Thomas Yingst
Tom ... “the kid”
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Portugal. May 2019
OK ... sitting in the airport waiting for a series of flights to Milan to start the second leg of my Via Francigena journey, restarting in Fidenza. Lots has happened over the last months. Found out I will become a first time grandfather, delivery around 10 May (very exciting!!!). So ... I changed my Via plans from May to March. Also, I went through a bout of lumbar back pain. I could hardly get in and out my truck. This has happened before ... but the timing of this happening before my Via walk was, to say the least, a bit inconvenient. After many chiropractic visits and non stop stretching, I’m much better. I got an MRI on my lower back ... turns out I have a severe narrowing where the spinal nerves leave the area between L4 and L5. Other problems as well, but not as severe. In addition, two weeks ago, after walking 13 miles, I was hobbled by heel pain ... the X-ray revealed bone spurs where the Achilles’ tendon inserts onto the heel bone. After lots of stretching and use of orthotics, I am now able to walk with minimal pain. And to top things off, (for crying out loud) ... I also just found out I have shoulder joint arthritis. So ... there it is ... quite a start ... I must really want to do this ...

