I am writing this to inform you all of a major incident which has affected my blogging. And I am asking you to see this as a public service announcement, spreading the word to prevent this from happening to others.
Last week I was hiking in Vt with Angela, who was on the verge of completing her section hike of the Long Trail. We were in high spirits, expecting to celebrate on top of a popular mountain known as Camels Hump. Here her multi year trek to complete the entire Long Trail would officially end, though we would still have some miles to complete to get back to our car.
I was hiking with heated insoles in my boots. I purchased these from Amazon to keep my feet warm when biking in freezing temperatures and have on occasion used them for hiking. They were off at the time.
About one mile in, I felt intense pain in my right foot. I wondered if I had stepped into a beehive. When I looked down I saw smoke pouring out of my boot and up my leg. Angela thought I had stepped on a landmine.
I struggled to get my very hot, smoking boot off, burning my fingers in the process. It was then I realized the battery in my insole had exploded, destroying my darn tough sock and melting much of the inside of my boot, some of which was now stuck to the very burnt skin on my foot. I sat in excruciating pain for about 45 minutes while Angela ran back to get the car.
Luckily some other hikers came by and sat with me, rubbing my back, talking to distract me and helping me into some warmer clothes. They also helped Angela get her car as close to me as possible and then supported me to get into the car.
We drove to the nearest emergency clinic 20 minutes away. There they dosed me with morphine and took me by ambulance with lights and sirens going to the UVM emergency room. I was treated well and in good time, though was worried about medical bills the entire time.
I was sent home where I struggled to keep in touch with Mary Badass. This is certainly reactivationg a lot of old trauma for me, as well as some new trauma. I am waking with nightmares. fearing immenient explosions. When I picked up the bag with my burnt boot and smelled tha horrible smell, I broke down shaking in a trauma response to seeing my foot in that smoking boot. I burst into tears when walking by my bike gear, fearful of riding my bike again because those insoles lived in the shoes I biked in. In some ways this latter makes little sense as I will not use those insoles nor anything like them ever again. But trauma responses in the body often do not make sense.
I am striving to stay on top of the reactivated traumas. The feeling of aloneness especially pulls me down so I am reaching out to anyone willing to remind me there are people who think of me.
It has been a challenge living in my house which has had no water for months due to an extreme drought in VT. Also I heat with wood, which I haven’t been able to haul so my house has been cold. Preparing meals has been a challenge as well.
When I came to my appointment at the burn clinic five days after this event, I was immediately admitted to the hospital by the burn specialist. Infection had set in and she said I needed skin grafts. After a rough night in the hospital, I had my skin graft surgery. I’ll say more about this another time. I’m currently in the hospital for at least a few more days and then I have to figure out how to manage this winter in my house.
Please convince others to stop using lithium battery heating products. This includes insoles, socks, veasts and gloves.
I hate putting this last part out there, but my friend Nancy has created a GoFundMe page. This is how you can reach it.
Thanks again for all your support and for those who have already sent me well wishes. It really helps.
The Mary Badass 
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