And Just Like That...

 I was doodling around for a few minutes while my girls were finishing up tech appointments - wanting to post my photos "for all the world to see" - pull up FB & here's a post from dear Kacy!

Kacy King

1h  · 

I know a lot of really wonderful, truly supportive people have been waiting for an update from yours truly. It’s hard to know where to begin. I’ll write what happened at the end.

Maybe I start by saying that we’re all home, being cared for by the village that is the Endurance community, and friends and family willing to travel and stay with me. I am afraid I might be getting used to someone getting me cereal (and a handful of pills) at 0400.

***

So, when you are laying on the trail, unable to move (having taken a mental scan of your body and being fairly certain there is no internal damage to organs), you have some decisions to make. I consciously decided that I would put my faith and trust in every single person that helped me get to safety, get to a hospital, and take care of me.

After I heard the crack, while I was still rolling into the crumpled position in the dirt that was to be mine for over an hour, my first thought was “who is going to take care of the animals?” A lot of us can relate. Many things overwhelmed me last week, and one of them was the number of people concerned for Chant, knowing he has special needs and how special he is to me. Also relatable, friends that said “how is Chant, where is Chant, who is taking care of Chant?”instead of how are you? I love that.

It was scary. Lying there, being transported, being put into a helicopter, going to where? Where am I? It took me a day to even know what city I was in. No clothes, no wallet. Luckily I had my phone and an expired ID tucked into my backpack. Other than that, naked. Literally.

So many thank yous. I am not going to make a list. They all fall into the category of offered help, offered care, offered prayers. The paramedic that held my hand while they were moving me to the backboard (and probably still has marks from my nails), my calm endurance friend that stayed with me, whomever got Chanty back to camp, those I know that took care of my animals at camp. Those I don’t know. I had been packed for 2 months in CO, so I know putting the jigsaw back into my small trailer was a feat of patience and stamina. Believe me, I know, it took me two weeks to get it all in there. Lovely friends that drove them all home in the heat. My trio of endurance gals that made a schedule to take care of the boys before I got home and the lovely daughter of another horse friend that stayed here with the girls without hesitation. The friend’s kid that I hired to pick up poop. The go fund me initiated by Kim while I was under anesthesia- oh how I was waiting for that anesthesia - that I never would have approved but humbly and gratefully accept with much blessing. Cristi serving as the hub and to call my family. Carol for being my El Paso connection.

Oh, yeah, I ended up in El Paso from Fort Stanton, New Mexico. I live in Phoenix and was on my way to Boulder, Colorado.

The outlook is good. I had a “serious” fracture to my trochanter / femur on my right side. It hurts like a mofo. I got a bunch of metal. I am doing great with my walker and getting better every day. You know we have seriously high pain thresholds. When they kept asking me what my pain number was (before surgery it was pain number hyperventalation, which earned me breathing coaching) and I was thinking to myself… well if 10 is cutting off my leg with a rusty saw like in the civil war…I dunno, 7?

So yeah. Well anyway, my sister flew out, then my great friend Sandol came out. I am hoping to be able to graduate to crutches and feed on my own soon. Until then, I know I am blessed, am getting used to watching out the window as friends do chores for me, and will try and use advice that people give me. Thank you for your outpouring of love and support. It lifted me up. I will take it with me in my next chapter.

***

(edited: yes, Chant was retired, then the vet said he wasn’t ready to retire so I bought him some gold tack and we went into semi-retirement.)

Of course I have been playing the self-blame game. I didn’t follow my own pre-ride rules (that probably got us to 4,000 miles in the first place). I wasn’t riding Chant like usual- usually we are working hard, moving along, passing horses, paying attention to every step. Chant is a horse that you ride in partnership with. Hanging out the back, chatting, getting lost, walking back down a hill, being second in line in the first 20 miles, we don’t usually do any of that. So we were trotting along at a medium pace (slowish for Chanty) behind a team that we were doing well with, and I was thinking to myself: Dang, we are coming up on that section I don’t like, where they cut down the trees. Its uneven ground, branches all over. I ought to put Chant in front or walk. Boom, we were down. He fell to his knees and tried for an instant to spring back up. The momentum was too much. I flew over his head, hit the ground, starting to roll to Chant’s right and saw his big red body somersaulting toward me. With great effort he veered away from me and rolled over my leg, missing the rest of me. I was thrown on my left side, with broken side up. Chant got up to his feet and stood next to me.

You are a light in the world. XO

Chant & Kacy (he has PSSM, a metabolic disorder with which he has no business competing at endurance level - but I guess his mama didn't tell him that!!!)