Bedside Manners: Family Adventures by Patricia L. Raymond, MD, FACP, FACG

Photo by June Vette

Family matters.

Several years ago, I took an Adventure Women trip down the Grand Canyon , with thirty wild women in two inflatable rafts venturing down the Colorado River rapids to Lake Powell, over the course of five days. The trip of a lifetime.

I can not do justice in my description of the majesty of the view of the canyon from its base. As we travelled down river, the canyon walls progressively rose to either side of us, layer by layer. At night, we slept on the sandy riverbank, a narrow swath of stars visible in the slender night sky above, bracketed by the massive rock canyon walls.

As will happen in adventure travel, ladies got injuries from scrambling down side canyons on hikes. A twisted ankle here, a scraped knee there. As I had been outed as the sole physician on the trip (“Hey, I just do butts” didn’t keep the limbs away), I got to make hmmmmm noises as I prodded swollen ankles looking for crepitance, and then sent the injured to soak their ankles in the frigid river. (more…)