Fish, Sunburns, Snakes and Ambulances

(Mom, Sue, Janet....okay really all of you-Andrew is 100% fine. He did not get bit by the big snake. He's drinking some OJ, waiting on a waffle and watching Little Bill with his cousin Stephan)The boys spent ALL day in and out of the pool. They are playing together so well. Andrew has been waiting for Stephan to grow up just a little so they could play. Stephan turned 4 in January and Andrew was 6 in March.

There was much fishing, some floating in the lake, laughing, of course a trip to Walmart and just some general hanging out.

Then Charlie saw a snake.

Now anytime you are near the water there are snakes. We learned this in Arkansas when we were kids. Snakes just...are.

Charlie killed the snake that was in the brush pile after much too do. I was slow getting the camera so I don't have pictures of the three men...dancing around with their weapons.

It was a pretty big snake.

There is a hole in the base of this tree and the other snake retreated to it's hiding place. We knew it was in the hole so now the guys worked to flush it out. They flooded it with water (pumped from the lake so not wasteful)It wasn't working so Dad came with the bleach. Now this was probably not good in any way for the environment but...well...it was a BIG snake. In the yard where the kids are playing.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

We, of course, watched from the safety of the deck.The little boys were very worried.We waited. And out came the big snake. Quickly beheaded.
Now those are some dang BIG snakes.

I don't feel bad about that bleach at all.

Later in the afternoon...after swimming and playing, Andrew came in the house complaining of feeling sick to his stomach. We took him to the restroom where we were very quickly aware that he was in some real trouble.

He was showing all the classic signs of heat exhaustion. We called 911, stripped him down and started rotating towels dipped in ice water, no shivering, not very responsive.

I won't lie. It was so incredibly scary.

I wanted a paramedic. I wanted IV fluid, O2 and a look at what his heart was doing.

Knowledge is not always helpful. Sometimes it scares the shit out of you.

The paramedics got here quick. They were professional and kind. They got some O2 on him, got good IV access and started giving him cool fluid.

It was the LONGEST 30 minute ride to the hospital.

By the time we got there he was awake and talking.

They checked all of vitals, electrolytes, he even had a cat scan just to rule out any thing else.

This morning he's fine.

He will, however, quickly grow tired of us today.

It happened so quick. We were all here.

It was about 90 degrees but very humid. It's not like he was somewhere where no one was keeping an eye on him. They were in and out of the house, in and out of the pool.

Eating, drinking, peeing.

The little ones are very hardy, resilient. But they decompensate so fast. When things start to go south they go south fast.

Love them, play with them, kill the snakes, put the sunscreen on, keep 'em hydrated, bring them inside once in a while to cool off.

And the very second you think something isn't right. Call 911.