Epilogue

Today, Thursday, May 21, 2009, I will return home to Chicago. I was discharged from the hospital last night with instructions to perform my own physical therapy through range of motion exercises, walking, and elevation when I am resting. I am told that it will take at least 2 weeks before I am able to resume my normal activity level. When reflecting back on the trip, I think it was the stress that led to me being bitten by the rattlesnake. I was trying so hard to meet Broeder's high standards that I was under an incredible amount of stress, which led me to let my guard down. Thus, I did not look carefully enough where I was walking/urinating, or even consider the fact that I should not stray from the road. My safety was the last of my worries when it should have been the first. As testament to the fact that I am normally much more observant than I was on the trip, at the airport today I found a $50,000 dollar ring. I found it on the floor, somewhat hidden and camoflaged (much like the rattlesnake), yet in a public enough place that everyone had an equal chance of finding it. I know nothing about jewelry, so upon picking it up, I found that it didn't weigh very much and decided it must be some sort of cheap ring for children. I began to put it down in a more noticable place where the kid who lost it could find it, when an airport employee heard me say something about a ring. Many airport employees came over when they heard me tell him I found a ring. Apparently the airport employees had been looking frantically for this expensive ring for several hours. A passenger who already departed lost it and was blaming the airport employees, accusing them of stealing it. If I was a man of lesser character or a thief I might have pocketed it to cover my hospital bills. However, I was glad to turn it in and be treated like a hero for finding it. The latest word is that I may be brought back for the tail end of the trip, starting somewhere around Florida. Look for future entries to keep you all updated on the life and travels of Jeff Brinker.

And on the seventh day He rested.

On the seventh day since leaving Chicago, I did nothing but rest in the hospital bed with my leg elevated. I wish that I had my bodybugg to track my steps per day, because they woud definitely have been under 100. Maybe even under 40, and that includes any reaching or arm movements to answer the phone, put food in my mouth, etc. For those of you who aren't exercise physiology students, the bodybugg is a metabolic monitor that also tracks your steps per day. A basic step goal is 10,000 steps per day. On days that I run, I get around 20,000 steps. On Monday, bedridden, I estimate less than 40. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and quickly became extremely nauseas. Like, seconds-away-from-throwing-up nauseas. I told my mom (who was in the room) that I was going to throw up and she grabbed the trash can and jumped/tripped over the suitcase and backpack to bring it to me. My mouth started tasting really strange and I started burping. I could tell this was a 5 second precursor to vomiting, so I started doing this deep, relaxed breathing that my friend Robert told me about for nausea. Well, it worked, and 1 minute later I felt fine and began to eat some crackers. The nurse gave me more morphine and anti-nausea medication and I slept well enough the rest of the night. I've found that you don't need much sleep anyway if you have literally nothing to do the next day and won't be getting out of bed more than 10 minutes. My foot, ankle, and lower leg still look somewhat balloon-like. My foot has a striking resemblance to an inflated latex glove with short, stubby fingers (which are my toes). It is now Tuesday (Day 8) and about 20 minutes ago I saw the doctor, who told me that I should begin stretching my feet and walking for 3-4 minutes every 30 minutes. Tomorrow I will likely be discharged, but Broeder will be in El Paso, which is over 400 miles away from San Angelo (about a 6 hour drive). Since it isn't likely that I will be able to walk much or help out Broeder (much less help myself) and my mom would have to drive 12+ hours to get me to El Paso and get the rental car back to San Angelo (where it must be returned), this is the end of the road for me. I will probably head back to Austin tomorrow and fly out of Austin the following day. The trip was going to be an all-expenses paid experience, but hospital bills and CroFab anti-venom treatment were not considered. I am guessing I am now $2,000 in the hole (that's after insurance, assuming the bill is $20,000 and my out-of-pocket pay is 10%). It has been a wild but short journey and, true to what I expected, an unforgettable life experience.

Day 6: Disaster bites...err, strikes

Day 5 turned out to be the best day yet. Broeder even said I did a good job. Today (Sunday, 5/17/09) appeared as if it was going to be even better. I was ready to leave well before Broeder was, did everything correctly, got $16 in donations on my own, had a great breakfast, picked out good food for Broeder to eat, delivered it to him on time, and got some pictures. Then things took a turn for the worse. I was waiting on the top of a hill for Broeder on I-10 West and had to pee really badly, so I decided to go to the nearby bush to take care of business. Now, Broeder may have said that shitting in a field was really living, but I guess that statement doesn't extend to pissing by a bush in Texas. As I was finishing up, I felt a sting on my ankle. My first thought was that I had been poked by a cactus. I looked down and right by my feet was a rattlesnake. The bastard didn't even have the decency to warn me before biting me! It did, however, rattle afterwards, as if to mock me. At least I got to piss on him and his home....Within 10 seconds I learned that dialing *999 in a roadside emergency is a myth (at least it is in Sonora, TX), so I called 911, gave them my location (which was much easier to do under pressure than I would have imagined), and called my mom to let her know I might be dead in a few hours. She looked up what to do online, and I found out that there is basically nothing that you are supposed to do other than get to a hospital. Broeder came biking along and with nothing to do, I took a pictures of the bite and pictures of Broeder while I sat on the trailer by the side of the road. The ambulance came about 15 minutes later and took me to the hospital. The local hospital in Sonora has a very friendly staff. They waited about 30-45 minutes to see if venom had actually been injected (apparently 25% of all pit-viper bites are dry, meaning that venom is not injected). It did begin to swell and the pain increased, so they gave me morphine and CroFab (anti-venom treatment). I'm told the CroFab is $4,000 dollars per treatment, and I needed at least 2, maybe more. Also, there is the potential for very serious side effects from the CroFab, like anaphylaxis, so they sent me to San Angelo community Hospital via ambulance. Before I left they said a very touching prayer for me, with the staff and me holding hands. At one point the nurse said something like, "God bless this young man as he leaves us, may he have peace as he goes on his way," which seriously made me feel as if I was listening to myself being given the Last Rites. The prayer was extremely heartfelt and meaningful to me nonetheless. NOw it is about 8:30 pm, I am at the hospital, still alive, but worried about compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome is a condition in which swelling (inflammation) gets so severe that it cuts off the blood supply. My foot is quite swollen, numb, stiff, and the swelling is spreading up the leg. I was bitten at about 9:30 am, and 11 hours later it is still getting worse. Compartment syndrome must be operated on immediately or nerve damage and muscle death may occur. I am now receiving another dose of CroFab, and the nurse is going to measure the girth of the swollen areas every hour. Please keep me and my right leg in your thoughts and prayers.

Day 5: Mason to Sonora, TX

I got up at about 5:30 this morning. For the record, I have not gotten up every day at 11:00 as was implied by Broeder's website. That was the only late morning, everything else has been at 6:00 am or earlier. While it is true that I may not have the same maniacal, inexhaustible energy that Broeder has, I'm not a totally lazy goon. The weather looked horrible in the morning but proved to be very nice throughout most of the rest of the day. It is about 5:00 pm right now and I am waiting by the side of the highway for Broeder. It's his last stretch of the day. Today was a much better day, albeit not a perfect one, in terms of my usefulness. I think Broeder is getting used to my extreme putziness. He describes it as me not having any logic whatsoever. I would like to add to that definition that I do have very good verbal logic, just not practical, non-verbal logic. I probably should have been a lawyer instead of an exercise physiologist. I took lots of pictures today, as well as some video using the high definition camera. I am hoping that Broeder arrives soon and that I have not gone too far or the in the wrong direction, and that I can finish this day more successfully than the previous day.

Day 4 update: I am a camping nightmare.

Today proved to be a lot harder than it initially seemed. After having lunch in Llano, we met a local who apparently told us a shortcut to get to Castell (our next stop) and how to get from Castell to the campsite, and from Mason, TX back to the campsite. Somehow I completely missed this part of the conversation while putting together Broeder's PureSport drink. I am so bad at multi-tasking I can't hear what people are saying if I am doing something else that seems important. So I took the GPS route to Castell, met Broeder there, needed gas so I went to Mason while Broeder headed towards the camp site. After getting gas, I decided to find a grocery store and buy some watermelon, bananas, oranges, and a knife to cut the watermelon. I thought this was pretty good of me to go the extra mile to get some supplies for the night. I then headed back to Castell, taking the same route that I originally took (which was about 20 miles). On my way back, Broeder called me. Apparently there was a route straight from Mason to the camp site that I should have taken, and he had been waiting for 30 minutes at the camp site already. I was still about 20 minutes away. I was pretty much scared shitless of an angry Broeder, so I sped to the campsite at about 80 mph (the speed limit was 70 so it wasn't really that irresponsible). I got there and Broeder wasn't as mad as I thought from our phone conversation, but he was frustrated that he missed the 30 minute post-workout window for drinking the PureSport Recovery drink. After eating dinner with some of the other campers, Broeder helped me set up my tent. Unfortunately, the first time we set it up it was inside out, so that had to be redone. Long story short, I pretty much screwed up every single thing that required any sort of non-verbal intelligence over the course of that night and the next day. Broeder decided he couldn't take another night of the camping disaster that is Jeff Brinker, so we will be staying in a motel tomorrow.

Day 4: The ride begins

After yesterday's entry nothing terribly noteworthy happened. I went to bed at around 11 or 11:30 and got up this morning at 4:15 am. I woke Broeder up at 4:45 and then took a pseudo-"Navy shower" (Broeder told me about this - it's when you get in the shower, get wet, turn the water off, lather up, rinse off). Mine wasn't quite a full-fledged Navy shower, but it only took about 3 minutes (near record time for me). At 5:30 am with the car fully packed, we left for Mellow Johnny's for Broeder to set off on Day 1 of his 100 day journey. As of now, I have driven out about 50-60 miles and have met him several times along the way. The weather is great and the wind is on his back, so he said the riding is going well. He climbed a brutal hill near the beginning (I felt like the car was tired while driving up it) and many other smaller hills throughout. Now I am sitting in a church parking lot in a small town in Texas called Llano waiting to meet Broeder here. I'm getting used to driving the car with the trailer. If things could stay in a groove like this, the rest of the trip shouldn't be too tough for me.

Day 3: A late morning after a very long day

Yesterday turned out to be a VERY busy day (in my opinion). I say "in my opinion" because at the end of the day (2:00 this morning actually), Broeder said that "we didn't get shit done." Well, a day in the life of Dr. Craig Broeder is exhausting for Jeff Brinker. I won't try to recount all the things we did in our 22 hour day (after 5 hours of sleep from the previous night), but I will mention some of the highlights. Like when Broeder cut himself on a pocket knife outside and determined from all of the dirt and grime on his hands that it will surely get infected. I asked him if he wanted to wash it off inside to prevent the infection, so he went inside, grabbed a paper towel, wiped off some of the blood, grabbed a bottle of red wine, poured himself a glass of wine, and began drinking. This didn't make a lot of sense to me, but neither did it make sense to me when he decided to put ice AND Coke in the red wine. It actually didn't taste as bad as it sounded to me, but it seemed unique nonetheless. The other funny thing was when he told me (jokingly) that I was "a spoiled brat...for not wanting to shit in a field like an apeman...because that's really living." Wow.

Day 2: Austin, TX

I slept incredibly well in the tent. I would have liked more than 5 hours of sleep, but at least I was up at 5:00 am and out of the house on time. First thing in the morning Broeder and I went to Mellow Johnny's and had breakfast. I had an egg, potato, and cheese taco and a Texas sized scone (which, as the name implies, was huge). I forgot my camera at the house so I didn't get a picture of it. At about 7:50 am the NBC Austin news crew showed up to interview Dr. Broeder and get footage of him riding. I used Broeder's digital video camera to film the filming of his interview. After that we went to a health food store and got some handcrafted Kombucha unique to Austin, TX (which was very good). With regards to eating, my prediction at the beginning of the trip was that I would either come home completely fat and out of shape because I ate every chance I got, or that I would come home emaciated but flabby because I wouldn't get enough to eat but wouldn't have time to work out. Right now I am teetering somewhere in between those two scenarios, because I ate dinner at around 5:30 yesterday (which is much earlier than normal) and went for a 40 minute run around the neighborhood that night, but I have been eating alot today (every chance I get). I have to do some work with Broeder now, so I will update again later today.

First day in Austin, TX

My flight was pretty uneventful, only about 1/3 full so I stretched out in seats 14-A, B, and C. Broeder met me at the airport and took me to see University of Texas-Austin and their amazing Physiology labs. Benedictine may have a nice lab and some cool equipment, but this place has many nice labs with lots of cool equipment. The pool (or natatorium as Broeder called it) was also amazing (amazingly large). After that we went to Lance Armstrong's bike shop (Mellow Johnny's), then got lunch at a Tex-Mex restaurant called Chuy's. Now I am at the house where we are staying and I'm mildly stressed because Broeder seems really stressed about some special clothing that he received that wasn't what he ordered. Broeder also mentioned that tonight I will be sleeping outside in the tent to "get acclimated to sleeping in the heat." I guess if I'll be sleeping in a tent for 3 weeks, what difference does 1 extra day make?

Minor snafus...

So yesterday there were a couple minor snafus to be dealt with. The first was my ticket, which was accidently bought for one "Jerrery Brinker" instead of "Jeffrey Brinker." We got that corrected for the most part. It now reads "J-E-F-F-E-R-Y Brinker" instead of "J-E-F-F-R-E-Y Brinker"...well, close enough. The other issue, which caused me significantly more turmoil, was when after getting my hair cut for the trip, I get a call from Broeder asking where I am:
Me: "I just got my hair cut."
Broeder: "At the airport? Your flight already landed?"
Me: "No, my flight is tomorrow morning."
Many profanities were then spoken by Broeder. Apparently he thought my flight was on
Monday, not Tuesday, and he was waiting at the airport for me. Well shit. I felt completely horrible because he went on to tell me all the great things he had planned that we could no longer do because I chose to come in a day later. I also felt bad because I know that it sucks when you are excited for something and are actually waiting at the airport for someone, only to find that they not going to be there that day. In the end we both got over it (I think). Now it is Monday morning at 5:00 am. It's almost unheard of that I should be up at such an hour, but I have to finish packing some last minute items and I plan to do what it takes to succeed on this trip. Jeff out.

First post

My name is Jeff Brinker. I am a 23 year old graduate student in Benedictine University's Clinical Exercise Physiology program. On Tuesday, May 12, 2009, I will fly to Austin, Texas to aid the director of my program (Dr. Craig Broeder) in his journey to bike 9,000 miles around the perimeter of the United States in 100 days in an effort to raise money for ovarian cancer research (www.bicyclingforovariancancer.org). I will be driving as a one-man entourage to provide the supplies he may need for the first three weeks of the trip. This blog will chronicle the trials, tribulations, and struggles I encounter.