My medical concerns evaporated as I curled up to drift and dream through another Patagonia night, pain free. A magnificent universe of birdlife roosted in this park tonight: flamingoes, parrots, Andean Condors. I would seek them tomorrow.
The following account focuses on the potential agony and ecstacy of wildlife photography, in particular one day in the Southern Hemisphere during an expedition, a rare find, a gnarly accident, a remedy and the concerns about emergency impacts in remote areas. A herniated disc would have shipped me out, set me back and propped me on pillows awhile. My problem proved a sprain.
I had zoomed in on the photos that I needed: moments with the rare and exquisite Torrent Duck, which inhabits Rio Viedma. She showed up in form, bibbling and bobbling with her 3 ducklings. Gleeful, I had been savoring one of the few windless days in this reach of Argentina, which typically blasts 60 mph. The female's mix of gray, earthen andsnow-colored colors camouflage her foraging existence: the granite shadows and the water’s depth the only cover. This type of duck is only found, if you are lucky, in swift glacial runoff of Patagonia.
An intense pain took hold of me because my back got spun out while crossing a relatively shallow but deceptively accelerated section of the river in my pursuit of the duck family. However, I expected to be killing it within about an hour and a half. Our expedition Doc brings online Tramadol in the medicine kit for expedition members to handle certain moderate to severe pain issues. This is just a minor tumble , I assured myself, yet I felt way too chilly in my now-soaked duds. The horizontal blown pines above me had traded their emerald hues for pitch-dark wizardy-looking silhouettes. I felt a wave of spookiness, having allowed a state of exhaustion to develop. It's probably because I had risen at 4:00 am to take advantage of December’s dawn light show. Losing my balance, I actually stumbled ,and the misstep left me feeling dizzy.
I ascended the trail, back to camp, my innards now screaming for dinner: griddle pancakes with lots of butter and jam… hot coffee bean and gobfuls of cashew nuts. Upon reaching at camp, I felt confident that a muscle spasm would prove the worst case scenario. The doc examined me. He said when you suffer a strain, the affected muscles may shrink and have less flow of blood. Pain is then experienced. Injured muscles may also knot up or spasm. He added that section of my body until it recovers.
Can you imagine, the sleepless night in a mummy bag on a foam pad I would have differently suffered without online tramadol? I wondered how my back would feel in the daybreak. Earlier in the season, one of my friends had a slightly invasive disc procedure done to fix a moderate-sized herniation of one of her back discs. It was performed by a pain medicine specialist using laser tools to repair it. Methods have advanced for these variations of pain interventions and include coblation tools (a type of radiofrequency energyenergetic) and high pressure water jets. There is now this amazing invention called Intradiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET). A specialized endoscope enables tools to be inserted into the discs for pain relieving repairs.
Wildlife photography in the back country not only energizes me, it provides the adventure and precision in craft that I crave. My father always said it is better to do what you love and take calculated risks to fullfil it than to look back on your life with regrets that you didn't seize an opportunity. Back health is a critical concern for all ages. A good pain management program is worth its weight in rare photos.