The Grizzly Hunt Part 2 "Thats Where the grizzly got me"
Once things settled down, I asked Rebecca how long before the wound healed too much? Did we have time before it was too late for a real doctor to undo my clumsy efforts and tie things up correctly? Her response was “48 hours.” At this point, we couldn’t get out in one day, so the game plan was to spend the night at River Camp, then make a break out of the mountains on the morrow. With five hours driving back to the Palmer clinic ER, we’d be well under the time limit.
Throwing away all extra food for both us and the dog (into the stream so other bears didn’t decide this was a good place to hang out and get chow from humans) lightened our load. The paths I’d cut through alders and brush would help immensely to shorten the time required. Advil was controlling the pain rather well, so we spent a fairly comfortable evening and night.
Up early for breakfast, then breaking camp, and off we went. Travel was better than expected and by a little after noon we were down from the mountains and at our friend’s where we’d left our vehicle. Becky was invited to shower and clean up. Afterwards, the cut looked to my amateur eyes to be closed up, and unlike Dr. Frankenstein had been at work.
As we neared Palmer, she pulled out our old brick sized cell phone and called the ER, wanting to find out who was on duty (seems even doctors have preferences – lol!). Fortunately, it was one of her friends, so we swung in.
I expected the doctor to open things up and start over. After a quick examination, he said “This looks really good – I’m not going to open it up at all, but with your permission, I’d like to try something.” With permission given by Rebecca, he pulled a drawer open and extracted, then opened a small package. A small tube which looked like glue came out, and yes it was – medical grade Superglue! He said he’d never used it and thought this might be a good opportunity to give it a try (at this time you could buy a tube from a hardware or big box store for $3….medical grade Superglue was $165 a tube!!). During his exam, he found some visual distortion in her upper left quadrant and loss of feeling in some of her scalp above the cut. He pulled some strings with a colleague and got her an appointment to see a specialist the next morning.
After another exam, this good doctor predicted a complete recovery, adding that we should keep an eye out for any new symptoms. The nerve damage would take much longer to heal. In fact, it was a full year before she got full sensation in that part of her scalp.
Thus ends the tale of the world’s worst case of Weatherby eyebrow. You’ll have to show me worse to make me believe such exists! Two things can be reported. The first is that shooting a rifle with a scope became almost impossible for her to do, hence her choice to shoot shotgun and pistol, which incidentally, she does quite well. Secondly, the cut healed so well and left such a small scar, when she tells the tale there isn’t a dramatic finish where she can point to a huge scar and say “That’s where a grizzly got me!”
Since this hunt took place in early August, the bear’s hide was not yet in condition for making a good rug. Rebecca decided to have a pair of mukluks made from it. They turned out to be good looking and very warm. Small eyebrow scar, some pictures, and a pair of grizzly mukluks are reminders of her bear hunt!