So I decided it was time for a camping trip. Auburn had her wisdom teeth pulled on Thursday but by Friday was eager to have us out of her hair so we crammed what we could in the trunk of my car and headed to the closest potential for fresh water, Palmetto State Park. It's on the San Marcos river, a very short, spring-fed water way that I was optimistic would have decent water quality. I was wrong. The park was beautiful and not overly crowded and we managed to find a camp site way to the back and far from the nearest neighbor.
We had a brilliant view off a bluff to the river- or it would have been had the river not been a shallow, muddy, stagnant mess. No swimming in there and frankly I don't think I'd feel very good about eating any fish they might catch. Still, we were determined to have fun and were off to a good start. The kids pitched the tent in record time and Orion tried his hand at the grill, he got a good, hot fire going and cooked up some hot dogs. We were comfortably stuffed and eager to go adventuring. The kids dashed off down the trail while I put away the last of the food stuffs. I can't have been two minutes behind them but they were already coming back before I got ten feet from the table.
"I got bit by a snake." Rheannon said, very calmly. "Really?" It wouldn't be the first time, I've raised a pack of naturalists and they are quite inclined to pick up snakes and have had more than one bite from a frightened reptile. As she got closer I noticed the pearled droplets of blood that indicated fang marks, a sure sign that this was no harmless slitherer. Better safe than sorry I reckoned; so "Load up." I called and my suddenly accommodating children silently and quickly piled into the car.
We stopped at the camp ground hosts camp site to ask directions to the nearest hospital. A mistake as he didn't seem to know and suddenly got very anxious and wanted to ask a thousand questions. I cut him off as politely as possible and snapped my fingers to draw Orion's attention away from the passing gaggle of girls and back to the task at hand, jumped back in the car and headed for the highway. I tossed Orion the cell phone and he called 911 to get directions.
In the mean time I was testing the limitations or my little engine and quickly learned why Toyota Corollas are often stolen by street racers. As Rowan later said, "You were shifting and it was like vrroom, vvvrrrrrrrroom, errrooom!" Rheannon swears I was doing 90- something Orion is still talking about- but the thing that really got their attention was when I shouted at a driver that nearly cut us off, "Get out of the road, Jack Ass!" I guess I'm glad that's the worst my kids have ever heard me say. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets embellished over the years but I'm going on record now that that is all I said.
We made the ten mile drive in what felt like 20 minutes but was probably closer to 5. I think I've discovered a potential career as a city engineer planning the lay out of signs. You would think that Hospital signs would be clear and easy to follow. I carried Rheannon in the door by the Emergency Room sign only to find out that the ER was on the other side of the hospital. Huh??? Anyway, it wasn't a busy night and they knew we were coming. She got excellent care and when asked about her pain level, very calmly pronounced it to be a Two. Just curious I asked, "What was your pain level when you crushed you finger in the hinge of the car door?" "Oh," she said after thinking a moment, "a four?" OooKay. Guess we all know not to trust Rheannon's assessment of pain as a valid way to determine the seriousness of an injury- I thought I was stoic.
The kids all saw the snake and reported it to be small. Their description eventually led to identifying it as a young Cotton Mouth (AKA Water Moccasin). Three punctures were clearly visible, something that puzzled us until her foot swelled and revealed a forth wound nearly on top of another. So she was bitten twice. The real concern here was actually the snakes youth. According to our very knowledgeable and charming doctors and nurses, 98% of snake bites involve little or no venom. Snakes only produce so much in a given week and don't want to waste it on warning strikes. Young snakes, however, lack the control or wisdom to hold back. We were hoping this snake, an adolescent, was old enough to have some self control. Obviously teen age snakes have all the self restraint of their human cohort because as time would show, she got a good dose.
Though they were optimistic that she wouldn't need anti-venom, they still started an IV and gave her a tetanus shot. She was far more put out by these puncture wounds than she was the snake bite.
As the discoloration didn't spread during the hours we were in the Luling ER the decision was made, and I fully agreed, that she would be fine. We were released to return to our camping and we were back in our cozy tent by midnight. Neither Rhea nor I slept well that night. She because her foot was itching and me because my residual adrenaline level wouldn't allow it. We both gave up just after dawn and crawled over the sound sleepers to make breakfast. The swelling had spread half way up her calf but she claimed they told us that would happen. I wracked my brain and couldn't remember that but it sounded reasonable. Still we decided to go back to the hospital to ask for crutches and to let them take a look at it. The other kids slowly emerged for the day and we were eating pancakes when the ER doc called to check on her. He thought the swelling should be looked at so we opted to drive into town sooner than later. We all expected to be returning to our campsite soon.
The doctor had conferred with a bite specialist and the decision was made to transfer to Dell Children's hospital in Austin, one hour away. They didn't feel it was an emergency and were allowing me to drive her. Apparently they weren't overhearing the story Orion was telling everyone he could think of to call, or they might not have let any of them ride with me.
They just wanted to do one last set of vitals before they let us go. Unfortunately Rheannon, like all her older siblings, has inherited my hypovolemia and her blood pressure drops and heart rate elevates when she stands up. When this happened the situation changed. They could no longer release her to me and so she got to make the trip in an ambulance while I took the other kids to pack up camp and follow as quickly as possible.
Rheannon, always the under-reactor, felt that the wires and tubes were overkill. She was understanding but disappointed to have to stay the night and endure THREE, counth them 3!!!, doses of anti-venom.
She did have fun holding her breath to make strange patterns on the monitor. She felt pretty bad when they told her that it's someone's job to sit in a room and look at all the monitors and that alarms go off when anything unusual happens and that poor person can't shut them off.
Once they finally got her a wheelchair and allowed us to explore the hospital, we were both impressed by the interesting things they had set up to entertain the patients.
The staff was great and all in all the experience was non-traumatic. She even got special lessons on the use of crutches and her own pair to take home. For Rheannon the worst part was all the attention. Everyone wanted to talk to her and doctors and nurses, not even on her case, kept wandering in to marvel at the wound. Or maybe they were just all curious about the girl that never complains- they did seem to find that quite amazing.
As soon as we could, we slipped away from the admiring staff and explored the hallways. We stopped to admire the simple yet interesting projection of droplets falling when we inadvertently discovered that it was interactive. Pretty cool, huh?
1 comment:
I haven't been on here in ages....it's great to be able to keep up with all of the kids! We are so greatful for the e-mails about Rheannon, what a trooper. We were all very worried and are so glad to hear she is doing so well. As always we have to run, please give the kids are love...Miss you all!
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