Xcaret and ER and now the balcony is offlimits

We tend to visit Xcaret yearly, even though the ticket price is some US $127 a head, because on the event of the reenactment of the Travesia Sagrada, the entrance fee is waived.  As long as you get to the gate before 7am.  You would think this wouldn’t be that much of a problem but people arrive in gigantic bus loads and you really need to be in line by 5am to get that free wristband.  Oh, and the canoeists leave at dawn, so you need to be down to the Xcaret beach by then to see them leave.  Last year we didn’t make it.  We barely made it in through the gates with our free wristbands but were way too late to see the canoeists leave.  But hey, we got free entrance and enjoyed not only our day but reveled in the nighttime show.  the nighttime show is reported to be well worth the price of admission right there.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure that there is anything about Xcaret (even if they threw in Xplor with the ticket) to justify the ticket price but for free it is an amazing experience.

So this year, being a year smarter and a year more experienced, we got up at 3;30, made cawfee (natch!) and got the kids up at 4am and were in the car, headed down the road by 4:15.  Yes.  In the Ay Em.  We were still in the longest line we’ve ever seen but this year they had employees going through the line handing out wristbands and people were able to stream through the gate quite easily.  We were down to the beach before dawn even considered, um, dawning, and settled in for the wait.  It was well worth it.  The kids were all very impressed by the ceremony if not the sheer number of canoeists braving the rolling waters for their journey to Cozumel.

As like last year we decided to head home for a nap before going back to enjoy the park.  Jamie started some bacon and I headed to bed, after taking off my sandy pants (this will be important later) as I’d gone to bed at midnight thirty, up at 2am, then 3am and finally at 3:30 for good.  I was incredibly NOT well-rested.  I heard the girls in the background bickering about taking Kilo for a walk and figured I’d just settle for resting if not sleep.  I must have managed to nod off, however, as the next thing I remember is the low, loud moan of Sissy.  It was a moan you don’t mistake for play.  I rushed outside in undies and a long sports bra and found her on her back on the ground.  She had fallen from the top balcony of the palapa (I estimated 3 meters at the hospital, oh yes, we went) and was on her back, the wind completely knocked out of her.  She was complaining about her back and (Chet close your eyes here) all I could think of was seeing her lying on the wet gravel and pokey fencing and I picked her up and laid her on a seat cushion.   At this point our neighbor, Jorge, came running out of his house shirtless and Keltie (neighbor across the road) came running over also.  I was MORTIFIED to be caught in undies and was desperate to get some pants on.

She was still in a LOT of pain and very quickly I decided to get her to Hospiten.  I was KICKING myself for moving her and tried to keep the rest of the moving to a minimum.  I moved a sofa over to the height of the chair she was sprawled in, placed a flat boogie board to serve as a backboard on it, and gently moved her to her “backboard” and cleaned out the car.  I woke Jamie and the boys, stashed Ellen with the boys and we headed to Hospiten, Jamie accompanying Sissy in the back of the van (on the boogieboard, on the floor).  (ok, Chet, safe to open your eyes again)

At arrival at Hospiten I let them know I had my daughter in the car and that I needed help getting her out.  I couldn’t think what to call a gurney so I didn’t even ask for it.  The ER on call doc quickly came out of the ER and jumped into the back of the van (it helped that she was about the size of a large munchkin) with Sissy to assess her and keep her company while Jamie manuvered the van into position for the gurney and I filled out very preliminary patient data.  The receptionists all recognized me there (I’m not sure that’s actually a good thing) and only one mentioned that it could be a costly visit and did I want to know prices.  I told her that this was my daughter and she finished the thought.

The ER doc helped me, along with what turned out to be the radiology tech, to get Sissy out of the van (still on the boogieboard) and onto the gurney.  They knew she had fallen from 3 meters directly onto her back and the doc took her directly into X-ray where she ordered C, T and L-spine x-rays.  I think I heard her ask for pelvic also.  She then left us in the capable hands of the radiologist tech and the Ultrasound doc (who did my breast lump ultrasound) came by to check out the films.  Once they figured out there were no obvious fractures they turned her on her side and x-rayed some more.

The doc then came back down (there were at least 3 other patients in the ER at this time) to x-ray and talked to us and went out to get a gurney and we brought her into the ER rooms.  This doc was AMAZINGLY hands-on.  I was wowed at how involved she was, from getting a gurney to triage.  She and the ultrasound doc read the x-rays and decided to bring in an Orthopedist for a specialist consult.  I’ve met the Ortho before (for Jesse’s Osgood-Schlatter dx) and he was as personable as ever, though it seemed to me that he did a cursory physical examination, checking light touch sensation only, with no DTR examination at all.

Everyone announced her very lucky and with nothing obviously fractured, but for us to keep an eye and bring her back if increasingly severe pain.  They gave her some acetaminophen in the room and that really helped her pain.

Once we got her squared away back at home, oh, did you want to know the price?  Well, it was mostly x-rays, but we ended up paying $3400 which is about $267 USD at the rate we exchanged.  The consults for the 3 specialists added up to $1000 and the acetaminophen was $4.50 ($0.35 USD).  It was refreshing, to say the least,  not to get gouged for the drugs.  The majority of the bill was for x-rays.

Once we got her home and settled, Pike and Ellen and I headed back to Xcaret and we spent the afternoon at the park, found places we hadn’t been last year and more places for next year.  Ellen got to see all the animals she asked for and (her last request) to roll down the grassy hill at the exit.  Bliss.

Sissy is doing MUCH better today.  I had her get up and walk around a little bit to move blood around her muscles and she is now back in bed.  She is still on ibuprofen but I think the pain is mainly ache and nothing serious.  As for the upstairs balcony?  It will be torn down as soon as we find Dino.