Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness New Mexico

Step On A Crack

Break Your Mother's Back

 

I took over 500 pictures when I was visiting Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness so there will be several blog post dedicated to this. 

Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness was such a special time for me and it was the beginning of recovery.  It was my first long hike.  In the first part of July I broke my back. This started a chain of events in my life and most of which was beneficial. One of them was I learned to gauge my pain by my blood pressure. I actually bought a monitor.  I learned the fracture was caused by a weak spot in my back due to 20 plus years of osteoporosis that is now osteopenia.  I probably have other weak areas.  The most important event was finding a new doctor that supports me and my decisions that I make with his advice.  

I am one of those people who doesn't react to pain by crying, moaning and groaning. Unless it creeps up on me unexpectedly.  I acknowledge it and try to work around it, over it, through it... I will say this now, it hurt like hell. My housework suffered. I couldn't make the bed, sweep the floor... My giggle was the few times I actually fell and landed on the floor is when I noticed how dirty my floor was. Several times my BP was 200 over something... I got through all of this without chemicals. Two weeks after the break I was hiking. Maybe a one mile hike is not much but I celebrated. Then I continued. The irony is there are some who think I am a hypochondriac because of the way I deal with pain. The X-rays don't lie. I still have bad days but they are getting fewer. 

There were restrictions and because I am scared I continue a lot of these restrictions that maybe I shouldn't. It was a worrisome time.  The end of July I was carefully hiking Colorado. At the end of August I was hiking Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness. Yay!!!!  My doctor told me I had to keep my backpack weight down. Usually it weighs over 15 pounds when I am seriously hiking. So I just carried water and very little food. The temps were 90 to 100 degrees. The total miles was 7, which is good under the circumstances. I was in pain but at least I wasn't falling and I wasn't hiking alone. I was paying attention to my body and what I needed to do. I found shade and I rested. I was not putting myself in jeopardy.

My goal is to return to Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, hike it again, alone. I want to bring my flute, my rug, and just embrace the spirituality of this wonderful place. I also want to do it in cooler weather. 

I will be working on Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness pictures and posting them later.