Pulled out of Canandaigua, NY about 9:30 a.m. heading east. Hunter is counting the days till Saturday; she is very anxious to be home. Five weeks is a long time - even when you are having fun.
Drove through rain on and off (more on than off) but decided to go ahead and make a stop at the Herkimer Diamond Mines KOA right about lunch time. Needed to do a follow up visit here, and figured we could stop for a bite of lunch afterwards to break up the 5 hour drive to Newburgh, NY.
A large park, rather spread out, so Roger went one direction and Hunter and I went the other. Our goal was to check to make sure the 30-day items we left with them a month ago had been corrected and basically just touch base with them. As we started out, I hit a muddy spot and found it slippery; I caught myself and cautioned Hunter to be careful. We then chatted how the one thing Grandma didn't need to do was fall in the mud! Checked the kabins first and was pleased to find everything accomplished, so we headed to the satellite bathhouse. One moment I was walking up a slight incline and the next minute I'm face first in the mud! Of course I was carrying an umbrella and so I fell with my right arm outstretched - and knew immediately I had done something very bad to my right shoulder. Tried to get up, but couldn't put any weight on my shoulder and the mud was so slick I couldn't get my feet under me.
I remember Hunter saying, "Oh, Grandma!" There wasn't anything she could do, so I sent her running to find Grandpa, while I sat in the mud and rain. Hadn't even thought to ask Hunter to hand me my umbrella! Not long, here came two work kampers who wanted to try to help me up, but I insisted that I just sit there until Roger got there. One of the men did hand me my umbrella - and the other decided to go get the truck and try to find Roger.
When Roger got there, he moved a picnic table over to me (and almost fell himself) - and we finally got me on my feet. There I stood, covered with mud, soaked to the skin - just as the owner, followed by an EMT unit arrived. Seems they were in the middle of their "Rock & Gem Camp" and are required to have an EMT unit on the grounds. He checked me over and told me that I needed to go to the Urgent Care Center and have my arm x-rayed. I was in so much pain, I was not arguing, but I also wasn't going anywhere covered in mud. Holding on to Roger, I walked myself back to the trailer, where he helped me get into some clean - and dry - clothes.
Meanwhile, Rene had whisked Hunter off to Gem & Rock Camp so she wouldn't have to spend her day in waiting rooms. I got to the Urgent Care Center in Herkimer where they x-rayed my arm - and provided plenty of Kleenex - to dry my tears, which were a mixture of pain and pure frustration at having 'screwed' up!
The PA there indicated that my shoulder was separated, but thankfully nothing broken. However, they didn't have anyone on staff that was qualified to put it back in place, so we drove the 20+ miles to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Utica. They had alerted the ER staff that I was coming and whisked me right in. Even with all the efficiency, it was still over 4 hours from the time it happened until they got the IV in and was able to give me some real pain relief.
Par for the course, the first tries to pop it back didn't work, so more sedation and some injections right into the shoulder joint, and much pulling later, mission accomplished! The doctor wrapped a sheet around me and had Roger and the nurse on one side of the bed pulling the sheet one way, while he was pulling my arm the other. But I was floating so high I was hardly aware of anything - thankfully.
Don't remember much after that - but about 7:00 they got me up and into a wheel chair and rolled me out to the yellow truck. When we got back to the park, Roger checked on Hunter to find her completely immersed in 'camp' with her new friends. He was going to stick something in the oven for supper, but was told that our supper would be arriving shortly.
Well fed and still feeling no pain, I settled into my recliner and promptly went to sleep. Hunter flew in sometime later and grabbed blankets and her pillow and went off to join her friends for the 'overnight' in a kabin.
Rene insisted that we hang around the next day until after the 'ending ceremonies' for the camp. It was very nice and wasn't complete without a parting picture of Hunter and her new friends. As is normal, wasn't much sleep during the 'sleep over' and Hunter was sound asleep in the back seat of the truck almost before we got on the thruway.
Just south of Albany we stopped for gas and Roger went in and got us some 'lunch' . The smell of food woke Hunter and she wolfed down her Quarter Pounder - and went promptly back to sleep.
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