If Ray were a professional javelin thrower, we’d all be rich

We set out for our first camping trip with newlyweds Ray and Tiffany on Saturday morning. Ray was so excited that he stayed up after his night shift to drive with Tiffany up north and meet us in the mountains at “the spot.” (Reader’s note: The Spot is the preferred camping venue of the Swink boys. It sits on the side of a mountain only accessible by a narrow dirt and gravel road, which winds back and forth for about 30 minutes if you’re driving at a reasonable speed.) We met on the mountain on Saturday afternoon, set up our tents, and starting gathering firewood, which was a little difficult because it had recently rained after a 30-day dry spell.

A little before 5pm, Ray was hacking away at a downed tree with an axe. Joe was about 30 feet away starting a pile of his own. Ray wanted to add to the stack so he gingerly tossed (threw, launched, catapulted) a branch toward Joe who was now looking the other way. Amazingly, the stick lodged into Joe’s calf, penetrating it about 2 inches!

So for the second time since we moved to Virginia, we went to the ER. It took us about an hour to get to the hospital, where we sat in a packed waiting room for about an hour. (It reminded me of SNL’s Appalachian Hospital sketch. Why are ERs in the country always so busy?) By the time we got into a room, Joe was in a lot of pain and sitting in the world’s worst hospital chair/bed. The nurse/doctor/physician’s assistant numbed the wound and starting cleaning it out by injecting it with a syringe and pressing on his leg to squirt is out. Then, he covered some gauze with antiseptic and stuck it into his leg with the tweezers a few times. At this point, I look up at Joe and he is writhing in pain because in spite of the numbness, he can feel the pressure and his nerves are going nuts. A pale shade of green, he announces that he think he may throw up. But the doctor acted quickly and leaned him back, elevating his feet and allowing the blood to go back to his head.

By the time this is all over, we go to the pharmacy for antibiotics and pain meds, stop at Wendy’s for some much needed food and start back toward the mountain. After much debate (and in spite of Joe’s pain killers not really working) we did go back and finish the camping trip, but opted out of the hike up Old Rag the next day.

Here are some pics. Some of them are a little graphic!