Healing From a Broken Body

March 28, 2016Learning, UncategorizedColoradotriman

It’s been a little over 90 days since I fell out of the sky and landed at the bottom of a drained swimming pool while paragliding near Crucita, Ecuador. I recall knowing that I was going to crash but the details are still a bit fuzzy. It happened quickly – wind speed increased and changed direction and next thing I know I was strapped to a stretcher en route to a hospital in Portoviejo. The accident happened on the afternoon of December 23rd and it was a couple of days before I understood the extent of my injuries. Although I took a blow to my upper back, fortunately, the extent of spinal injury was a couple of minor compression fractures that have now fully healed but my left foot, right wrist, and right elbow didn’t fare so well. My left heel (Calcaneus) was broken into 3 pieces, a compound fracture left my right wrist in fragments, and my right arm was broken just below the elbow.

Being hospitalized in a foreign country with a language barrier was yet another experience. While the care was ultimately good (and free), patience was necessary and communication was difficult. The hospital did not have MRI or tomography capabilities and the X-ray equipment was not working so I was transported to multiple facilities for diagnostic services. If I remember correctly, I was carted to 3 different clinics before finally hearing my verdict – two surgeries would be required – one for the wrist and arm and a second for the foot but “parts” had to be ordered from Quito before the foot surgery could be performed. Given the language barrier, I never really understood what “parts” were needed but I eventually determined that it must have been something needed to fix the X-ray equipment in the OR as no special “parts” were installed in my body – just some stainless steel wire and “pins” that were carefully handcrafted and set by the orthopedic surgeon nearly 2 weeks after the accident.

For the first week in the hospital, I was almost entirely immobile. About 3 days after the accident I managed to get myself out of bed and “hop” to the restroom but even that proved challenging with hard splints on opposite extremities. It was a humbling experience. For the first time in my life, I was entirely dependent on others to meet basic human needs like going to the bathroom and taking a shower and, “others” were complete strangers including family members of other patients in the hospital ward. Obviously, I was a bit relieved when Brenda came to retrieve me and get me back to familiar surroundings.

While I know many people have had similar injuries or may suffer from crippling diseases, I’d managed to make it through 49 years without a broken bone and wasn’t sure exactly what “recovery” would look like. The doctor in Ecuador told me that the bones would take 6-8 weeks to mend but failed to mention that that would really just be the beginning of the recovery period.

When I returned to Colorado, I met with the same orthopedic surgeon that kept both my dad and mom mobile in spite of their accidents and disabilities. He examined my injuries, took some new X-rays and said three things: First, he said “that’s the way we used to do it” then he said “the doctor in Ecuador did a pretty good job – everything appears to be in alignment and the bones will heal” then he followed up with “you’ll feel this for the rest of your life but you’re as stubborn and strong as your dad and mom so this won’t keep you down for long”.

Three weeks in a wheel chair followed by three weeks on a knee scooter then three weeks on crutches, and I’m now walking again. My pace is “old man” and each step still hurts but each step is one step closer to regaining full mobility. Range of motion in the wrist and elbow is still pretty limited. I can type but auto correct is going crazy given that I’m retraining my fingers and hand to move again. It’s probably a good thing that I’m not working right now as physical therapy has become a full time job consisting of 4-6 hours a day swimming, pedaling, using various elliptical trainers, walking, climbing stairs, and light weight training followed by rest, ice, heat, compression, and elevation to get the swelling down so I could use the foot and arm some more and do it all over again. Thanks to some exceptional early Spring weather, I’ve even been able to do some “mountain therapy” – i.e.. easy trail hiking. Massage & Chiropractic have also been a huge help!

I feel very fortunate. The crash was bad but things could have been much worse and Brenda and I are excited to be on a plane heading back to South America to continue the “mountain therapy”. We arrive in Cuzco, Peru tomorrow where we’ll meet up with friends Pat & Kathi and will travel by bus into the Sacred Valley on Monday. On Tuesday, our plan is to follow in the footsteps of the ancient Incas by hiking the last two segments of the Salkantay Trek into Aguas Callientes and early Wednesday morning, we plan to hike the last segment of the Inca Trail into Machu Picchu to witness the sunrise over the citadel.

While we’re excited to progress with our travel plans, we’ve also appreciated our time back in Colorado! We spent some time with my parents in Colorado Springs, some time with Brenda’s mom in Iowa, and quite a bit of time in NOCO with our friends Lisa, Bob, and Vohn. We made the best of the situation. We discovered several great bakeries and eateries in the Loveland/Fort Collins area including “Me oh My Coffee & Pie” in LaPorte, “Snooze” in Ft. Collins, and Mary’s Mountain Cookies in both Loveland & Ft. Collins. We sampled microbrews at O’Dells, Coopersmiths, New Belgium, Ft. Collins Brewing, Big Thompson Brewing, Grimm Brothers, Snowbank brewing, Loveland Aleworks, and Spring 44 Distillery. We walked along the Big Thompson River (me on Crutches), hiked up Horsetooth Mountain (very slowly), and discovered the beautiful views along the Devils Backbone trail. I relived some college memories from my days in Fort Collins by “hobbling” around the CSU campus, “studying” at C.B. & Potts, and having a beer at the “Drunken Monkey”. We experienced a “Rocky Mountain Traffic Jam” in Estes Park and spent a night at the historic Stanley Hotel while watching the Shining. We binge-watched all seven seasons of the West Wing and spent a whole weekend playing Settlers of Catan with friends Eric, Dylan, and Vohn. We went to the Chilson Rec Center in Loveland almost daily (sometimes twice a day) for exercise, therapy, and yoga. Brenda studied a bit of French and I studied a bit more Spanish and we both did a few minor projects helping our friends get their house ready for market and sale. We caught the Chocolate Exhibit at the Denver Museum of Natural History, went to the Fire & Ice Valentines Day Festival in Loveland, and we attended “Frozen Dead Guy Days” in Nederland – check out www.frozendeadguydays.org for the story on the history and shenanigans of this world famous event!

So while we’re a bit sad to have missed our planned 2-month stay in Cuenca, Ecuador and, while I hope not to break any more body parts, the past few months have been part of the grand adventure and a bit of a learning experience. We’ve enjoyed spending time with friends and family, making new friends, discovering new places, and re-discovering ourselves. Looking forward to see what the next year brings.

Breaking Away

Breaking away from the rat race takes courage. It takes the same courage that it took to break into it in the first place.

Think back to your childhood when life was one big adventure. In our early years, most of us wanted to learn, to work, and to play in pretty equal amounts, but as we became adults we were introduced to the concept of the “American Dream”. We were sold the idea of success and of setting goals and making sure we achieved them.

Although not all have gone down that path, many of us did and, at least for a while, it seemed like the right thing to do. While basic education was pretty much mandatory, at some point, we were encouraged to choose a career and accept responsibilities.

My wife Brenda and I were no exception. Until recently, we were following the path that “society” created for us. We set our career goals, acquired the appropriate education, and have since applied pretty much all of our physical and mental energy to gain distance along that path.

The problem is that we don’t really know where that path is going.

That may sound a bit strange as most of us think we have a future in our current jobs or careers. We assume that as long as we stay dedicated and keep up with new technologies, our career will be there for us until we don’t need it any longer. We even gain some short term and long term satisfactions from meeting those goals. But in reality we can find ourselves unemployed, broke, unhealthy, or completely disengaged at any time along the way.

Breaking free from the rat race – How do you change it?

I believe that a new injection of courage is the answer.

When you embarked on your current career, I’m guessing you felt confident you could do the job. You may not have known everything, but you figured it out – you learned what you needed to and took a few risks. You quite possibly told a prospective employer that you could do something you hadn’t done before, just because you had faith in your own dedication and ability to learn what was needed to to get the job done. You demonstrated fearless courage!

Fast forward to where you’re at now – do you still have that courage?

Choose to do what it takes

Whether you want to change careers, retire early, learn a new language, or travel the world, all it takes is the same courage you had when you began your present occupation. Wherever you are now, you had to work to get there – you had to choose to do what it takes.

The same can be said for your next adventure – you just have to choose what you want to do and believe in yourself.

That said, some proper planning and action can help. Here are some tips that we’ve found helpful as we’ve been preparing for our early retirement.

1) Stop rewarding yourself for useless accomplishments

Stop going out for expensive dinners to compensate yourself for a hard weeks work just because you think you deserve it. A home cooked meal can be cheaper, healthier, and maybe even more fun to prepare. Don’t buy that new car just because you can, especially when your current one is working fine.

Ask yourself this question each time you contemplate an extravagant expense:

“Is this purchase worth my freedom?”

If the answer is “yes” then that is OK – it means that you value the experience and you should go ahead and treat yourself. But if the answer is “no” then save your money for the bigger reward.

2) Allow yourself to dream a little

Picture yourself in a different reality and start dreaming. If you like what you see, take some action towards making it possible. Take practical steps just as you did when you set out to do whatever it is you are doing now.

3) Downsize and minimize

We don’t own stuff – stuff owns us. Everything requires maintenance and maintenance costs money. Many of us have heard the saying that the two happiest days in a boat owner’s life, is the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it! We have found this to be true of almost everything we’ve owned.

Again, if your stuff makes you happy, by all means keep it, but if you’re not happy, consider parting with it. For us, less stuff equals freedom.

4) Don’t listen to the nay sayers

The world is full of people who think of all the reasons something can’t be done and they like to impose their reasoning on you. Some of these people may even be your closest friends and family. Do them a favor and don’t get on their boat – maintain your courage and inspire them to join you.

5) Build your faith

A good friend once told me that faith is like a muscle. If you don’t work at building it, it will atrophy and disappear. To me, faith is more spiritual than religious and it can be applied to anything. We can have faith in people, faith in our environment, faith in God, or faith in ourselves.

Test your boundaries with faith – take some chances and gain the rewards.

6) Si se peude

Whatever you are thinking of doing, remember this phrase “Si se puede”.

It means in Spanish, “yes it can be done” or “yes it’s possible”

So to answer my own question “can we really break free from the rat race?”

Well, we are just starting out on the next stage of our lives. We have the courage, we are building our faith and we believe that yes, it is possible. And that’s a big “yes” in any language!

“You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Living Large With Less

In the Spring of 2010 on a quickie 2 week tour of South America I visited Peru, Argentina, and Brazil with my friend Ian. Although I’d passed through a few local villages in Mexico prior to that trip, I’d never stayed in one of the small villages or visited with the inhabitants other than a brief hello/thanks when ordering a meal. In my first vacations to Mexico, we stayed at the “safe” touristy resorts, sipped coconut drinks, and surrounded ourselves with luxury for a fraction of the cost of a similar vacation in the States but on my visit to Peru, I was lucky to have been hosted by a college student named Ronnie. Ronnie and his brother shared a tiny 3 room apartment on a hillside overlooking the mystical city of Cusco yet offered to share their small space w/ a couple of gringos.

The apartment was a fair distance away from the plaza where most tourists stayed and our only mode of transportation was foot or taxi. During my brief 2 day visit with Ronnie, I learned that he was from a large family of native Peruvians who lived in the Sacred Valley between Ollyntaytambo and Macchu Picchu. Although they had some schooling, most of his siblings had never left the valley and continued to work the land. Ronnie and his brother were the first to complete school and Ronnie was about to finish a degree in tourism and hospitality from the local University and was working as a tour guide to pay his way through college. Ronnie shared his aspirations of opening a hostel in Cusco someday and also of his hope to someday travel around the world. Ronnie was an excellent host. At that time he spoke minimal English and I spoke minimal Spanish but communication was good enough to make us feel good about navigating around the city and region as a couple of gringos.

I was extremely appreciative of the hospitality received from Ronnie and his brother. They had little to offer in terms of creature comforts – ie. cold water in an RV-size bathroom, minimal space to sleep, sit, or even lay down a backpack but they offered a HUGE amount of pride in their culture, a zest for life, kindheartedness, hospitality, and a desire to make our visit an awesome experience.

When I returned to my home in Colorado, I actually felt a sense of embarrassment about the luxury I’d built around me. For the first seven years of my life my family of 3 lived in a small 450sf mobile home then we moved to a 1000sf house that seemed big but was in poor condition and needed a ton of work. At an early age I became interested in architecture and the idea of designing and building some really cool homes and have actually built my career around that. Like many people in my generation, my first home was bigger and nicer than the home I was raised in and each subsequent home was bigger and more luxurious. Although I guess I still have an appreciation for good functional design and quality workmanship and will probably want to continue designing and building nice homes, my vision of custom and luxurious has forever changed to a smaller more simplistic footprint and I’ve become interested in the tiny home movement and the concept of eco lodges.

While many of us eventually learn the lessons of placing lower values on material things as we mature, I give credit to Ronnie for helping me learn the lesson of living more happily with less as well as sharing our resources to help others achieve their dreams.

I consider myself one of the luckiest guys in the world because Brenda and I came to this realization together and took action. Our first step was to get rid of tons of stuff and downsize to a small 600sf cottage. We managed to build a second small home and create a small but adequate income stream and now we’re off to explore dream and discover for a couple of years. We’re excited that one of our first stops will be a visit to my friend Ronnie in Peru who, in just 5 years since we first met, has achieved a couple of his dreams including spending a year in Europe and opening his own Ukukus Hostel in the heart of Cuzco which quickly acquired top rankings on Trip Advisor!

Congratulations Ronnie on reaching your goals and realizing your dreams! We’re looking forward to our visit!

Winds of Change

January 7, 2016Learning, Peoplelearning, paraglidingColoradotriman

One of the goals I’d hoped to achieve on this trip was to improve my parapente skills. I’d even given some thought to the idea of logging enough hours and experience to possibly teach the sport someday. As most of you know, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I enjoy teaching and being outdoors so the thought had come to mind.

Since arriving in Crucita, I’d completed nearly 40 flights with more than 30 hours of flight time and was loving life but the enjoyment suddenly came to an end. During my 3rd flight on Wednesday 12/23, the winds suddenly increased and changed direction and I was unable to guide myself to a safe landing. The wind carried me backwards over the city and, as much as I tried to steer away from obstacles, I simply couldn’t. As I approached a home, the kite deflated and dropped me nearly 45′ into a drained pool. The PG harness (and a water bottle inside that broke) took the brunt of the backwards hit and, although my back was bruised and is still sore 2 weeks later, I’m considering it a miracle that I’m alive with no evidence of spinal injury. My mom always used to pray that the Angels would protect me. She must still be praying as I believe they did the other day!

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A Guillaume Moment

My wife Brenda and I started participating in Couchsurfing Link to our Couchsurfing Profile several years ago. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a kind of a “pay it forward hospitality exchange network” where you host travelers or may be hosted when you travel. One of our first guests was a young Frenchman named Guillaume. On his first night in our home, we struck up the dreaded political conversation that you typically avoid with friends and family members for fear of damaging your relationship. In this case, Guillaume was a stranger so the conversation was fair game.

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Something Smells Fishy Around Here

I believe I mentioned that Crucita is a small fishing village. The town is pretty small and there is not much happening except for at the port early in the morning. Apparently the boats go out around 4am and continue bringing in fish until the fishing is no longer any good – usually around 10am. I typically run past the operation around 7:30am and it seems the entire town is working. Today I took a camera along and got a closer look at the operation. I was amazed at the amount of fish and the speed at which the workers prepared them for shipping. Chop-chop-scale-scale-done!

I remember cleaning fish at my grandpas as a kid and it probably took me at least 5 minutes per filet – only about a second for these skilled workers. The fish are then cleaned in fresh water and packaged in ice for shipping. Today I learned that, on average, these workers earn about $20/day yet they were jovial and making fun out of their work. One of the purposes for this adventure is to figure out what I want to be when I grow up – Maybe a fish worker (or not)!

First Week in Ecuador

Hola from Crucita Ecuador!

I left Denver on Saturday December 5th with paraglider on my back and pack on my front with what I’m already finding to be more than I need or want to begin an 18 month journey around the world. I spent my first day in Quito, Ecuador and quickly felt at home when I discovered the Quito Incline! Not quite as intense as the Manitou Incline but a good workout from climbing more than 2000 steps about 3/4 mile up to the highest point in Quito with a great view of the City. I only stayed in Quito for a couple of days as Brenda will be meeting me there again in January.

On Tuesday I arrived in Crucita where I plan to stay for almost a month practicing my newly acquired paragliding skills and attempting to learn Spanish. On Saturday the local paragliding club in Crucita hosted a Christmas party for the kiddos in the community complete with a clown, presents, and free tandem paragliding flights for the kids that wanted to try. I assisted with the launching and even managed to get 3 flights in with nearly 1-1/2 hours combined flight time. After a week in Crucita, I’m starting to get into a routine – run in the early mornings, paragliding in the afternoons, and learning patience in dealing with power outages and antiquated internet connections.

A courageous boy who was the first to take a tandem flight.

Learning to Paraglide

December 14, 2015Learning, People, Placesfly above all, paragliding, rio hang glidingColoradotriman

Several years had passed since I’d been “airborne” in free flight but apparently my passion for soaring still exists. About 5 years ago while visiting Brazil, I signed up for a tandem hang gliding flight with Konrad from Rio Hang Gliding. Rio has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world and flying near Sugar Loaf and Corcovado with the Ocean beyond was another of my most cherished experiences. When I returned, I decided that I wanted to take up the sport but quickly found it to be logistically challenging. In addition to a requirement for near perfect air conditions, you had to be able to drive to a launch site which didn’t bode well with me so I quickly discovered that paragliding was a more practical option.

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A Love for Flying

December 13, 2015Uncategorizedcourage, fear, flyingColoradotriman

I’ve always considered myself a bit of an adventure seeker and dreamed of flying as a kid. As a teenager, I wanted to be a pilot and took an introductory flying lesson as soon as I was old enough. My dreams of becoming an airline pilot were squashed when I learned the cost of acquiring enough instruction hours to obtain a commercial pilots license. Little did I know, I would have probably spent less acquiring a pilots license than I spent attending traditional college but the other issue was that my eyesight didn’t meet commercial pilot requirements so I chose other career options.

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Mrs. Thisted

December 13, 2015LearningColoradotriman

Speaking of learning, my favorite teacher in high school was Mrs. Thisted. I was not very interested in the classes she taught – English, Drama, Writing, etc. as I was more of a math and physics kind of guy at the time but I liked her. In addition to teaching core courses, she headed up the yearbook staff and I was the photographer. I did OK in her classes as I had a pretty good knowledge of English language and vocabulary but I didn’t really like to read or write and had a bit of difficulty with those assignments. Mostly just that I wouldn’t apply myself but, over the course of a few short years, we became friends. For graduation, Mrs. Thisted gave me a very nice blank book. My first thought was “why would she give me this kind of gift – she doesn’t know me at all”

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