Major news & new plan for my Camino

For the past few weeks, I have been in the hospital battling hemilitic anemia. The doctors tried to control it by medication, but in the end, it turned out that my spleen was the culprit & had to be removed. Damned French ancestry! (just kidding, mes amies!) At one point, my hemoglobin count was down around 4.8. It was a miracle I could even walk at that point. I was finally released from the hospital this past Monday & slowly but surely getting my life back together again. It's a slow process, my docs say, & one cautioned it may be a year before I'm ready to walk the Camino. That's okay, because it's going to take a year to accumulate the amount of leave that I'm going to need to do it!

Were it not for about 14, maybe 15, anonymous people who donated the blood used for all the transfusions I got, I would not be here. What got me through were all the prayers & kind thoughts my friends & family & many others made for me during this time. And of course, my doctors & nurses. I don't want to leave them out because they had a heck of a time with me. I tried to be a good patient, but there were a couple of days that just wasn't possible (like right after surgery).

During all of this, I prayed constantly, asking to be healed so I could finish my Camino. This prayer evolved into a desire to walk the Camino again, this time from Roncesvalles, and attempt to raise one donation of blood for every kilometer I walk. This would be 749 pints, based on KMs given in the CSJ Guide. While it would be nice for all these donations to come from where I live, I know that would be impossible, so I've set no limits on where the donations come from. If you choose to participate, simply go to your local blood donation organization & donate blood, then let me know by posting on the blog. This will be on the honor system, as I will have no way of knowing if you actually did donate blood, but God will know & that's enough for me.

So, hopefully by next September, I'll have enough leave time saved up. And since I always start out with a plan of where I'll walk to each day, here's what I've come up with so far (and as we have seen, this is also subject to change, since I can never seem to stick with a plan once I've got it down):

Roncesvalles (because I'd like to start off with the Pilgrim Mass again)
Zubiri 22K
Cizur Menor 25K
Puente La Reina 19K
Ayegui 24K
Los Arcos 19K
Viana 19K
Navarette 22K
Azofra 22K
Granon 21K (play Quasimodo in the bell tower)
Belorado 15K (might possibly move on to Tosantos because 15K is too short)
Ages 28K (but maybe Atapuerca if I stay in Tosantos)
Burgos 23K (maybe Tarjados so I can stay in Hontanas)
San Bol 24K (because Sil likes it)
San Nicolas 25K (but if not open, Itero, 1K further on)
Carrion 35K (!!! But last time, I walked 6k from Boadilla to Fromista
in about an hour; it's all flat so this is possible)
Terradillos 26K (maybe press on to Moratinos?)
Bercianos 23K
Pte Villarente 23K
Mazarife 25K
Astorga 33K !!!!, but should be up to it by this point
Rabanal 22K Minkey, will you be there? :)
Molinaseca 26K
Villafranca 30K
La Faba 25K Oh I might decide to go all in & get to O'Cebreiro in one day.
Triacastela 26K
Barbadelo 22K (kms are off here, because this will be via Samos, so maybe 25K)
Ventas de Naron 31K
Ponte Campana 16K
Ribadiso 23K
Sta Irene 21K
Santiago!!!! 24K

If I need a rest day, I can take the bus to Burgos from Belorado. While I liked walking that area the last time, I won't miss it if I have to take a rest. At least I will keep moving forward.