A doctor’s visit confirmed that abandoning the trip was the correct decision, however galling.
I feared I may have shin splints because of the pain I was suffering with each step. In fact, it turns out that both feet and ankles had become infected as a result of the days spent in wet conditions with open blisters, and the infection was rising rapidly up each leg, as the redness, tightness and swelling testified. By the end, I was effectively taking every step on poisoned feet with a heavy backpack. No wonder it bloody hurt. The doctor said persevering would only have delayed the inevitable but could have made the condition far worse and far more complicated to tackle, as it required rapid treatment.
I am now on a course of two separate antibiotics, along with some painkillers, with orders to get straight to hospital if the infection rises further than the three or four inches up my shin that it had already spread.
Still, plenty of lessons learned for my next attempt.
I feared I may have shin splints because of the pain I was suffering with each step. In fact, it turns out that both feet and ankles had become infected as a result of the days spent in wet conditions with open blisters, and the infection was rising rapidly up each leg, as the redness, tightness and swelling testified. By the end, I was effectively taking every step on poisoned feet with a heavy backpack. No wonder it bloody hurt. The doctor said persevering would only have delayed the inevitable but could have made the condition far worse and far more complicated to tackle, as it required rapid treatment.
I am now on a course of two separate antibiotics, along with some painkillers, with orders to get straight to hospital if the infection rises further than the three or four inches up my shin that it had already spread.
Still, plenty of lessons learned for my next attempt.
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