Helmut and Susanne were visiting for the weekend. We had a late start on Sunday so not much choice in mountains. The Grosser Mythen is easy to get to, doable in a short afternoon and not too difficult while still offering a very nice trail and spectacular views. Thus I was headed there for the second time in a week. Still cool, as this time around we had a sea of clouds below us and the first snow of the year.
I had the fifth round of surgery within the last twelve months on Monday. They tried to fix my finger a little better by shortening the tendon, cutting away scar tissue, removing the metal braces and scraping out the joint. Apparently it was such an exciting procedure that my therapist asked permission to watch. She took a bunch of pictures and I now have a disgusting slideshow of images from the inside of my hand. Unfortunately it didn't help very much - the finger is still very much blocked in the joint. This time around I didn't take the anesthesia well. I always have a very low pulse, which I understand is usually a good sign if you manage good blood pressure at the same time. But after surgery it was so low that whenever I was about to fall asleep in the night I got violently dizzy and woke up again. Sleep deprivation torture. Kept me up all night. The next day I went to see the surgeon for changing bandages and nearly passed out. He measured a pulse of just below 40 beats per minute...
A few days later on Friday my brother Torsten flew in from Germany for a weekend visit. Weather turned out to be perfect and I was feeling a bit better again. So we decided to hike up the Grosser Mythen. A safe and not very strenuous mountain I know from several previous trips. It was insanely crowded. There must have been hundreds of people on the short (~900m elevation gain) trail and summit. Still beautiful though. The mountain is freestanding and offers sweeping 360 degree views.
I had to hold up my hand all the way to avoid additional swelling. On the way down I fumbled with my hiking pole and kicked down a fist sized piece of rock. It picked up speed and tumbled and jumped across several switchbacks below us. Luckily it didn't hit anyone. If you've been there that day I apologize. It was very much not my intention.
Anyway, we made it back to the car. Except for a mild pulsating pain and a tiny little bit of fresh blood in the bandages I was doing OK. We spend the rest of the weekend playing board games, going on walks and generally catching up on our respective lives. Good times!
PS: Typing blog posts with six fingers and wearing a splint sucks!
