Kids get sick. They
get sick in the city, in the country, and when you are camping at rural
campgrounds in the mountains. Yesterday
was an adventurous day until around 6pm.
On May 20th,
in the morning, we tried to hike the River Trail along the Kern River. The Ranger and the handouts said it was an
easy to moderate hike which may be true for adults, but when you’re roaming
with a busy preschooler it was nothing but nerve wracking! I was feeling proud of myself for remembering
the things I forgot on our first hike at Joshua Tree (my walking stick and a
backpack with first aid kit, hand sanitizer, and a place to put the water
bottles instead of making the kids carry their own). The trail began by crossing over the river by
bridge and then descending some rather shaky stairs. Then you follow the path forged out of the
side of the mountain and it climbs slowly.
In some places it is very narrow and you find yourself looking down a
steep slope to white water below. A
beautiful hike for adults, but not one you feel comfortable with a three-year
old. I had a death grip on Sister’s hand
and I walked along the edge keeping her close to the mountain. In some places she had to walk ahead of me
but I never let go of her hand. We got
about this far from the bridge (see pic) before I insisted we turn back. My mama nerves couldn’t take it. I would have taken more pictures but I was
fearing for our lives.
On the way back we climbed down the rock to a small sandy beach. We all took off our shoes and sock and put
our feet in the river. The river became
deep quickly in this area and many kayaks and rafts were putting in across from
the sandy shore. We also had a good view
of the bridge. It seemed safe enough and
we all enjoyed the icy water for a bit before we cleaned the sand from our
feet, got our socks and shoes back on and headed back up the rickety stairs and
across the bridge to the truck.
I had packed a picnic
so driving back to our campground we looked for a site to stop and eat. We found one along the river with a picnic
table in the shade. I had even
remembered the table cloth so we had a nice spread with peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches, hummus with whole wheat pitas (frozen before we left AZ) and
veggies, trail mix, fruit, juice and
water. It was a great picnic. When we got back to the campground we put on
our suits and headed down to the creek (I learned the water flowing behind our
site is not the Kern but rather an off shoot of the Kern) where we explored an
area upstream which was a little nebulous to traverse and got a bit deep (waist
for me). I had to carry Sister as I
slowly and deliberately found my footing among the rocks and fallen trees in
the creek. Once I passed the deep part
Sister was happy to walk in the shallow parts with her hand in mine and we
looked for pretty rocks, wildflowers, butterflies (this is a monarch refuge!),
and drift wood.
We must have spent a couple of hours at the creek before we
called it quits and headed up to dry off, warm up and make dinner. We were all starving, we made refried bean
burritos and Sister had a great appetite – eating two – double her usual. Then we decided to have a movie night, we
cuddled up in our bed and turned on Where the Wild Things Are – a seemingly
appropriate title for our adventure – but part way through the movie sister
started moaning and I realized she felt warm.
I took her temp and it was 103.5.
She became lethargic and weak within a half hour and despite giving her
some Tylenol her fever did not seem to be coming down. Luckily I remembered reading about an ER in a
handout about the area. The hospital was
some 40 minutes away on the other side of Lake Isabella in Mountain Mesa, but I
felt that we had to take her. It was around
7:30 p.m. when the hospital staff took her temp for the first time and it had
climbed to 104.7. We stripped her down,
put cold washcloths on her, gave her more meds and started an IV for
fluids. We didn’t leave the hospital
until 6:30 a.m. and I sat with her in the ER all night while she was infused,
lots of tests were run, and they finally got her fever down. She did puke all over the ER bed (thankful
that didn’t happen in the Hideout). But
ultimately it seems she had a virus as no evidence of a bacterial infection
could be found. It was horrible, but I
am so glad we took her because I could have never forced fluids to the level
they did and I am sure that helped her out.
I am also so thankful that I had made a mental note about the emergency
facilities because without cell phone service or data we would not have been
able to search for help when it was needed.
This is a good lesson – it is good to know where to go for help
regardless of where you are.
When we got back home this morning (5/21/18) I was so
exhausted I could hardly string a sentence together. My memory is hazy about this morning as
well. I know we all came home and went
to bed, but then Brother (who spent most of the night in the truck with Husband
and who was the most well-rested) woke up and started playing video games. Sister (who slept most of the night in the
hospital and did not have a fever in the AM) joined him for a while, but then
came back to bed with me and the three of us slept until around 2:00 p.m. I got up a couple of times to help Brother
and Sister with food, to help Sister with her toileting and change of clothes,
but it seems like a dream now. This
evening her fever started to climb again but we gave her medication and it is
controlled at present. We have an alarm
set so we will get up to check her when she is able to have a second dose of
meds. In the meantime it has been
cathartic to write it all down.
I feel bad about having such a busy day when she was
obviously coming down with something, but I really saw no signs of it during
the day. We have guessed at what could
have made her sick…did she put dirty hands in her mouth? Did she get river water in her mouth? She certainly has the worst hygiene practices
of the family at this age…I guess we will never know. Kids get sick and it is good to know that
even when you are in the middle of the rural mountains of CA you find what you
need to survive.
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