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We had a nice little weekend of hiking planned. Emphasis on had. We planned to enjoy Bassi Falls a bit longer, then do a few more short hikes in the area, then spend the night further south in the Central Valley (Saturday Night Halfway!) to set a day of fun hiking visiting more waterfalls on Sunday, then home Sunday night to rest on holiday Monday— but also get out for hiking in the region, either in the mountains or down at the coast.
Well, all those plans got shot to shit when Hawk got hurt on the Bassi Falls hike Saturday afternoon. Instead of enjoying Bassi Falls longer we cut it short to head back to the car. Hawk was in a lot of pain after something in her leg "popped". I took her pack, and even though she already had a cane it was a struggle just to shuffle-step the 1/2 mile or so back up to the car.
We weren't sure what "popped". It clearly wasn't a bone. It seemed like a muscle or tendon problem, or maybe a pinched nerve. The weird thing was she didn't fall or slip or bang into anything. She just took a step... and "pop"!
Back at the car the problem at least wasn't getting worse. There was no swelling. The pain was still intense. Hawk decided she needed to see an urgent care medical clinic, as this problem wasn't of the "walk it off" variety. Oddly the cell reception we had around the falls wasn't available at the trailhead. I nursed our 4x4 back down the dirt road 2 miles to pavement, where there was still no cell coverage. We started driving back out, as we knew that getting medical care would mean heading back down the mountain toward Sacramento.
Minutes later Hawk had enough signal to look up urgent care clinics. She located one in Cameron Park. It was still about an hour away but right on our route home.
We got to the clinic around 3pm. We filled out paperwork for what seemed like an interminable amount of time before seeing a physician. Yay, critical medical care still being sold as a luxury good by for-profit business!
Anyway, once we saw the PA, she was almost as mystified by the problem as we were. She largely ruled out that it could be a blood clot— a possibility that we considered and worried about— because the symptoms and risk factors weren't present. It wasn't a completely torn tendon (or other soft tissue) because Hawk still was able to move her foot in all directions, just with lots of pain in some motions. That left our hypothesis of a partly torn tendon or muscle. The small clinic did not have an ultrasound machine to investigate further.
We left the clinic with instructions for RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. That struck me as the medical term for one level up from "walk it off". It was also a non-answer; just a way to minimize risks until Hawk could get better medical attention after the 3-day holiday weekend.
We drove the rest of the way home Saturday afternoon/evening. With a stop along the way for dinner we got in before 8. Hawk called the hotel we were planning to stay to see if they'd refund our payment. The cheerful person on the phone said no, there's no cancellation for having to go to the hospital. Update: by Monday morning a refund appeared!
Well, all those plans got shot to shit when Hawk got hurt on the Bassi Falls hike Saturday afternoon. Instead of enjoying Bassi Falls longer we cut it short to head back to the car. Hawk was in a lot of pain after something in her leg "popped". I took her pack, and even though she already had a cane it was a struggle just to shuffle-step the 1/2 mile or so back up to the car.
We weren't sure what "popped". It clearly wasn't a bone. It seemed like a muscle or tendon problem, or maybe a pinched nerve. The weird thing was she didn't fall or slip or bang into anything. She just took a step... and "pop"!
Back at the car the problem at least wasn't getting worse. There was no swelling. The pain was still intense. Hawk decided she needed to see an urgent care medical clinic, as this problem wasn't of the "walk it off" variety. Oddly the cell reception we had around the falls wasn't available at the trailhead. I nursed our 4x4 back down the dirt road 2 miles to pavement, where there was still no cell coverage. We started driving back out, as we knew that getting medical care would mean heading back down the mountain toward Sacramento.
Minutes later Hawk had enough signal to look up urgent care clinics. She located one in Cameron Park. It was still about an hour away but right on our route home.
We got to the clinic around 3pm. We filled out paperwork for what seemed like an interminable amount of time before seeing a physician. Yay, critical medical care still being sold as a luxury good by for-profit business!
Anyway, once we saw the PA, she was almost as mystified by the problem as we were. She largely ruled out that it could be a blood clot— a possibility that we considered and worried about— because the symptoms and risk factors weren't present. It wasn't a completely torn tendon (or other soft tissue) because Hawk still was able to move her foot in all directions, just with lots of pain in some motions. That left our hypothesis of a partly torn tendon or muscle. The small clinic did not have an ultrasound machine to investigate further.
We left the clinic with instructions for RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. That struck me as the medical term for one level up from "walk it off". It was also a non-answer; just a way to minimize risks until Hawk could get better medical attention after the 3-day holiday weekend.
We drove the rest of the way home Saturday afternoon/evening. With a stop along the way for dinner we got in before 8. Hawk called the hotel we were planning to stay to see if they'd refund our payment. The cheerful person on the phone said no, there's no cancellation for having to go to the hospital. Update: by Monday morning a refund appeared!
