Fun, Fun, Fun..... Not So Fun

This week has been great.  My sister-in-law and her two boys came for a visit on Tuesday.  We had planned to go to the Martin Nature Park to hike, eat lunch, then go swimming.  However, when we arrived at the Martin Nature Park, we quickly realized it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Instead, we went to a park and let the kids play.  The kids didn't seem to mind the change of plans.  After lunch, we went swimming.  It was the perfect day for swimming.  

Tuesday evening, we went to the Court of Arms ceremony for Boy Scouts.  My son got his "Scout" patch.  When we got home from Boy Scouts, we had to pack our bags to go to the lake on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, we headed to the lake for some relaxation and fun.  After a quick trip to Wal-Mart for some burgers to grill for dinner, we got out on the lake.  The kids had a blast tubing.  It was fun to watch them bumping around in the water. 

We made it back to the cabin around 6 p.m.  The officer grilled our burgers, while my daughter drove me around in the golf cart.  She's a natural at driving.  It was a great evening.  

I woke up about 7 a.m. and went for a walk.  I walked down to one of the small lakes by the cabin. The sun was coming up.  It was a beautiful morning.  I went back to the cabin and took the kids swimming for an hour.

They were the only people swimming.  The kids enjoyed "mining" for black rocks along the shore and jumping off the docks.

We packed up and went into town to eat breakfast.  My daughter had a "Glitz & Glamour Night" at church from 7-10 p.m.   I took her up to the church.  Everything was decorated cutely with pink and black.  There was a photo booth, a place to make bracelets, tiaras, picture frames, paint fingernails, and other girly things.  My daughter was very excited.

The officer decided to take my son to Frontier City, a local amusement park.  It's been years since my son has been there.  He loved the roller coasters!  He wanted to ride a ferris wheel.  I think it might have been his first time. 

I dropped my daughter at the church and was supposed to meet a friend for a quick bite to eat at 8 p.m.  I went to Mardel to kill a little bit of time.  When I left the store, I got a text from the officer.  It stated, "First, I'm okay.  But will need you to come to the hospital emergency room.  Had some issues with food and they will..."  I immediately called him.  He said he had a hard time swallowing some meat and he couldn't get it out.  He went to the emergency room and they couldn't get it out either.  They were going to have to put him under, send in a scope and pull the meat out.  That's about all he said.  I got off the phone and cancelled dinner, called my sister, Mistie and asked her to meet me at the hospital to pick up my kids and then went to the church to pick up my daughter.

We got to the hospital about 8:40 p.m.  As I was driving in, the officer called me.  He finally was able to tell me the story about what actually happened. The officer and my son ate dinner at Earls.  The officer had ordered the rib dinner.  He took exactly three bites.  The first bite went down fine.  The second bite, not so much.  The third, not so much either.  He immediately knew something was wrong.  He went to the restroom to try to "assist" the food coming up.  Fortunately, the meat was not lodged where it would blocked his windpipe.  He could still talk and breath.  The officer said he was in the restroom for 40 minutes.  All this time, my son came and checked on him every five minutes.  The officer gave him to money to pay the bill.  He paid the waitress and boxed up the food.  He was such a trooper.  The officer decided to go across the street to the after hours clinic.  He told them what happened and they told him he would have to go the emergency room.  That's where he texted me.

My sister actually beat me to the hospital.  Bless her, she had four of her kids with her.  :)  She tried to find out exactly where the officer was.  He was in Outpatient.  I finally found out where he located, which was not easy with no one manning any of the information desks.  I called from the Outpatient waiting room phone and the nurse informed me they had already taken the officer back for his procedure.  I knew he was fine, but I didn't know where my son was.  The nurse told me he was with her and he was fine.  She immediately brought him out to me.  He was shaken up, but was fine  He had been so brave.  He went home with my sister.

I waited in the waiting room for about 20 minutes before the nurse came and got me.  The officer's procedure was finished and he was in recovery.   When I went back into recovery, he was still asleep, hooked up to all kinds of wires.  He came out the anesthesia pretty easily.  The doctor came in and told me what exactly he did.  He removed the two pieces of meat that were stuck.  Basically, the officer gets acid reflux which creates scar tissue on his esophagus.  When that happens a stricture is placed around his esophagus, making it smaller.  Eventually, he has a problem swallowing food.  Since he had no food in his stomach and only a little time had passed since the food got stuck, the doctor was able to dilate his esophagus.  That was a blessing because if he had waited longer, we would have had to schedule the esophagus dilation in a week.  

So thankful that God watched over the officer and my son through the whole ordeal and that my son and the officer were able to stay calm.  

And... no I won't be chewing the officer's food for him like a momma bird.  :)