X37Adventures

01/14/2025

06/12/2024

1 year ago, exactly, I felt mild radiating pain from a "bug bite" on my ankle while on a work trip leading challenge course trainings. I got into my cabin & pulled up my pant leg ... to be shocked to see a growing wound! Diagnosis the next morning was spider bite. Went home early. Got COVID-19 for the first time a couple of weeks later. The double-whammy may have contributed to my "long covid" symptoms.

So much has changed in my life & health in this year. I'm thankful to be part of an amazing team of compassionate people who care about me & my health. .adventureguild has been an absolute dream to work for, especially during this tough time. I'm so thankful that I get to be part of a team that was willing to find a solution that didn't keep me at home during this crazy health stuff.

The past few days I've been to be able to serve as a Lead Trainer again, at the same camp that supported me during the first few days of the spider bite.

02/10/2024

Oy! I forgot to tell everyone to pop into the Platte City Branch to view my latest display case installation! It will only be there until the end of the shortest month of the year!

09/16/2023

During today's rain, pop into the Mid-Continent Public Library Smithville Branch to check out my paper artwork in the display case! It will be there until the end of the month.

I am really excited that I have this opportunity to fill a display case in the first place. When I started planning it out, I decided to seize the day & fill it like an Anthropologie window. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

08/26/2023

Another flower photo, another life update:

I'm happy to say that my ankle spider bite is still healing well, after 2.5 months. Just as I was about to go to the dermatologist for a follow-up, the first week of July, Trey and I both had our first experience of COVID-19. We had coughing, fevers & minor difficulty breathing for roughly 3 days. I'm thankful we have been vaccinated and boosted.

I was finally able to reschedule my dermatologist appointment for the end of July. She was fabulous to talk with & confirmed that the spider bite is healing... but it is a slow healing process. Thankfully, the antibiotic rash & sun sensitivity have healed completely.

My psychiatrist (I already had an appointment with him, so I asked the question) & new GP were in agreement: my stamina is going to take quite a while to build back up. After 2 big medical issues within mere weeks of each other, the antibiotic reactions and being off my feet for so long, it is going to take a while to return to the stamina I had at the beginning of June. Yes, part of it is also probably a holdover of COVID-19.

My big hurdle right now is learning how to pace myself, even with everyday kinds of tasks. I'm finding that if I don't, I'll have to take the entire next day to recover. *sigh*

This is all to say, this has been a weird summer, I miss hanging out with people! Let's get together! I'm ready to sit by the fire & hang out!

Photo of our hostas in full bloom this week.

06/26/2023

UPDATE about my brown recluse spider bite: As before, here is a pretty picture of a dayflower in our backyard. I don't mind sharing photos of my spider bite & subsequent antibiotic rash, but I'll fill everyone's feed with flowers first. Thank you to everyone for checking on me & for ensuring that I actually knew to seek medical attention (as an outdoor professional, I already knew that & did that).

Story: Sometime between June 8-11, I was bit by a brown recluse spider on the back of my right ankle while on the road training summer camp staff. It has now been 2 weeks almost to the minute since I felt mild pain radiating up my calf & looked to find a 3 inch wide rash + bruising! That began a whirlwind of texts & calls to a zillion people, paused training days (my trainees were the absolute best for the situation! Y'all rock!), 2 urgent care visits + a 12 hour ER visit, a sad change of flights & trainings rescheduled with other trainers 😢, a wonderful day with a coworker/friend, flights home & multiple days with my foot elevated & iced.

I've now finished a whole round of 2 oral antibiotics and 1 IV antibiotic (in the ER). June 22 I was feeling pretty awesome...then the antibiotic rash started. *sad sigh* Thankfully, there have been few symptoms related to that, it has just made me uncomfortable sometimes & infrequently, mildly itchy.

Friday, June 23 morning I saw the first layer of skin around the bite reaction slough off, after blistering since June 13. I don't have that nice pink new skin under it, but I have hope that too will come once all of the bruising subsides. After that layer wasn't protecting the whole thing anymore, then it was time to work with healing an open wound. I'm happy to announce that the open sores are now nicely scabbing over & about 99% of the swelling has gone down!

We shall see what my body has in store for me next...this whole series of events hasn't progressed in stages that I expected.

Funny story: we have really given some of the Worker's Comp people a confusing time: the company I work for is based in Tennessee, this happened (possibly) while I was on a zip line platform in Virginia, I got medical attention in Pennsylvania.

06/16/2023

The weather reflects my mood about how a little brown recluse spider has derailed my work trip.

In case you don't already know: I am a Lead Trainer for challenge course facilitators and zipline guides. My favorite time of year is now - pre-summer camp. I have the coolest job traveling from camp to camp, training their summer staff to use these giant tools (challenge courses & ziplines) to create memorable experiences for their campers & themselves. .adventureguild pays me to play! They pay me to meet cool people & teach them cool things!

This season has been cut short for me...by a nasty spider bite! I'm mad at the spider & truly heartbroken to have to leave the season earlier than planned.

06/13/2023

After a lifetime of outdoor adventures, I now am the proud owner of my first bad spider bite reaction. This photo is so much prettier than my ankle is currently!

P.S. I don't mind sharing my ankle photos. I just know not everyone wants to see that pop up in their newsfeed.

05/20/2023

After co-leading a bus tour for , I finished packing & am now heading to DC! My first stop at KCI was to get a photo of the fountain there...then it would be weird if I didn't also grab a shot of one of the mosaics.

P.S. I now have photos of all of the mosaics at the new terminal!

02/04/2023

One last departure from KCI Terminal B. I'll miss these mosaics celebrating my travels, but I'm excited to see the ones salvaged from Terminal A...and all of the other new !

in PDX here I come!

02/02/2023

Happy Groundhog's Day!

When you see that Punxsutawney is nearby on your day off (last summer), you hit the road to visit Gobbler's K**b! Next time I'm in the area hopefully, I'll be available when the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center is also open!