Andy Maynard was a through-hiker. He had hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail both ways. Now, he was ready to test himself against the desolate 195 mile Sierra High Route which crosses 33 passes and barely touches established trails. He knew that he must pack everything he might need, for contact with "civilisation" would be rare and difficult to achieve.

Aged 28 and in excellent health, he doubted that he need concern himself with medical emergencies as long as he avoided accidents. There were many places on the route where it would take days to reach a town with no guarantee that there would be a doctor there and where the nearest hospital might be 100 miles away.

Following Steve Roper's recommendation, Andy intended to hike northward from King's Canyon N.P. at 36.80° N., 118.58° W. along the crest of the Sierra Nevada,

on an unmarked route more or less parallel to the John Muir Trail to the northern edge of Yosemite N.P, at 38.15° N. , 119.38° W. This route was known to have been hiked by "Backpacker" magazine editor, Steve Howe, in one month and Andy hoped to complete the 195 mile hike in about the same length of time.

Andy set out on Independence Day but lagged a bit behind Steve Howe's time, for on the 18th, he had gone 85 miles. This was due mainly to sightseeing. The High Sierra scenery was so magnificent that Andy couldn't resist stopping to admire and photograph it. Never had he been so completely alone in the wilderness before. He hadn't seen another human being for nine days.

That afternoon, at about 2:40 PM, PDT, Andy popped a boner. Oddly enough, he hadn't been thinking of sex, but, suddenly, his whang pushed its way out of the left leg of his shorts and stood straight out from his body.

Puzzled, Andy decided to bring it down manually. A half-dozen strokes were all it took to send a thick white jet of cum spurting out over the rocks. That was all well and good, BUT he still had a boner and it showed no sign whatsoever of relaxing.

Andy knew what that meant: priapism and he remembered reading that it was a medical emergency.He had read that if an erection persisted for more than a few hours, some sources said 2 hours, others 4, permanent damage would be done to the corpora cavernosa, causing impotency. If it persisted too long, there was even danger of gangrene.

Andy quickly consulted his maps and, to his horror, discovered that, if he was where he thought he was, the nearest town was about 25 miles away. That would take four days at walking speed. How long it would take running as much as possible, mostly downhill, he couldn't estimate.

Looking down at his hard-on, Andy could see that it had turned purple and was starting to ache. Andy immediately turned east, running wherever the terrain permitted it . The moon would be full and, until he got down to the timberline, he could risk running by moonlight, dangerous though it would be. For some distance below the timberline, the vegetation would be so sparse and scrubby that he could pick his way through it at a walk even by moonlight or with a flashlight.

The only thing he found at all encouraging was that his aching purple dick wasn't turning cold.......yet. He didn't want to waste precious time sleeping, but he knew that he'd have to, sooner or later. He was below the timberline now, picking his way along with his walking staff.

The night would be short, but hours would be passing while his corpora cavernosa degenerated. He finally had to lie down out of sheer exhaustion. He felt his throbbing boner and found it slightly cool, but not alarmingly so. The fact that it hurt was a good sign. It meant that the nerves were alive. The pain in his dick prevented him from getting much real sleep, but, at least he could rest his weary body.

After a very hasty breakfast, he wrapped his sweater around his waist like an apron, tying the arms together behind his back. This would cover his boner which he couldn't tuck back into his jeans as he would need to once he reached "civilisation." His boner felt exactly the same as it had yesterday, which was very encouraging. There seemed to be no immediate danger of gangrene.

So passed another day of running when possible, otherwise lurching, staggering, and occasionally striding. His hand-held GPS was getting erratic. Probably the battery was running down. Naturally, he didn't have a spare. Andy was glad that he had learned celestial navigation so that he didn't have to depend entirely on GPS. The forest was changing from conifers to deciduous trees which meant that he was nearing the feet of the mountains.

He slept fitfully for another short summer night, actually relieved that his dick still hurt like hell. Late the next morning, he staggered into the town of Hewlettville and asked for a physician. There was one, and he turned out to be a surgeon also, Dr. Otto M. Stagfield.

There were no patients in Dr. Stagfield's waiting room and, so, no delay in seeing the doctor. Andy explained that he had had priapism for two days since its inception on the Sierra High Route. Dr. Stagfield was amazed. "You got down here from the crest of the Sierra in TWO DAYS ?"

"I had to" explained Andy, unveiling his grossly distended penis. "Does it hurt ?" asked Dr. Stagfield.

"Like fury" answered Andy.

"Good" replied Dr. Stagfield. "Then it's probably not gangrenous. I suppose you know that, by now, the corpora cavernosa have degenerated and you're going to be impotent unless you can afford to have implants inserted." Andy nodded.

"How much do implants cost ?" asked Andy with no real hope that he'd be able to afford it.

"Depends on the type." said Dr. Stagfield, "but it's in the 5- to 6-figure bracket."

Andy sighed. "I might as well go shopping for a yacht."

"There are two things I can do." explained Dr. Stagfield. "Just by-passing the artery and the efferent vein won't do the job. The blood has clotted and normal circulation can't be re-established that way. Either of the procedures would make you impotent, but, inasmuch as you are by now anyhow, that makes little difference.

I can either filet your penis like a fish and cut out all the clots or I can open the efferent vein and, starting at the glans, squeeze out the viscous partially clotted blood. This will rupture all of the septa of the corpora cavernosa but will do less overall damage than laying them open and virtually dissecting them.

On the other hand, squeezing out the venous blood might miss a clot which, if it entered the general cirulation, could have serious or even fatal consequences. However, it would entail less risk of your losing the penis."

"Which do you recommend, Doctor ?"

"I'd go with squeezing out the venous blood, blocking the artery and flushing out the blood vessels of the penis with sterile saline solution. Then the artery can be unblocked and, when blood has replaced the saline solution, re-joining the vein.

You should expect your penis to shrink substantially following this procedure, but remain sensitive."

"Then, let's do that."

The operation was performed under general anaesthesia owing to its length. Dr.Stagfield shaved all of Andy's pubic hair off , disinfected the surgical site, and exposed the vein and artery providing circulation of blood through the corpora cavernosa. When he opened the vein, thick, syrupy, purple, venous blood oozed slowly out, like SAE 90 gear oil.

Dr. Stagfield severed the vein and connected the end from the penis to a drain with a plastic tube which he ran to a clean waste crock on the floor. Grasping Andy's swollen penis at the glans, Dr. Stagfield squeezed it hard, slowly working his way toward the base. He could feel the septa of the corpora cavernosa bursting as he did so, but there was no way to prevent it.

When the purple syrup in the drain tube was replaced by red blood, Dr. Stagfield closed the artery with a hemostat. He connected an IV fitting to the artery and to a bottle of sterile saline solution and repeated the squeezing procedure, expelling the fresh blood from the corpora cavernosa and replacing it with saline solution. Four more times, he squeezed out the saline solution and allowed the corpora cavernosa to refill with it before he closed the IV connection and opened the hemostat.

The fluid flowing out through the drain changed from colourless to pink to red. Then he removed the drain and rejoined the severed sections of the efferent vein . Andy's penis resumed its normal colour, except for some unavoidable bruising, and a thermomemter inserted in the urethra read 98.6°F. Evidently, normal circulation had been re-established. While suturing his incisions and tidying up the surgical site, Dr. Stagfield checked the thermometer several more times. The temperature remained stable.

When Andy regained consciousness, he saw Dr. Stagfield smiling. "So, the operation was successful, then ?"

"Yes. Normalcy has been re-established. "

"What caused this priapism, Doctor ?"

"I think that we can rule out syphilis, gonorrhea, and leukemia. Therefore, my diagnosis would have to be idiopathic priapism."

"What does that mean ?" asked Andy.

"Absolutely nothing" answered Dr. Stagfield. 'Idiopathic' is a word which we use to conceal our ignorance. It literally means 'self-caused'. In other words, which we hate to use, I don't know what caused it. I trust, but cannot guarantee, that the condition will not recur. If it should, of course, there can be no erection. The organ would turn cold and purple. It would probably be impossible to save it. However, I have never heard or read of a recurrence so, don't worry yourself sick about it.

The sutures are absorbable, so they won't have to be removed. I think that you should stay here for a couple of weeks and rest before resuming your hike. It would be best for you to refrain from masturbating for about a month. If you feel that you must, treat your penis very gently."

Dr. Stagfield charged Andy only $1,000 for the operation remarking that "if this had been done in a hospital, they'd have charged you about $4,000 for the services of an anaesthesiologist, a nurse, and an intern and for medical supplies designated for but not used in the operation . "

Andy asked if Dr. Stagfield honoured the Health Net card.

"No." said Dr. Stagfield. 'I'm not a participating physician in Health Net. I shall, though, accept a personal check or, if you have a credit card, the bank will give you cash on it. "

Andy opted to give him a check with his address, 'phone number, and VISA card number on it.

During his two weeks' convalescence in a pleasant little inn in Hewlettville, Andy seriously reconsidered whether he wanted to try to complete his hike of the Sierra High Route. With this delay, he certainly couldn't even match Steve Howe's time. Still, he hated to admit defeat. It would take him at least four days, though, to get back to the point where he had left the Roper Route, for he'd be going uphill soon after a serious operation.

He tried not to think of anything afterwards, such as how he would cope with life-long impotence, having to rely on masturbation alone for sexual relief.

Finally, he decided reluctantly that he wasn't ready to tackle the hike and arranged for transportation home. But, one unspoken vow burned in his mind.

"NEXT YEAR FOR SURE !"

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