Thursday was my 15 th day on the Camino and my walk took me from Colombres to Llanes where I had reserved a room in the youth hostel. Though forecasted to be 100% chance of rain all day, the weather forecasters are the same the world over, and they weren’t quite right. By late morning the rain stopped. I was pleased I had decided to decline the suggestion of some women I had met to take the bus to Llanes. Instead I walked, taking the longer, more beautiful coastal route.
In the youth hostel I met a Greman woman from Munich named Brigitte. We immediately struck up a conversation (she wanted to work on her English that, quite honestly, needed little work). We had a nice dinner and explored Llanes a bit and agreed to walk on to Ribdasella together early the next day. It would be her first day on the Camino having come to Llanes by bus. She only had enough vacation to begin the Camino there and hope to finish in Santiago. Like so many I have met, it is not their first Camino. Many are doing partial Caminos with plans to maybe finish later.
Walking to Ribdasella was again rainy much of the day – the last forecasted day of rain in the next several days. It is good because the hostel in Ribdasella had no washer or dryer and it was not a day things would dry on the line. So that brings us to the real message of this post and a most difficult one for me to write.
Yesterday with about 10 kilometers to go approaching Ribdasella I began to experience acute pain in the lower part of my left shin. I didn’t do anything acutely like a fall or a twist or the rolling of an ankle it just began to hurt with each step and then began to show bruising and redness. I honestly wasn’t sure I could walk the rest of the way but – well, there isn’t much choice on a dirt (mud) footpath along the Atlantic Coast. I literally hobbled into Ribdasella and found the hostel. Brigitte went to the pharmacy for me and got a wrap and ice packs. I iced and elevated it for a couple hours but the truth of it was beginning to sink in. I could not bear weight on it and, based on my limited knowledge and Google, I came to the conclusion I am probably dealing with a stress fracture of my tibia and likely the end of my Camino.
i think yesterday I was largely in denial and I am still holding out a little bit of hope that this is some kind of strain or sprain of a ligament but I am not optimistic. I made the decision to take the bus today to Oviedo. I found an Airbnb in the center of Oviedo that is inexpensive ($30/night) but I have my own room and use of the kitchen and bath. Carmen (the hostess) is unbelievably nice though neither of us speaks the others language. We use Google translator and get by.
A man here at the house offered to take me in his car to the urgent care clinic where I hoped to get some confirmatory diagnosis by X-ray one way or another. It turned out that they have no X-ray at the clinic and I would have to go to the hospital for that. I saw the clinic doctor and he didn’t think it was fractured but I’m not sure he understood I was concerned about a stress fracture. He gave me a prescription for an NSAID and told me to ice and elevate it. I’m doing that now.
The Camino offers so much. I know it is about something more important than finishing in a certain place on a certain day. This is just part of my Camino and it brings its own lessons. I now have a very different sense of what it is like to need medical attention somewhere where you cannot communicate and you can’t understand what the people caring for you are saying to each other or to you. It is very hard and such a helpless and totally dependent feeling. As some of you know, helplessness and dependence are not my strong suits. Maybe this is just part of what I am to learn.
This is how the Camino works: I met my friend Alfredo, a banker from Murcia Spain when I called out to him that he had missed a way mark and was headed off the Way. He thanked me and we talked for many miles and over several days. His English was very good and he helped me with my Spanish and he talked about the philosophy of the Way from a Spanish pilgrim’s perspective and about his life and thoughts.
He showed me much of the food and drink traditions and taught me to pour cider from high above the glass. He gave me his phone number in case I needed it in Spain. Today at the clinic I used that number and Alfredo talked with me and the doctor and translated for us both. He assured the doctor I could be trusted to go to the ATM to get the money to pay for my visit. I wouldn’t run away. After, he sent me a txt to remind me this is all just part of my Camino. It is what is given to me by God or the Universe or whatever you believe. It isn’t to be judged; just experienced. Maybe for me, it means I come back someday. Maybe it just means I accept with humility my fallibility and that I make the most of the new path in front of me.
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