat ground. Once I reached the bottom of the hill, Glen helped me up, but I still couldn't put any weight down on my foot. 

Both Glen and I had taken a wilderness first responder class. My only thought was - we have to be able to hike out by ourselves. We tried some of the techniques for walking someone out, and it didn't work at all! They must assume the person is partially weight bearing?? I tried using Glen on one side and a trekking pole on the other side, and hopping, but that was exhausting. I was also carrying a backpack with 20+ pounds of weight, because I was training for a couple of backpacking trips. I didn't think about getting rid of the weight (I was carrying several bottles of water, each of which weigh 2+ pounds). Dumping the water would have helped some. I went back on the ground to rest. We waited for a while, and then a young man came down the hill, the last person on the trail besides us. He and Glen tried to carry me for a while, again using one of the techniques we learned in our wilderness first responder class. Again with me still carrying my 20+ pound pack! Ugh! The young guy did great, but it was exhausting for Glen. It was also hard for me. It was uncomfortable, and challenging to hold onto them. They had to put me down a few times to rest. Eventually the young man called 911. Why had we not thought about doing that in the first place? I am so grateful for this guy for helping us out.

They continued to try carrying me, while we waited for help. We were joined by paramedics, police, and a fireman (dressed to put out a fire). I was lucky in that I was only a mile from the trailhead. And the trailhead was maybe 3 miles from a fire station and not much more to the police department. These folks were so kind to me. Offered me narcotics (I declined because I wasn't hurting too badly), water, blankets. A helicopter was also sent out. No, I didn't get a helicopter ride out, but by this time it was dark, so the helicopter shined a light down, to help illuminate the ground for the folks carrying me out. It took them around an hour to get me down the mountain. I was asked if it was okay to carry me, or if I wanted to wait for a kitty. I had them carry me for a while (same technique that we learned in our first responder class). It was still hard for me, and I needed to be put down to rest periodically. Then someone showed up with a kitty. Oh thank dog for the kitty. It was so much more comfortable. It was still very challenging for the people carrying me out - not just the weight of the kitty, but they were hiking me off trail to a power cut. I practiced carrying a kitty in my class - it was heavy, but we practiced carrying it on a nice grass lawn - not the same! They drove an ATV up the power cut and loaded me in a lying down position on the back. Going down the mountain in the ATV was painful. The power cut was muddy and bumpy, and each time there was a jolt, my ankle hurt a lot. The paramedics, police, and fireman were great. This was the start of the pandemic's impact in NY, when we were supposed to be social distancing (but no one was wearing masks). They took care of me & even made me laugh. 

At the bottom, they loaded me into an ambulance to take me to the hospital. The man in the back of the ambulance was also in IT I believe. He also was a hiker. He and I spent the ride to the hospital talking about hiking. He laughed at the fact I was using Turkey Mountain to train for a backpacking trip in the Smokies. Yeah, I know they aren't the same, but this was just a weekday hike. 

At the hospital I was masked for the first time. I was x-rayed, and told I had broken all 3 bones in my ankle. The surgeon told me my ankle was a hot mess. The next step was to give me morphine and re-align my bones. This part was the most painful part of all. It took multiple doses of morphine, and multiple realignments to get it right. The nurses kept reminding me to breathe. While in the emergency room, I heard of an arrival of someone who was short of breath. Covid. Ugh. They put a temporary cast on me and sent me home. 

The next day I was operated on in a surgery center, which was much safer than being at the hospital. I think I was the only patient at the surgery center! Maybe by then, elective surgeries were cancelled. The surgery went fine, and I had minimal pain due to the nerve block and pain killers. It was an easy surgery. 

Recovery was challenging. The first week and a half, I only went between my bedroom and bathroom. After that, I added in a second bedroom. At 2 weeks, I visited the kitchen for the first time. I also got my cast removed and replaced with a boot, and graduated to a knee scooter. At 6 weeks I was able to start doing partial weight bearing, and started physical therapy. Total time for full recovery is estimated to be 12 months. I should be able to hike before then, but not be at 100%. The hardest part of recovery was not pain - it was the mental aspect. Yes there was some pain - it was very challenging for weeks to just be in a sitting position, because blood with pool in my leg and turn my foot purple. At first I could only tolerate it for a few seconds. I spent so many weeks lying in bed with my knee elevated. I would say in the first 3 months, I was uncomfortable all of the time, but rarely in pain. Keeping myself sane mentally was very tough. Yes, I felt sorry for myself! Dealing with disappointment, depression, covid stress, etc. got to be a lot. I dug myself into work to distract me.

At some point, I was able to learn to use crutches to go down the 2 steps from our house into our yard. Glen installed raised beds in our yard, so I could start a garden. I'd go out there every day to look after it. I had to learn how to sit down on the ground and stand up again with crutches. That was very hard - sometimes involving butt scooting across the yard until I could get somewhere where it was easier to stand up. I also got so that I could get my scooter out onto our front door stoop, put the break on, and throw frisbees for the dogs from it. Being outside was the best thing for my mental health. I also took up sourdough bread baking. In mid-summer I took up watercolor painting. More things to distract me from not hiking.