Quality Time in the Emergency Room

We had a day of shopping, taking pictures and visiting the glacier. We were in to the camp ground late. Boo and Beeray decided that they would shower at night rather than in the morning. It was cold (we are in the valley below the glacier) and not quite dark. They decided to run to the showers. Boo took a short cut around a car. She hit a bit of mud, her legs went out from under her and smashed to the ground.

She hit a rock and tore a 5 inch flap off of her right knee. She also picked up half the forest in that huge wound.

She walked/hopped back to RiVa with blood pouring out of her leg. Boo was terrified. There was so much blood. She kept telling me "Mommy, I'm so scared!" over and over. She was white as a ghost and in terrible pain. Through the tear in her jeans, I could see adipose tissue the layers of skin and dirt, rocks and stones. It was clear that this nasty gash was going to need stitches but only after it had been thoroughly cleaned. I unhooked RiVa and started driving without any plan other than find an emergency room. Beeray programed Maggie for "hospital". She then sat on the floor next to Boo to comfort and help her. It took us about a half hour to get the hospital emergency room because the first emergency room we tried was a private urgent care clinic and was closed.

What a change from the emergency rooms in our area of California! The emergency room waiting area was empty. In the back there were true emergencies such as heart attack, gall bladder and a drunk who had been beaten by his friends and the requisite nurses and doctors but the emergency room wasn't filled with the non emergencies that we see in Southern California emergency rooms.

They saw us right away. A nurse numbed the knee and started to clean as much of the stones, pine needles and dirt out of the wound as he was able. The cleaning was done by the physician and a nurse. The cleaning took over an hour. It was really nasty. After the stitches they x-rayed her leg. No broken bones.

Beeray was a saint, taking care of her sister and comforting her. At the very end, when we were waiting for them to discharge us, Beeray went out to RiVa and fell asleep.

I was a mess. I was having trouble dealing with them dissecting stones, sticks and dirt from Boo's leg. Three times they had to put me on a stretcher because I was about to faint. UGH!

All told, our emergency room visit in Juneau lasted about 3 hours of quality time and togetherness. We got back to the camp by 1:30 am. Boo has 4 stitches inside and 8 outside. She has a splint to keep her from bending her leg. She has instructions that she is not to do any strenuous exercise for the next couple of weeks. She is going to have a nasty scar on the right side of her right knee.

Meet Maggie

My father is worried about my directional and navigational skills. His first clue that I might not know what I was doing was when I decided that the shortest route to Fairbanks, Alaska from Malibu, California involved a trip through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and three Canadian provinces. When viewed from a satellite, the route traces a soft backwards approximation of a "C". Then, when I was making my detour to Sun Valley to visit my parents, I passed a sign that read "Twin Falls", Sun Valley" with an arrow pointing south. YIKES! Somehow I had passed the turnoff and had gone who-knows-how-many-miles in the wrong direction. So I pulled off the road and called my father.

BIG mistake! Grandpa the MIT Wiz, was alarmed that I was taking Beloved Granddaughter 1 and Beloved Granddaughter 2 into a black hole where no light, let alone Beloved Granddaughters 1 and 2 would ever emerge again. Clearly I could not be trusted with something as important as navigating all the way to Alaska and, here is the critical part, BACK to Malibu SAFELY. In my mind's eye I could see him shaking his head as he gave me directions. Grandpa was utterly baffled at how ANYONE could get lost when driving on the Interstate!

Grandpa solved the problem. He presented Beeray with a navigational device and instructions that she was now to be the navigator. The navigational device is a Magellan Roadmate and has been dubbed, Maggie. Tomorrow will be Maggie's first test. Beeray and Maggie will help us find out way to Interstate 15 which will take us to Canada.

Payson to Sun Valley

As it turns out, RiVa, the Van RV is quite a way to travel. The mileage is around 14 miles/gal and we have almost all the comforts of home. Where she fails is the tight space. It is a struggle to get my two teen-ish daughters to keep rubble off of the floor so we can walk. Riva has a stove and microwave, 3 beds to sleep 4 VERY good friends :), a shower inside and one outside, refrigerator, 2 TVs, toilet, and sink. She is very convenient.

Today was a pretty short day. We checked out of Payson and headed north on I-15. There was quite a bit of construction on the Hwy just north of Salt Lake City. Our next stop was Ogden, Utah for gas. At a Flying J the gas price was $3.93. Woo Hoo!

We passed the turn off to Sun Valley and then though better of it, turned around and headed toward my parents' house. They are thrilled. Grandpa took us all out to dinner at Rocky Mountain Pizza (the best pizza in Sun Valley/Ketchum).