We’ve
had quite an interesting few weeks. It seems that Alaska is becoming dangerous to
the health of the workers at the Dredge and more specifically the Atkinsons. Our first health-related issue came in the form
of a black bug that’s half the size of a house fly called the White Sox. With a
name like that one doesn’t conjure up a bug that will cause inflammation to
your extremities. White Sox makes you think of a baseball team, something cute
that doesn’t wreak havoc on your body.
Jim
met a White Sox while watching salmon spawn in Dyea Flats. The first bite was
mildly irritating, just like a mosquito bite. It wasn’t until the third bite he
received on his elbow that his upper arm started swelling. And by the time he
received his fifth bite his ankle swelled to double its size. He couldn’t come
to work for three days because in addition to inflammation it also causes
fever. Luckily, the White Sox has limited effect especially if you use an
Alaskan remedy of limes, coffee grounds, devils club salve and a few other special
ingredients.
A
week after Jim went back to work Courtney went out with her friends to 80s
Dance Night. It started like any other Friday night. They drank whiskey before
going out, walked to the bar and hung out for a few hours. As the night was
winding down one of our co-workers from Lithuania walked her home, made sure
she got in the RV okay, and went back to company housing. Being the considerate
drunk she is she took the dogs out for a little walk before she went to bed.
But while she was out she came across a few lights dancing 30 feet up in the
trees. She got an idea. Once she put the dogs away, she went exploring and
joined the lights dancing in the trees. She is really good at climbing trees
sober. She proved she was still good at climbing trees drunk. However, she is
also good at falling out of trees. She fell 9 feet out of the tree onto her
right foot. It rolled up like a taco. The one of the men behind the dancing
lights in the tree had to carry her home on his back because she couldn’t walk.
After
she crawled into the RV and tried to walk a few steps she called out. “Dad!
Mom! I need help.” It was already 1 a.m. She was crying and in pain. But the
funny part was she wasn’t crying because she was in pain. She was crying
because she was embarrassed that she woke us up and upset because she thought
she was an inconvenience. What a thing
to cry about at 1 a.m. after you’ve had a few too many glasses of whiskey and
broke your foot.
After
a few trips to the clinic we learned that she fractured her foot in two places
and may need surgery. We aren’t certain if she’ll need an CT scan yet. We are still
waiting on the results.
Monday,
following the weekend Courtney fractured her foot, Sandy fell ill. After
becoming extremely dehydrated and not being able to keep anything down the
clinic told her to keep drinking water and sleeping. She’s been under the
weather for a week now and was finally able to eat solid food last Thursday. A
solid week and two days after she initially got the flu she will be able to go
back to work.
