Stacy: Day 13 (August 1, 2015)
Today we once again started the day bright and early--we had a scheduled, guided tour of Carlsbad Caverns' Kings Palace chambers. Oh, what a beautiful (and chilly!) place!! Apparently, I'd visited the caverns before, but my mother wisely left her 3-year-old at the kennel. 30 years later, I saw no evidence of this "daycare" they spoke of; only a kennel.
Heck, at that age (and yes, to this day), if you gave me a nice piece of carpeted floor-real estate to sleep on, I was happy! Place a carpet remnant at the bottom of a cage, and I wouldn't have known the difference.
I kid, I kid.........
Our bad luck-of sorts-was still following us. Albeit, it was mostly someone else's bad luck this time. In the Caverns, the Ranger had just let us in the gate at the very beginning of the King's Palace tour area. We had all filed in, and were waiting down a ramp for her to shut the gate and return to the front of the line (where we were). A group of about 6 kids (under 10) were leading us, and then there was a family of three: parents and their young adult son. That family was standing at the curve, mostly blocked by railings and a fallen boulder, but there was about a two-foot gap between the two over the continuing path below.
Kim and I were facing each other, Abby next in line, behind us. The guy, his back to us, teetered backwards, but caught himself.
Kim and I looked at each other. We'd had an odd soul on our hike the night before--he did some quick, spastic-like dance moves while we were stopped looking at the full moon.
Even though this guy seemed to have caught his balance, split seconds later, he lunged forward. At this point, I didn't think anything was wrong because in the corner of my eye he was upright and unmoving.
His mom spoke loudly, "He's having a seizure."
I turned my head in response to her tone. This time she shouted, "He's having a seizure!"
The mom began to collapse under the weight of her son, and then the dad realized what was happening. He reached out, at about the same time I did, to catch his son. As they roughly guided him down, I started to feel in my hands and back up to give them room to Manuela.
"Watch his head!" His mom shouted at the dad, and my hands shot back out to help, but fell short because my legs had failed to also move (still have a bum knee, remember). Luckily, his head didn't hit too hard, and his upper body was partially on his mom.
At this point, only a handful of seconds had passed. The shouts were just trickling back to the Ranger who was closing the gate. My mind was shouting at me, "Roll him on his side. Roll him on his side!!" But, I didn't move because his parents were supposed to be more familiar with his situation, right?? While they were definitely alarmed [the mother , off balance, hadn't gone over the edge with her son], they did not seem panicked anymore. Thus, my hesitation to roll the guy over.
Gurgles and grunts emanated from his mouth. His body convulsed.
"I'm a nurse!" Rang out from somewhere closely behind us. People quickly parted for her, and I relaxed.
"Let the professionals take over," I thought.
Now I know what "it happened so fast" feels like. This couldn't have taken more than 30 seconds to occur--a minute at most. I remember it all so clearly, too. The human brain truly is a wonder!
The nurse tried to get the guy on his side, but either they couldn't, or it seemed like he was coming out of the seizure. The Ranger made her way halfway down to hear us, and after getting basics (age, sex, and what he needed-"Oxygen!"), ran to the nearby emergency telephone to get EMS.
There was no mention of what condition the guy had, but his mom was relieved that this episode was much shorter than usual. He is normally unconscious for a couple of hours--sleeping it off. "He probably got too excited," she said calmly as she wiped his mouth clear. The nurse kept talking soothingly to him.
He lay still, now, and while his breathing had become regular, it was still labored.
I'm sure it was within 5 minutes, total, an EMS guy came down and took over from the nurse. We moved down the path a bit more to give them more room. He could now respond yes or no to questions. After ensuring the EMS guy was ok, and that the second EMS was on his way, she guided us down the path and continued our tour.
You could feel the unease of us all at first, but it melted away as we delved deeper into the bowels of the earth. We'd left the improving young man in capable hands, and it was now time to enjoy the wonders of the King's Palace, where all I could think about (in an excited, yet creeped out sort of way) was the plot of the movie, " The Descent " (2005).
Oh, what a beautiful landscape those caverns have! Absolutely breathtaking! Especially in the pitch blackness, when she turned out the lights for a few minutes. ;o)
After the caverns, we drove back through the mountains--reminiscent of the Colorado area with it s pine trees and lush greenery. Only, literally after we passed through the last high mountain, it was back to the New Mexico/West Texas scrubby brush and more arid ground. There was no subtle transition zone. It was, "Bam!" Out of mountains, back to desert.
We stopped by the Guadalupe National Park and walked around a short trail for about an hour. We also did a Geo Cache.
El Capitan, sheer cliff face just left of center
Then, we drove to Ft. Davis, Tx, where we met up with my parents! We sort-of had dinner (a story for another day), and then we rushed to the McDonald Observatory so we didn't miss our scheduled Twilight Lecture and Full Moon Star Party.
It was amazing seeing Saturn in one of their large, domed telescopes [note: NOT one of their main research telescopes]. But, I've seen Saturn (and Jupiter) more clearly through my dad's [much less expensive] telescopes!!! That was shocking to discover, for sure!
The bright moon did wash out the night sky, but it was still a night to remember. I haven't been star gazing with my daddy since Jupiter was hit with those meteors (in 2009?).
~FIN
