Day 9 Lake Superior Provincial Park

June 19, 2025

Following a miserable night of discomfort with the foot, I woke up concerned. After a consult with Dr. Google I was much less so. I do wonder what the common man did for first aid before Google! All joking aside, while there is sometimes far more misinformation than help on an internet search of health issues, one skill that I learned during two years of cancer battle is how to weed out nonsense and how to recognize useful information.

Turns out, even with a medical degree, it can be hard to be certain distinguishing a sprain from a break unless there is an x-ray in hand. When an x-ray is hours away, as is the case here, distinguishing an emergency from a simple fracture is somewhat easier. Pretty sure there is no emergency. R Some typical symptoms have me leaning away from a fracture – it doesn’t hurt when I push on the ankle, it is painful when I push on the softer tissue around the ankle; it is slightly swollen but not abnormally shaped…sounds less like a break. R Then I discovered that sprains and a turned ankle are not the same thing, some similar characteristics but different! By the time my medical skills were enhanced, I had been up for a while and had stopped inadvertently rolling over on it in my sleep! It was feeling much better and I began to suspect that I was suffering less pain than disappointment and frustration. Advil is anti-inflammatory and a tensor bandage is a reminder, so armed with both I spent a second day resting and tried some very light walking around the campground. By days end I was pretty certain it is a twisted ankle. Tomorrow we are on our way to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. It ‘s a drive of more than six hours not counting stops, so it is a third day of R&R. By then I will be right as rain – I’ve decided! Maybe slowing down a little is advisable. R

I am well hooked on my next novel. It is a dark story published in 1936 about smugglers on the coast of Cornwall. I love when there are several adventures going at the same time. Daily I am following a friend’s blog as she cycles from Ontario to Nova Scotia, I have several people I know posting about trips through Europe and now a fictional tale of smugglers on a dark and gloomy Cornwall coast almost 100 years ago. I can take a little rest from my adventures in Superior when I have so much else to keep track of!

We insisted that Jonathan and Jenna continue with their hiking. David and I spent a great low-key day together. Reading, crocheting, gazing out at the Lake and a little walk to the Visitors Centre, this time to check out the displays. The information there was well presented and engaging. We watched a few videos, including one on the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Poor David – my ear worm is back and I have been humming Gordon Lightfoot all afternoon! There is also a great display on wildlife in the park and the mystery of the giant footprints yesterday was solved!!!