3.28.12 - The Clinic. Round 2.

Had a good night's rest at the Grand Prix hotel in Gatlinburg. Went to breakfast with Brian, Ann, and Chris at Bennett's BBQ Pit, then they took me to the clinic on the outskirts of town. Show up there and find Froot Loop, Maine-iac, and Blue sitting in the waiting room. They asked me what I was there for and I told them I wanted to get my shin checked out to make sure it wasn't anything too serious. They laughed and told me Phoenix, my Twin, had hurt her ankle badly and may have broken it. Not nearly as good of a similarity as gear! Started filling out the pages of paperwork (wonder how many trees they killed to create those things!), and out comes Phoenix wearing a boot and a smile! What the heck?! She was not happy to be hurt but happy that she didn't break her ankle. Looks like 3-5 down days for her. Could be worse! Got skipped over and watches as about 5-7 other people got called in before me. I just played it cool and didn't say anything. I moved seats hoping they would notice me. Eventually the lady that checked me in asked if I'd been seen yet. NOPE! Some section hikers we saw a few nights ago came in too, and the ladies working there asked if I knew anyone else coming in. Haha.

Finally got called in and checked out by the doc. Said I probably bruised down to the bone. Just doing that on the log wouldn't have got it to his point, but about 40 miles or so of hiking on top of that didn't help. Oh well. Said the nurse would give me a steroid shot, some oral steroids, and and some 800mg ibuprofen.

I had my Croc off my right foot still, the nurse came in and said with a smile on her face "this one goes in the bottom". I asked "the bottom of my foot?". Nurse said "no hun, yer bottom" and laughed. Oh man. I told her that hasn't happened probably since I was a kid and laughed myself. I told her " well, I guess I don't need to have my Croc off then". She agreed, and I just sat there, not knowing what to do. She said "well...". I asked what the best way to do it was, an she said, "you can stand, lean over, or lay down. You're not gunna pass out on me, are ya?" as she laughed. I laid down and said, "alright, let's do this". She prepped it and said "ok you're going to feel a little (me= yikes!)... prick. And we have a jumper! Ok, yer all done!". We both left the room cracking up. Good times!

Started walking down to the grocery store to get my meds at the pharmacy, when the section hikers (after eating brunch and coming back my way) hollered at me and told me to hop in their car. They gave me a lift the rest if the way to the store.

Out of the ibuprofen so I have to make a return trip.

Got a trolley part of the way back, didn't want to wait on the other one to take me the rest of the way so I walked back. Beat it by about 7 min, and gimping along!

Chris and I went to the NOC outfitter, still no package received yet! Went to Mellow Mushroom for some grub, tried a little moonshine tasting, and went back to the hotel (good song by the way). Met up with some hikers and chilled for a few hours til it was way past my new normal bedtime of 8pm ish, and crashed for the night.

Back to the Pharm, and maybe trail soon! Shin already feeling better. Ahh, zero days!