Arkansas Vacation

We haven’t been on vacation in a while. We love to load up with the dogs and travel, sometimes just for the weekend. However, since Kai’s heartworm diagnosis, we didn’t go on any vacations because we didn’t want to deprive Kai of the fun we like to have on our getaways. She was limited to 5 minutes of exercise – on leash only – so we decided to wait until she could enjoy the vacation, too. We talked to the vet and scheduled our vacation for long enough after her treatment that we didn’t have to worry about any heartworm complications. It was a long wait!! I guess you could say that this Arkansas vacation is our celebration trip now that Kai has finished her treatment.

All good vacations should start with Starbucks!! As you can see from Kai’s reflection, she knew that her Pupacchino was on it’s way. Auggie refused to leave her seat, but she was anxiously waiting for hers, too. I was super let down when I received my coffee because instead of a White Chocolate Mocha, they gave me a Chocolate Mocha. It was too much, too rich, too thick. Definitely not the way to start the morning. Yes, I know I could have gone back to get them to fix it but I tried to just deal with it. The order was wrong but I didn’t want to mess up someone else’s day that early. I mean, you know how it is when your day is just getting started and someone starts pointing out things that you messed up……it just sets the wrong tone for the day and I didn’t want to do that to someone. UGH. It was awful. So I just sipped it until we stopped and I could trash it. I ended up throwing away about 3/4 of a venti coffee.

We didn’t have a specific time to be anywhere so we enjoyed the sights along the way and stopped when we wanted to. We stopped at a pretty roadside picnic area to stretch our legs and let the dogs walk around. The best feeling is not having to be anywhere so you can enjoy everywhere. An unlimited amount of time to do what you want, where you want, is a great way to relax and absorb the beauty of where you are.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We rented this cute little cabin in Hatfield, Arkansas (not too far from Mena). It was relatively secluded, surrounded by a lot of acreage, and had a hot tub in the back. We brought a week’s worth of food and snacks, backpacks for hiking, books to read, and fishing gear. The entire trip was designed for relaxing.

• 

The trip here wore the girls out. They came in and fell out on the rug while we unloaded the car and unpacked everything!! They started relaxing as soon as we arrived.

• 

• 

• 

The next morning we slept in, had a late breakfast, grabbed our backpacks, and started driving towards Queen Wilhelmina State Park. We stopped at a small information center and the woman told us that there was a great trail right where we were. Why not?!?! We unloaded and quickly hopped onto a tranquil trail with lots of shade, surrounded by beautiful foliage. The air was crisp and fresh with a light breeze. We hiked for a while and then made our way back to the car. Our next stop would be a small river mouth. We searched for a while for the perfect place. We had an image in our heads of where we wanted to go and we finally found it!!!

It only took about 2 seconds for the dogs to wade out into the water. Kai is a natural ~ she instantly wanted to swim. Auggie was also excited but did not have the same immediate reaction to the water like Kai.

Kai was a silent swimmer – gliding through the water like a beaver. Auggie could swim but she was more like a drunk woman wading out into ankle deep water with flippers on her feet. At one point, she turned around and charged directly at me. I could see that she felt like she needed help as she scratched and clawed at my legs. I was bent over, backing up, reaching for her harness, and yelling “Stand up!! Auggie! Stand up!! Just. Stand. Up!!” Finally I got my hand on her harness handle and she realized the water was hardly deep enough to touch her chest when she was standing up. Can you imagine the scene???? I turned around looking for who may have caught it on video even though I knew we were virtually the only people there. You know what I am talking about —– it’s the same quick scan you do anytime you fall so you can see how many people saw you fall.

They repeatedly swam out as far as the leashes would allow, which was about 16-20 feet, swam back to me, then swam out again. I did not feel completely comfortable unleashing them to let them swim free because I didn’t want to have to swim like hell to chase down dogs as they swam down the river. The area was completely perfect. The river had a slight bend and was gently flowing across the rocks. It was like nature’s lazy river. The water was cool and refreshing on this warm June day.

Back at the truck, we changed into dry clothes and dried off the dogs. We rode back to the cabin with the windows down, letting the wind blow through our hair. Half way home, Kai and Auggie got tired of hanging out of the window and decided to sleep the rest of the way. I guess the swimming was taking it’s toll.

Blood Sugar is No Joke

There are no pictures for this section and you will thank me for that as you read on. After our hiking and swimming day, we cooked dinner and relaxed for the rest of the night. The next day, we woke up and had breakfast. Kym wasn’t feeling well but couldn’t quite describe it so she went to the bedroom to take a nap. After a while, I heard her yelling my name so I went running. As it turns out, she was violently ill and had been throwing up. I did all the normal things….. got the gatorade, a wet wash cloth, and peppermint. She was sweating but had chills and she would lay down then get up to throw up repeatedly. She didn’t have an appetite so the best she could tolerate was the gatorade.

Anyone who knows Kym will know that her blood sugar is hard to control. Sometimes it’s high. Sometimes it’s low. Obviously we always bring her glucometer and medications. This is usually the first thing we check when anything is abnormal. For some unknown reason, we did not do this because we were confident that her blood sugar wasn’t low. Stupid arrogance. Dinner the night before consisted of steak and a large baked potato with pan s’mores for dessert. Breakfast was big, consisting of eggs, sausage, biscuits, peanut butter, and jelly. Keep in mind that Kym’s blood sugar is generally high despite all the medication she takes so the food we ate should have caused her blood sugar to be even higher.

Sooooooooo……Kym continued to be sick for the majority of the day, unable to eat, and existing on peppermint and gatorade. We thought that her blood sugar might be getting a little low since she hadn’t eaten for a while so we checked her blood sugar. LET ME TELL YOU……what we saw launched us both into panic mode. Her glucometer gave us a reading of 35. Yes THIRTY FIVE. 3 5. That is dangerously low. I immediately ran and grabbed a Cadbury egg and a Dr Pepper. I nearly crammed the whole egg in her mouth!!! The thought of eating anything was grossing her out and this super sweet chocolate egg was not appealing at all. She doesn’t generally care for any sweets but I knew it was the piece of food that contained the highest sugar content. While she nibbled on it, I flew back to the kitchen and began collecting anything I could that would bring her sugar up without gagging her. I gave her some honey packets that she swapped for the Cadbury egg. Slowly she began to feel better and less queasy. We checked her blood sugar again, it was coming up quickly. As her blood sugar began to rise, her sickness began to subside.

We have dealt with her uncontrollable diabetes for several years now and we are still learning. We never suspected that her blood sugar could be low because of all the food she ate that should have increased her blood sugar. This one incident quickly taught us a hard lesson that we will never forget. NEVER ASSUME. ALWAYS TEST. Never assume what her blood sugar might be. There is no way we could ever guess correctly so the daily testing has really increased so we never go through this again.

Yes, we are both aware of many actions we should have done, steps we should have taken, or precautions that we should have made. In that moment, we did what we could and learned a valuable lesson. We have created a better rapid response plan and emergency bag for any future disasters that may occur. We have also learned to know the major areas that may be needed in an emergency no matter where we travel.

The following day, we loaded up the truck and came home. Kym was still a little weak, even though her blood sugar was normal again but I assume that is to be expected considering how long she was sick. We were so happy to get home and we continued our resting and relaxing vacation at home.

Be Informed

These types of emergency plans may not be something that any of us think of when we travel somewhere on vacation but I urge you to think about these things when you leave home. We all know where we keep our items at home that could be used in an emergency – first aid items, medication, and phone numbers. We are also aware of the closest hospital when we are in our hometown. This disaster taught us that we need to take our preparations with us. We have an emergency bag that goes everywhere when we travel. It is a small piece of luggage that contains many of the emergency items we may need when away from home. We have also started researching the areas we plan on being in so that we know where everything is and we will not lose precious minutes trying to locate the nearest emergency services. Please use our story to help yourself prepare for the crazy things that could happen while you travel!!