Boy + Bike = Urgent Care

Well here is a picture that a few people have been waiting for. We went camping up at Sugar Pine Point in Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful as always. However within 24 hours of being there we were frantically driving around the lake trying to find an Urgent Care Center. Brigham had gone on a bike ride with Grandma and Grandpa and a few other kids. Charles was on a bike ride around Lake Tahoe with some friends and so I was just waiting back at camp with the little ones for all my biker family to return. Charles got back from his ride and with in 10 minutes of his arrival Grandma was bringing Brigham back with her. He was holding something up to his mouth and she told us that he had had an accident on his bike. He was such a trooper and got back up on his bike and rode back about a mile and a half and did not cry until he saw his dad. His lip and mouth were really bloody and we decided that we should find a place to have him looked at. Our friends were also in Tahoe for a family reunion and they have a brother in law that is an ER doctor. I debated on calling them but I did not want to bother them on their vacation. So off we went to find a doctor. When we went to the ranger station the girl had NO IDEA where to send us and just handed us a phone book to look it up. No good. We called 411 on our cell phone and they were unable to give us anything close. We said a prayer in the car along the way and soon after we passed a fire station that actually had a fireman standing outside. What luck. No- not luck - answer to a prayer. She told us some rough directions how to get to an Urgent Care that was about 5 miles away. When we got where we thought that she told us to go we were still lost. Guess what? Another fire station with more firemen out front. We were able to get better directions and they even stopped traffic so we could get back on the busy highway. Once we were there we had a short wait where we had the nicest nurse, who had all boys and reassured Brigham that everything was going to be ok but that he was going to need to get stitches. He was very nervous at that point but she was great with him and really helped calm his fears. Then we had a great young lady doctor who stitched him up something great! She was very calming and complimented him on his bravery. She said that she has had grown men not do as well and she was serious. 6 stitches, 2 lost teeth, 2 screwed up front permanent teeth, 2 bottle of Motrin, 1 bottle of Tylenol, countless straws and $400.00 later we had a cleaned up Brigham who showed how brave he could be and was such a good sport to still go to the beach with us and tried so hard not to ruin our family vacation. He was such a trooper. Here is his picture about 24 hours later. He kept telling us not to take anymore picture picture of him. He could not even stand to look at himself in the mirror for a while until the swelling went down. After we got back from camping he was still down and out on the couch. That was ok because I joined him there for a few days coming down with strep throat the day after we got back from camping. All in all it was really a fun trip despite the bear getting all the way in to the cab of the truck for a brownie bite, 4 of my 5 kids sick (on Motrin,Tylenol or Robitussin), and raining ash over our entire camp for the last 2 days from all the fires, but seriously it was FUN! That is what makes life interesting. It would be so boring if everything always went smoothly.