3 - 10th August
Hi All,
Well after last weeks epic I really haven’t a lot to tell you this week.
It has been bitterly cold on station this week with temperatures reaching more than -30 degrees and winds of 111 knots. It has been seriously cold. It may be spring in Oz, but not down here.
I have had a bit of a broken wing this week. I had to have a quarter zone injection in my right elbow Tuesday so have been out of any serious action for most of the rest of the week. I hurt my right arm back around May some time while riding the quad over to Robbo’s on a particularly grueling, rough terrain trip. If you remember my dash back to station trying to get home while keeping in front of the blizzard then you will know the trip I mean.
Anyway, the arm has never really healed and has actually gotten worse with lots of time spent in the kitchen and all the lifting and climbing and the rest of it I do down here. On traverse it got to the stage where I was in pain constantly and by the time I got home I barley had strength left in it to lift my toolbox. The doc had diagnosed Tennis Elbow about a month ago. So I went back to see him and he ended up having to inject quarter zone. Not a very pleasant experience I can assure you! But after almost 5 days it is starting to come good. It will be good as gold again soon – fingers crossed.
I remarked to Andrew the other day that being down here is a young man’s game and I am neither! Ha ha. I have had more injuries down here than I think I have had in my combined lifetime before now. I am sure most of it has to do with performing very physical work in extremely cold conditions for long periods of time. The body just doesn’t act well under those circumstances.
Three weeks ago I dislocated the middle finger on my left hand. No one was around at the time so I had to wrench it back into place myself with my right hand and set it right. Man that was painful!!! I don’t want to have to do that again in a hurry I can assure you. It took about four days to come good, but is fine now.
I have fallen backwards on blue ice and nearly cracked my skull open twice this year. Both times I saw stars and ended up with a nasty headache. I have fallen over in deep snow on rocks and bashed and bruised myself. I have slipped off the side of icy rocks and come tumbling to a screaming heap so many times I have lost count. I took a tumble in the wallow and ripped open a hole in the top of my foot that took about six weeks to heal and has left a scar. I fell off the top of a dozer into the nice soft snow a while back and though I didn’t injure myself, it did give me a big fright. A dozer is a very big machine to fall off. I spend most of the time down here covered in bruises that are in some state of healing.
Being a bit of a gumby is NOT a good thing when you come down here I have to say. Ha ha.
Apart from my injury count, not a lot else has been happening this week. We have another big blizzard at the moment which has blown away our sea ice yet again. But that is hardly unusual.
Andrew and I are – as always – pretty well snowed under with work. So much so that Andrew even turned down a jolly this week because he was too busy to go. Man things must be crook!
It would be nice just to be able to have a few days off to simply rest. Next month I get to go away for four days which I am looking forward to. The idea of seeing the seal pups then keeps me going, but mostly I am just feeling burnt out. It has been a long year.
Anyway:- enough of me having a whinge. All in all life down here is still one big adventure, so life is pretty good. I’m not complaining at all: I am just very tired and worn out this week.
Till next week, enjoy the sun, wherever you are.
I have added a random piccies from the whole year this week.
Trace :o]
Well after last weeks epic I really haven’t a lot to tell you this week.
It has been bitterly cold on station this week with temperatures reaching more than -30 degrees and winds of 111 knots. It has been seriously cold. It may be spring in Oz, but not down here.
I have had a bit of a broken wing this week. I had to have a quarter zone injection in my right elbow Tuesday so have been out of any serious action for most of the rest of the week. I hurt my right arm back around May some time while riding the quad over to Robbo’s on a particularly grueling, rough terrain trip. If you remember my dash back to station trying to get home while keeping in front of the blizzard then you will know the trip I mean.
Anyway, the arm has never really healed and has actually gotten worse with lots of time spent in the kitchen and all the lifting and climbing and the rest of it I do down here. On traverse it got to the stage where I was in pain constantly and by the time I got home I barley had strength left in it to lift my toolbox. The doc had diagnosed Tennis Elbow about a month ago. So I went back to see him and he ended up having to inject quarter zone. Not a very pleasant experience I can assure you! But after almost 5 days it is starting to come good. It will be good as gold again soon – fingers crossed.
I remarked to Andrew the other day that being down here is a young man’s game and I am neither! Ha ha. I have had more injuries down here than I think I have had in my combined lifetime before now. I am sure most of it has to do with performing very physical work in extremely cold conditions for long periods of time. The body just doesn’t act well under those circumstances.
Three weeks ago I dislocated the middle finger on my left hand. No one was around at the time so I had to wrench it back into place myself with my right hand and set it right. Man that was painful!!! I don’t want to have to do that again in a hurry I can assure you. It took about four days to come good, but is fine now.
I have fallen backwards on blue ice and nearly cracked my skull open twice this year. Both times I saw stars and ended up with a nasty headache. I have fallen over in deep snow on rocks and bashed and bruised myself. I have slipped off the side of icy rocks and come tumbling to a screaming heap so many times I have lost count. I took a tumble in the wallow and ripped open a hole in the top of my foot that took about six weeks to heal and has left a scar. I fell off the top of a dozer into the nice soft snow a while back and though I didn’t injure myself, it did give me a big fright. A dozer is a very big machine to fall off. I spend most of the time down here covered in bruises that are in some state of healing.
Being a bit of a gumby is NOT a good thing when you come down here I have to say. Ha ha.
Apart from my injury count, not a lot else has been happening this week. We have another big blizzard at the moment which has blown away our sea ice yet again. But that is hardly unusual.
Andrew and I are – as always – pretty well snowed under with work. So much so that Andrew even turned down a jolly this week because he was too busy to go. Man things must be crook!
It would be nice just to be able to have a few days off to simply rest. Next month I get to go away for four days which I am looking forward to. The idea of seeing the seal pups then keeps me going, but mostly I am just feeling burnt out. It has been a long year.
Anyway:- enough of me having a whinge. All in all life down here is still one big adventure, so life is pretty good. I’m not complaining at all: I am just very tired and worn out this week.
Till next week, enjoy the sun, wherever you are.
I have added a random piccies from the whole year this week.
Trace :o]
posted by Tracey in Casey - Antarctica at 7:41 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home