It Was Definitely An Adventure

It wasn't the adventure we had planned, though.

Walter had Thursday and Friday off last week. We had planned to do some things locally because money just doesn't grow on trees around here and we are pinchin' pennies like most people I know.

We decided to go hiking Thursday morning and also Friday morning. Thursday morning came and we headed up to our hiking destination. It was a beautiful day. The area was gorgeous and we spent a couple of hours taking in the scenery and letting the boys play in the river catching frogs and just having a good time. We found out that we could go camping for free there (that caught our attention).

We mosied home for lunch. We remembered that our local zoo (The Living Desert) has a program where people can camp inside the grounds of the zoo. We thought it would be a great experience for the boys so we checked into it. They only offer it on the weekends. So...on the spur of a moment, we packed up all our camping gear (and borrowed a couple items from fellow campers) and headed back to Whitewater to camp for the night.

(Oh the visions we had for the evening and the next morning! It was supposed to be a beautiful evening and we were going to wake up and see the mountain lions walking along the ridge of one side of the mountains and on the other side we were going to see the bighorn sheep walking on the actual side of the mountain. There was also an occasional bear and snake that roam that area. I must insert here that I was not thrilled about any of those animals being close to us except for the sheep. You can call it the 'chicken' side of me.)

We were the only campers that night in the whole park. Camp was set up in less than an hour. The boys were having a great time exploring. Ruby (the dog) was just as giddy as ever wanting to participate in everything. I had started cooking dinner when I heard a blood curdling scream.

I turned around to find Phyllip on the ground and rolling, holding his left leg. I walked over to him and looked at his leg. Everything appeared normal, at least on the outside of his leg. He couldn't walk. He just laid on the ground for quite a while. I helped him get to a chair. I figured he would be running around again in a few minutes - he always is. Not this time. He just kept holding his left foot and moaning. I gave him some ibuprofen hoping that would help. He wanted to sit in the car and prop his leg up.

Shortly after he gets to the car we are scared out of our wits when two incredibly vicious sounding dogs came out of nowhere and started to lunge at us and Ruby! Walter started screaming at them and Tyler to get rocks and throw them at the dogs. I quickly got Ruby off her chain and practically threw her in the car for protection. Ruby came unglued when she heard and saw them. I've never heard her growl and bark like that. I guess her little 'vacation' back in the summer helped her to 'grow up'. We were able to scare the dogs off and everything went back to 'normal?'.

We tried to stick it out. We ate dinner and the pain had gotten so bad with Phyllip that he was sobbing and asked if we could just go home and take him to the doctor. By this time it is pitch black outside. There were no lights at this campground. We had our flashlights and that was it. We decided it was just too mean and heartless to stay there and packed up everything as quick as possible.

Phyllip and I ended up at the cattle call, I mean emergency room, a short while later. There were only a few seats left. It was so packed in there. It was awful.

I haven't paid too much attention to the whole swine flu thing. I believe it's too hyped up - not that people aren't getting sick from it, but the media is blowing it way out of proportion. Anyway, so many of the patients have the flu - you would have to be blind not to see it. They all looked the same - red sunken eyes, red nose, coughing, absolutely miserable feeling, etc. I was almost scared to stay in there.

But we got checked in and waited. And waited. And waited. You get the idea. We were there for 4 hours when we finally got the diagnosis - Phyllip had broken his foot!

If I had just been told I broke my foot, I think I would have cried. But...I'm a girl. Phyllip acted like he had just scored the winning point in a football game! He threw his hands up in the air and shouted, "Cool!" Then he looks at me with the biggest smile and says, "That's 1 down and 205 to go, Mom!" I'm not exactly sure that he actually wants to break all 206 bones in his body, but at that moment he thought it was a great idea! In my head I'm thinking, "You just wait, buddy. You aren't going to like that cast or crutches after a day or two." But, there was no convincing him of it at that point.

He got a splint put on his foot, was given crutches, discharge papers, and we were off. It was very late. He thought the crutches were so 'cool' that he had this sudden burst of energy and he just wanted to 'walk' everywhere. He was all smiles and chatter. I, on the other hand, just wanted my bed. I was exhausted. Just thinking about all that Friday would hold with doctors' appointments and such made me even more tired and it basically ruined any and all plans we had made.

It was a rough night of sleep. Walter had an allergy attack and couldn't sleep. I couldn't get into the REM sleep pattern. I was catnapping. Phyllip woke up a couple of times screaming that his foot hurt and we had to rewrap it for him. We ended up getting about 3 hours of sleep.

I was up as early as I could be and was getting ready to leave in a moment's notice in case the doctor's office told us to come immediately. I had started calling the pediatrician's office to get a referral to the orthapedist's office but they weren't answering the phones yet. In the meantime, I got a phone call from the hospital saying they had read the xray of Phyllip's foot wrong and he didn't break his foot after all. He just sprained/brusied it badly. A huge sense of relief came over me. All adrenaline that had been pumping through my body instantly drained. I was completely and utterly mush - good for nothing.

But, I had to keep going because Saturday was a busy day with a homeschool meeting and then on to see Lyndsey for the rest of the day. I needed to get groceries and fix lunch and dinner to take with us so we didn't have to spend money eating out.

By the time Saturday rolled around, Phyllip discovered that crutches aren't as cool as he thought. They are actually a lot of work. That poor kid had to use them so much. His foot just wasn't up to a lot of walking. His upper body strength was drained out of him quickly. This morning he was mush - bemoaning the fact he needed to use the crutches. Tonight he said, "Well Mom, I learned that crutches just aren't that fun after 1 or 2 days."

We are very thankful that Phyllip didn't break his foot. It has definitely been an adventure - just one that I don't care to repeat.