Camping Casualties - Pt 1

Camping started out fun and exciting on Thursday afternoon. But rather than go through our trip chronologically as I normally would, I'm going to start with the most traumatic events and work our way to the happy stuff later this week.

As you can see from this picture, Drew had a little mishap on Friday morning, sending us to the ER in Jackson. For those that didn't hear about it on Facebook or by phone, Drew fell into the fire pit while chasing after a ball.

The good news, the fire embers were from the fire we made the night before. The bad news, it was still smoldering hot, and he suffered first and second degree burns.

The moment it happened, I was snapping a shot of my sister Lisa and her boyfriend Jimmy. But I heard my Mom, who was sitting right next to me, yell my name in that "stop everything you're doing"tone. I didn't have to look at her, just panned to find Drew and saw him going hands first into the fire pit.

All I remember is making the maddest dash from my chair to him in milliseconds. And yelled at him as I was pulling him out, and running into Mom & Dad's trailer, to wash his hands off praying all the while it was just some ash on his hands and he was freaked out, just as I was. As the water hit his hands, and cleaned away the ash, I saw the blisters coming up, and I calmly said, "we need to go to the hospital". I asked for some ice, and we sat on the couch in the trailer so I could inspect his hands a little more - and to catch a breather for myself as everything was starting to sink in, and I was feeling a little woozy.

We tried to apply the ice, and that wasn't going over so well - it never does for bumps and bruises either, so why should this be any different. Much of what I remember during this time, was how amazingly calm I was despite Drew was hysterical. I just gathered him up, got his diaper bag (which had my wallet) while Mom got her keys and we loaded into the truck.

I strapped Drew into the carseat at first thinking, it was the safest thing while I sat alongside of him. We didn't get 1/2 a mile down the road before I just pulled him out and cuddled him. We were on our way to the hospital anyway (about 15 minutes down the road), so if we got into an accident... well we wouldn't be much worse off than we already were. And Drew REALLY just needed consoling. I think this was when the pain started to set in on his tiny little hands.

We got to the ER at Sutter Amador Hospital and they knew instantly he hurt his hands, based on how he was holding them. I filled out the entry paperwork, and Grammy took Drew outside. He has a phobia of doctor's office and hospitals, and all he kept saying was "I go Bye-bye" over and over. So rather than traumatize all the other ER patients, we pacified him while we got everything in order. Within 5 or 10 minutes of our arrival they called us back to triage, and put some numbing cream on his hands and got his first round of "gloves" on his hands (just some gauze to hold the pads).

There was a minor mishap on the weight and we had to have a do-over since the nurse pegged him at 20 lbs when the doc and I said he weighed more than 24 lbs. We were right, but they needed the weight to be exact since they were going to give him some demoral to calm him down enough to check his hands. That demoral kicked in fairly quickly only Drew was still pretty hysterical - it took him perhaps 30 minutes to nearly knock out, and then the nurse and doctor came in.

Good news - they were only first and second degree burns. Not the 3rd Degree which would have sent us to the burn unit for treatment. So the nurse bandaged him up and we were on our way. Poor kid was so upset that he had that "hyperventilating" breathing thing while he slept on the ride back to camp and for a good 2 hours of the nap that followed. Poor baby would wake up and say "all done, no more" in his sleep. This was what he kept repeating as they were putting the bandages on him.

Grammy & GrampC drove back down to town and got Drew's liquid Vicodin prescription filled, and Daddy who wasn't due to come up until Friday afternoon anyway showed up, and I finally was able to relax a bit.

When Drew woke up, he was a true champ! He adjusted to his "gloves" so well and only asked us to take them off for the first 2 hours after that nap. I think he's asked maybe one other time. He's a real trooper. He's maneuvering things around with his thumbs, and still wants to play, pick up toys and rocks.

We decided to stay up at the campground since everything we could do there, we would do at home. And up there, we had extra help and assistance from everyone! It was the right decision, and Drew managed to keep his white gloves pretty darn clean.

Sunday was the first time we had to take those bandages off and clean the blisters. The right hand is definitely worse than the left, and looks like one large blister with five fingertip blisters. We will go to his doctor today and have them take a look as well (I look at it as one less dressing change I need to do).

This was by far the most traumatic camping trip I've been on, and I'm hoping the last time something like this happens. But Drew's a real trooper, and the ER doctor thought he should be all clear in about 10 days. Thank you to everyone who has sent healing prayers our way. Please keep them coming.