Running on Empty

A vivid memory of my childhood was the numerous times my Mom ran out of gas in the family car. She drove completely oblivious to the gas gauge and if my Dad didn't fill the car up, we ended up on the roadside calling AAA. During my flight training, I was amazed at how many crash investigations revealed empty fuel tanks - the pilot opting to stretch his fuel reserve to make his destination. In each case, the empty tank precipitated the destination, but unlike my Mom in the family car, these pilots couldn't simply pull to the side of the road and wait for a gas can.

On Saturday, I ran the tank dry - not in the airplane or my car - but rather on the mountain. I felt good enough to get back up to Bear Mountain for the day and help our Patroller Candidates with their training. The weather was set to be warm and sunny and the snow conditions were amazing. I was able to lend a hand to several Patrollers who were running their first incident response. In fact, we never made it to our first chairlift, as we responded to an injured guest right outside the lift line. That didn't take long to be pressed into action! After another injured guest response in the morning, I joined one of our Patrollers for lunch. Just as we finished, her son joined us, only to reveal a broken wrist from snowboarding! I wasn't far from the injuries all morning, so I decided to use the afternoon to work with our Candidates who were still testing out with toboggans.

The terrain where we worked with them is challenging, and I really felt it at the end of the day. We made several runs with toboggans - I even took a ride while one of our Candidates drove the toboggan, so it was a bigger day than I had planned for. I left my house at 5am and now it was after 4pm and my body was shutting down. I had committed to a small group of close friends to come by my cabin for dinner after patrolling, so the day was extended well beyond what it was willing to give. I was useless by the time they arrived, so they did all the cooking & cleaning - what a great group! I felt like a zombie as all I could manage was to sit their and talk. The tank was empty and I finally fell asleep just before 10pm.

I paid for that big day on Sunday. After church service, Rose & I brought lunch over to dine outside with my Mom and brother. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and sleep. Which is what I did the balance of the day. I ran out of gas trying to do more than I should have - after all, I just finished chemo 3 days before and have 90% of my radiation behind me. This is supposed to be the time I'm on my back. Well, that's where I was on Sunday. Better today and hope to continue to improve through my treatment conclusion on Wed!