Summit Fever

When you're doing a long climb, or even just a long hike, "summit fever" is a real problem. It's a pretty easy trap to fall into. You've been through so much, trudged ahead for so long, and you are so close, that you get it in your head that this is it, dammit, I'm gonna make it, no matter what.

That mindset leads people to do stupid things and take risks they normally wouldn't. The classic problem is being close to the top of a mountain, but knowing that storms are coming in. The rational decision is to turn around, but your brain has summit fever, so you can't even imagine turning around this close to the top. People die this way in the mountains.

My own personal summit fever is striking on my living room expedition. Since I can use the crutches more easily now, and even drive a car, I feel like it's time to get back to life. Specifically, get back to work. I am not allowed to drive while on Vicodin; technically, that's DUI. And it's a good rule, too, because Vicodin definitely messes me up.

So, all I needed to do was stop taking Vicodin, and I could drive myself to work! Simple! I did just that, and it turned out I wasn't quite ready for it. I was at work for five or six hours, got some things done, and then realized I really needed to head home and take some damn Vicodin. My leg was hurting and the lower half was numb. Evidently, sitting in a non-lazy boy chair is too much exertion for me.

It's sad, really. It's not like my job is physically demanding. I don't clock in and wrestle bears for eight hours. The vast majority of my day is sitting in a chair and typing. It's pretty humbling that I am not up to that level of exertion yet.

But I am close. Saw the physical therapist yesterday, and he wiggled my leg back and forth and had me do various stretches. My hip moves a LOT more than I thought it would, which was great. On the other hand, the very simple exercises we did left me desperate for the Vicodin again. Sigh.

The good thing is that I can do work from home. I actually got quite a bit done in the last few days. I have a connection into work and can do some programming and simulations, and I can work on presentations and whatnot. Tomorrow I have a couple of meetings, and I'm going to go in for them. But then I'm heading straight back into Vicodin land.

So, although I'm really close to the summit, right now it's time to hunker down in the tent and wait for the storms to pass. That summit isn't going anywhere...