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XP Deus HF Outing 4 Cancelled


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Last week we had a brief cooling spell in sunny Yuma so I took the opportunity to get out with the Deus again.  I was scouting a new area wearing my typical Yuma attire, shorts and T-Shirt and had not yet put on my gear and most regrettably had not put on my knee pads.  I was pushing up through some steep terrain with loose gravel and big rocks.  I took a wrong step and had one of those slow motion thoughts about this not ending well.  It seems that gravity has some fairly predictable adverse effects on short, chubby, 62 yr old detectorists traversing tricky ground.  I made roughly 3 rotations on the way down, coming to rest against some nasty rocks.  As I lay there gathering my wits and waiting for pain to alert me to any major injuries, I wondered, not for the first time, why I do this, especially all alone.  Nevertheless, I picked myself up and found I was bleeding pretty good from a puncture in fat part of my right palm.  Then, I felt a searing pain from my right hamstring across my butt cheek to my scotumus maximus.  Not cut mind you, just internal wrenching.  I assume that's what the NFL calls a "groin strain".  So I hobbled to safety and set about to stop the bleeding in my palm.  It was only then that I noticed my left knee bleeding pretty good as well.  I got some wound wash and squirted the knee clean, muttering "that's going to leave a mark".  Since I didn't have the services of our favorite medic VANursePaul, I figured I better let the professionals at this one.  I had my son take me to Sunny Yuma Regional Medical Center ER.  Fairly quick work, XRays all negative, hand, knee and hip.  10 stitches in the knee, a script for Vicodin and I was on my way in just over 2 hrs.  I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to mix my favorite analgesic "Dago Red" with the Vicodin, but the words "alcohol my intensify effect" seemed to suggest otherwise. 

So, last night I removed the last of the stitches and the knee feels fine, if not a little tender.  The palm wound is still really sore and the "groin strain" is a killer.  I walked a 1/4 mile this morning on flat blacktop in my neighborhood and the hamstring feels like an ice pick punching through my butt cheek to my nether regions.  I'm losing my mind being hobbled and not outside outsmarting some gold nuggets.  We have a bit of a cooling trend over the next few days, highs in the low 90's, so I'll be back at it, albeit a little slower and a little more careful. 

Hopefully, good news later this week on the rescheduled outing 4 with the Deus HF.  So until then, as Sgt Esterhaus on Hill Street Blues used to say,  "let's be careful out there". 

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Steve

 Knowing some of the areas you hunt, you are lucky to stop at three rotations. I am surprised there aren't some pictures of puncture wounds from the unfriendly vegetation there.

                        Hope you heal soon Norm

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Trust you didn`t injure the Deus................

only kidding, hope you heal up quickly to give us a successful rescheduled mission 4 report. 

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Dang Condor...that really could have ended very much worse.

On the lighter side, Save the gun first was drilled into my brain when I started hunting...now, it is save the detector.

I am glad you were able to walk out on your own power.

heal quick

fred

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Wow!  I ditto Steve's thought about not 'liking' your post.  Can't do it.

I do like the fact you have some sense of humor about it and that it was not worse.  I've been to your areas and I was scared of the loose gravel so much that I was in a three point stance (one hand or detector on the ground) much of the time.

Thanks for the post and reminding me that at any age it hurts when you fall and tumble on rocks that hold gold.

Mitchel

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Jeez; Steve what with all that went on down in sunny yuma last winter when we were down there with you and crazy paul and now this , i thinks it's time for you to pack up and head north to some safer hunting grounds for the summer ,i need you  to be in good shape next winter.

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Everyone always asks "How did it happen" Not that many can say I was hunting for gold... I'll bet the the doctor and nurses got a few good stories out of you... Heal up and get back at it. 

strick

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Thanks for all the kind words boys.  There is a minor upside to this mishap.  I broke down and bought myself a Kindle Paperwhite E reader to pass the time.  A marvelous product for us shut-ins.  You don't need a reading lamp and I can adjust the font so that reading glasses are unnecessary.  I had cataract surgery this spring and while my distance vision is now extraordinary, the implants can't really correct for close up work.  I have reading glasses scattered around the house, never where I need them.  I have been enjoying the fabulous works of Patrick O'Brien, Lucky Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin series.  Over the past 10 years I have read this series at least 3 times through and enjoy it more each time I read. 

I am packing my gear for an overnighter with a little largemouth bass fishing and minor gold prospecting on tap here on the Colorado River.  I did an evening 1/2 mile walk with some discomfort in the stitched knee and tolerable pain in the groin strain.  Fresh air and sunshine are sure to speed my recovery. 

By mid June I'll be heading up north to CA gold country and probably Rye Patch.  Hopefully, I'll catch up with some of you then. 

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