VWVixen
06-27-2008, 12:12 PM
Sorry it has taken so long- and it is a long story so I wouldn't blame you for not reading it. It's the best of my recollection under the circumstances.
Lake Piru- the weekend in Hell
Although Lake Piru is much closer than our beloved Lake Cachuma, and less expensive- we definitely will not be going there again. The campsites are incredibly close to each other with no buffer areas between, we even had the largest site -to accomadate our two E's and our two large tents. We arrived on a Thursday and there was pretty much no one there- it was decent at that point, but the day consisted of set up and the weather was in triple digits. The free showers were a life saver, as we all (including the dogs) went to rinse off and cool down several times on Thursday and Friday. The bathrooms and shower setup was nice. But by Saturday morning the bath/showers were destroyed- disgusting...and the campsite felt more like a refugee camp from some sort of natural disaster than camping. Because the sites were so close, you didnt just have a few neighbors, you had many. With everyone's music, all different genres/languages, trying to out blast each other- and we were in the cross fire. Then ofcourse, there were the young crowds there to party -some of which seemed to be taking part in some sort of contest to speak with as much cuss words as possible within each 'sentence' (I don't have a very clean vocabulary myself, so for me to comment on such things- you can tell they were over the top). And there were the unleashed dogs...one of which would come to our tent in the middle of the night- and make my Mike start barking. Did I mention the biting flies? ...still have many marks all over me from them. Oh and the reason we went to this lake- so the kids could swim...well, the swimming 'section' was several miles away from the camping sites, and you had to drive to get to it...and the swimming section was not much of one; the area was super small, covered in sharp, slimy rocks and there was all sorts of funky debris gathered along the shores...the area was pretty small and you never really got to a point where you couldnt feel the large slimy rocks below before you hit the limit line. A few good points about the site- they actually get everyone to quiet down at a reasonable time (the constant patrolling of security in their H2's did the trick I guess), they had guys in golf carts driving around selling fire wood and ice which made things a bit easier (ice), and the free showers. I guess if you had a boat, and only cared about that- just sleeping in your tent and leaving your site for the entire day- it would be an okay spot...but if you are there to 'camp' and hike around and enjoy the scenery and whatnot- this is not the place. This place seemed to be more for the partying / boating bunch.
So on top of all of that- and I may have even forgot some things- I was not feeling my best. I had started having urinary tract infection symptoms- having to go to the bathroom to urinate, but usually didnt really have to go or couldn't go. So, having had this once before and having lots of friends that have had them in the past- I just bought myself some Cranberry Juice and Ibuprofin and I was set- the symptoms would be gone within a day or two...or so I thought. So on top of the triple degree weather, setting up the site and such- I was making frequent trips to the bathroom...as time passed I started to experience new symptoms, and pain. I no longer had the sensation to go urinate constantly- I now had pain all along my lower stomach and jabbing pain in the urethra area. I was still doing my best to enjoy the day(s) as the pains would come and go as if I was in labor...and eventually the pains really started to feel/mimick those of labor/child birth. We managed to walk the campsites and take a couple pictures in between the major onslaughts of pain...until, the pain made its way to my upper side/flank where my kidneys are- and became so incredibly painful that I was ready to find a hospital.
Our first trip to a hospital was interesting- it was 1am in the morning and we couldn't find anyone that worked the campsite, not a ranger- no one. So we headed down the windy, bumpy mountain to the gas station...who didn't speak english...we continued on, still more people with limited language or information...we continued on all the time I was in excruciating pain (oh by the way, cell phones didnt get any reception there either). Eventually we made our way into more city area and found signs to the hospital- which took us through residential areas and just seemed more and more unlikely that there really was a hospital this direction- but eventually there was.
First trip to the ER we arrived around 2am- the pain was on the left flank/ kidney and they hooked me up to saline, pain meds, antibiotics and they ran a urine culture that would take 2 days to find the results. They gave us prescriptions for Vicodin, Cipro and Ibuprofin and released me. ...we couldn't locate a pharmacy that was open in this foriegn to us city, so we headed back up the mountain with plans on trying to get a few hours sleep then come back down the mountain to fill the prescriptions.
Second trip to the ER- after falling asleep for maybe an hour or so, I awoke hungry and in desperate need to enjoy this trip- I had promised on making pancakes for the kids in the morning and I was determined to get things on track. We started cooking- fighting off the biting flies- but as the minutes wore on, I became more and more uncomfortable and the pain grew- by the time we started to eat the food I was in tears in the chair...within minutes I was in excrutiating pain- double that of the night before- but this time on the right flank/kidney...my husband rushed me back down the mountain- leaving the dogs and kids alone at the campsite. This time, I was rehooked up to the saline, antibiotics, pain killers and then they ran a CT scan to search for kidney stones- but they didn't do the contrast type/use dye...they didn't find a stone, but they did find a burst cyst on my right ovary. Now thinking the cyst was causing all the pain and the infection- they send me off to fill my prescription and back to the campsite.
So we make our way to a local store to fill the prescription, I am feeling better, with just minor pains...I make it through the day with waves of pains- none of which make it up to my side flanks/kidneys- we get to get a glimpse of camping, played cards, and walked the campgrounds to see how others set up, etc..
The third and final trip to the ER: Night falls and I have a restless and long night, suffering through pains, coming in waves much like in labor- by the early morning hours, I have become nauseated on top of the rising pains and I give in and wake up my husband. Quickly, I exit the tent and pace around - awaiting the horrid vomiting that did come....and the pain escalated once again to new heights. I then told my husband that the weekend is over and would he mind waking the kids and tearing down the site. So there I sat, in excrutiating pain in the front seat of my husband's car while the guys did their best to quickly break down the campsite....it seemed to take forever, but I am sure it was in a decent amount of time for all they had to do. The pain was so bad, by the time they were done and it was my turn to make it to my car and drive (we drove seperate cars, and no other adult around to take my car) my leg was sort of locked in place out of the clenching of the pain... Crying and moaning and clenching, I drove my car, following my husbands all the way down the mountain and highway- deciding on the way that we will be going straight to the hospital and not home first. The other two visits were not Keiser Hospitals, this one would be. After enduring excrutiating pain, all throughout the teardown of the site and the long drive, literally two blocks from the hospital, my pains subside to a dull roar. At this point I am exhuasted, it has been days since I had any real sleep, it has been days of clenching and dealing with pains of all levels and I was just plain mentally and physically exhausted. Ofcourse, with a third set of staff to see me, and I arrive in dull pain I am not received with much concern- they hook me up to saline and they give me a small amount of morphine and pretty much leave me in the room for hours. I get some water brought to me because they decide to do a sonogram- hours pass by after that- breakfast and lunch time has passed and I have not eaten since the early evening before...I am getting hungry and I have my husband ask if I can eat (he had the boys, who were stuck in the waiting room filthy from the breakdown and having to go out to the car and deal with the dogs now and then walk to get some food for them). As he ate, I was wondering when and if I would be able to. So he gets the doctors attention- of which who hasn't been back to see me since the two minutes he did when I first arrived...actually no one came back in to see me other than to take me to the sonogram- I was forgotten. The doctor assumes that my husbands meal is for me and says I can eat (find this out later, as he never sends anyone to bring me anything)...much time later, my husband goes out to ask about my meal...by then, I am losing it, I am hungry and tired and I am feeling very much like these people do not understand what I have been going through. The doctor gets pretty short with us, says that if I can eat with stomach pain then I can go home- he was pretty rude about it. We have some words with him and some more less, arguable words with a nurse- who goes back to try to explain where we are coming from- that doctor ends up having us go to an OBGYN that he consulted about the cyst he saw in the sonogram...the OBGYN actually listened to the entire timeline and symptoms and said that it sounded more like a kidney stone than the cyst- that the cyst was an 'add on' - so several theories from several different doctors/visits: Cyst burst caused infection and no stone OR Kidney Stone that passed already and was not caught on the scan due to the non dye procedure and then the cyst burst on top of that causing infection OR ...I can't remember the others....anyways long story short- the first visit/hospital botched the urine culture and the second visit/hospital didnt use the contrast/dye version of the scan and no one knows for sure what happened other than I have an infection that made its way to my kidneys. Anyways, terrified that I will just be released and have to come back again we argue that it's best for me to stay and reluctantly they agree (after the OBGYN gets involved). Ironically, it's the first night I get a good nights sleep, the pains are manageable- similar to the menstrual type of pains...and thus they cancel any type of further testing they would have done in the morning. By morning I am feeling pretty gross- I am dirty and in serious need of a shower [oh I skipped the part where I had to ask for a new room because my neighboring bed mate was incredibly loud and rude and so was everyone that came in- seriously, it was as if they were trying to make noise; using speaker cell phones, loud talking- so much so that when my doctor came in she had to nearly shout to me to have a conversation...and they just let them continue like that- finally I asked to go for a walk because I was about to blow up at them and that is when they got me a new room- did I mention that this lady and her daughter were offended that the nurse took the IV machine from her side of the room because mine wasn't working, even though she was using it?] So, after a morning visit with the newest doctor on staff- I am still emotionally charged and I just want to shower and go home- and that is what I tell her...and she does. I have been home taking meds and getting better- I still have faint aches and jabs here and there but I can mostly just ignore them...and today I am off for a check up with my 'regular' doctor.
That was my weekend in Hell aka Lake Piru...of which we will not be revisiting. Even without me being sick, that place was just not our type of camping experience.
Lake Piru- the weekend in Hell
Although Lake Piru is much closer than our beloved Lake Cachuma, and less expensive- we definitely will not be going there again. The campsites are incredibly close to each other with no buffer areas between, we even had the largest site -to accomadate our two E's and our two large tents. We arrived on a Thursday and there was pretty much no one there- it was decent at that point, but the day consisted of set up and the weather was in triple digits. The free showers were a life saver, as we all (including the dogs) went to rinse off and cool down several times on Thursday and Friday. The bathrooms and shower setup was nice. But by Saturday morning the bath/showers were destroyed- disgusting...and the campsite felt more like a refugee camp from some sort of natural disaster than camping. Because the sites were so close, you didnt just have a few neighbors, you had many. With everyone's music, all different genres/languages, trying to out blast each other- and we were in the cross fire. Then ofcourse, there were the young crowds there to party -some of which seemed to be taking part in some sort of contest to speak with as much cuss words as possible within each 'sentence' (I don't have a very clean vocabulary myself, so for me to comment on such things- you can tell they were over the top). And there were the unleashed dogs...one of which would come to our tent in the middle of the night- and make my Mike start barking. Did I mention the biting flies? ...still have many marks all over me from them. Oh and the reason we went to this lake- so the kids could swim...well, the swimming 'section' was several miles away from the camping sites, and you had to drive to get to it...and the swimming section was not much of one; the area was super small, covered in sharp, slimy rocks and there was all sorts of funky debris gathered along the shores...the area was pretty small and you never really got to a point where you couldnt feel the large slimy rocks below before you hit the limit line. A few good points about the site- they actually get everyone to quiet down at a reasonable time (the constant patrolling of security in their H2's did the trick I guess), they had guys in golf carts driving around selling fire wood and ice which made things a bit easier (ice), and the free showers. I guess if you had a boat, and only cared about that- just sleeping in your tent and leaving your site for the entire day- it would be an okay spot...but if you are there to 'camp' and hike around and enjoy the scenery and whatnot- this is not the place. This place seemed to be more for the partying / boating bunch.
So on top of all of that- and I may have even forgot some things- I was not feeling my best. I had started having urinary tract infection symptoms- having to go to the bathroom to urinate, but usually didnt really have to go or couldn't go. So, having had this once before and having lots of friends that have had them in the past- I just bought myself some Cranberry Juice and Ibuprofin and I was set- the symptoms would be gone within a day or two...or so I thought. So on top of the triple degree weather, setting up the site and such- I was making frequent trips to the bathroom...as time passed I started to experience new symptoms, and pain. I no longer had the sensation to go urinate constantly- I now had pain all along my lower stomach and jabbing pain in the urethra area. I was still doing my best to enjoy the day(s) as the pains would come and go as if I was in labor...and eventually the pains really started to feel/mimick those of labor/child birth. We managed to walk the campsites and take a couple pictures in between the major onslaughts of pain...until, the pain made its way to my upper side/flank where my kidneys are- and became so incredibly painful that I was ready to find a hospital.
Our first trip to a hospital was interesting- it was 1am in the morning and we couldn't find anyone that worked the campsite, not a ranger- no one. So we headed down the windy, bumpy mountain to the gas station...who didn't speak english...we continued on, still more people with limited language or information...we continued on all the time I was in excruciating pain (oh by the way, cell phones didnt get any reception there either). Eventually we made our way into more city area and found signs to the hospital- which took us through residential areas and just seemed more and more unlikely that there really was a hospital this direction- but eventually there was.
First trip to the ER we arrived around 2am- the pain was on the left flank/ kidney and they hooked me up to saline, pain meds, antibiotics and they ran a urine culture that would take 2 days to find the results. They gave us prescriptions for Vicodin, Cipro and Ibuprofin and released me. ...we couldn't locate a pharmacy that was open in this foriegn to us city, so we headed back up the mountain with plans on trying to get a few hours sleep then come back down the mountain to fill the prescriptions.
Second trip to the ER- after falling asleep for maybe an hour or so, I awoke hungry and in desperate need to enjoy this trip- I had promised on making pancakes for the kids in the morning and I was determined to get things on track. We started cooking- fighting off the biting flies- but as the minutes wore on, I became more and more uncomfortable and the pain grew- by the time we started to eat the food I was in tears in the chair...within minutes I was in excrutiating pain- double that of the night before- but this time on the right flank/kidney...my husband rushed me back down the mountain- leaving the dogs and kids alone at the campsite. This time, I was rehooked up to the saline, antibiotics, pain killers and then they ran a CT scan to search for kidney stones- but they didn't do the contrast type/use dye...they didn't find a stone, but they did find a burst cyst on my right ovary. Now thinking the cyst was causing all the pain and the infection- they send me off to fill my prescription and back to the campsite.
So we make our way to a local store to fill the prescription, I am feeling better, with just minor pains...I make it through the day with waves of pains- none of which make it up to my side flanks/kidneys- we get to get a glimpse of camping, played cards, and walked the campgrounds to see how others set up, etc..
The third and final trip to the ER: Night falls and I have a restless and long night, suffering through pains, coming in waves much like in labor- by the early morning hours, I have become nauseated on top of the rising pains and I give in and wake up my husband. Quickly, I exit the tent and pace around - awaiting the horrid vomiting that did come....and the pain escalated once again to new heights. I then told my husband that the weekend is over and would he mind waking the kids and tearing down the site. So there I sat, in excrutiating pain in the front seat of my husband's car while the guys did their best to quickly break down the campsite....it seemed to take forever, but I am sure it was in a decent amount of time for all they had to do. The pain was so bad, by the time they were done and it was my turn to make it to my car and drive (we drove seperate cars, and no other adult around to take my car) my leg was sort of locked in place out of the clenching of the pain... Crying and moaning and clenching, I drove my car, following my husbands all the way down the mountain and highway- deciding on the way that we will be going straight to the hospital and not home first. The other two visits were not Keiser Hospitals, this one would be. After enduring excrutiating pain, all throughout the teardown of the site and the long drive, literally two blocks from the hospital, my pains subside to a dull roar. At this point I am exhuasted, it has been days since I had any real sleep, it has been days of clenching and dealing with pains of all levels and I was just plain mentally and physically exhausted. Ofcourse, with a third set of staff to see me, and I arrive in dull pain I am not received with much concern- they hook me up to saline and they give me a small amount of morphine and pretty much leave me in the room for hours. I get some water brought to me because they decide to do a sonogram- hours pass by after that- breakfast and lunch time has passed and I have not eaten since the early evening before...I am getting hungry and I have my husband ask if I can eat (he had the boys, who were stuck in the waiting room filthy from the breakdown and having to go out to the car and deal with the dogs now and then walk to get some food for them). As he ate, I was wondering when and if I would be able to. So he gets the doctors attention- of which who hasn't been back to see me since the two minutes he did when I first arrived...actually no one came back in to see me other than to take me to the sonogram- I was forgotten. The doctor assumes that my husbands meal is for me and says I can eat (find this out later, as he never sends anyone to bring me anything)...much time later, my husband goes out to ask about my meal...by then, I am losing it, I am hungry and tired and I am feeling very much like these people do not understand what I have been going through. The doctor gets pretty short with us, says that if I can eat with stomach pain then I can go home- he was pretty rude about it. We have some words with him and some more less, arguable words with a nurse- who goes back to try to explain where we are coming from- that doctor ends up having us go to an OBGYN that he consulted about the cyst he saw in the sonogram...the OBGYN actually listened to the entire timeline and symptoms and said that it sounded more like a kidney stone than the cyst- that the cyst was an 'add on' - so several theories from several different doctors/visits: Cyst burst caused infection and no stone OR Kidney Stone that passed already and was not caught on the scan due to the non dye procedure and then the cyst burst on top of that causing infection OR ...I can't remember the others....anyways long story short- the first visit/hospital botched the urine culture and the second visit/hospital didnt use the contrast/dye version of the scan and no one knows for sure what happened other than I have an infection that made its way to my kidneys. Anyways, terrified that I will just be released and have to come back again we argue that it's best for me to stay and reluctantly they agree (after the OBGYN gets involved). Ironically, it's the first night I get a good nights sleep, the pains are manageable- similar to the menstrual type of pains...and thus they cancel any type of further testing they would have done in the morning. By morning I am feeling pretty gross- I am dirty and in serious need of a shower [oh I skipped the part where I had to ask for a new room because my neighboring bed mate was incredibly loud and rude and so was everyone that came in- seriously, it was as if they were trying to make noise; using speaker cell phones, loud talking- so much so that when my doctor came in she had to nearly shout to me to have a conversation...and they just let them continue like that- finally I asked to go for a walk because I was about to blow up at them and that is when they got me a new room- did I mention that this lady and her daughter were offended that the nurse took the IV machine from her side of the room because mine wasn't working, even though she was using it?] So, after a morning visit with the newest doctor on staff- I am still emotionally charged and I just want to shower and go home- and that is what I tell her...and she does. I have been home taking meds and getting better- I still have faint aches and jabs here and there but I can mostly just ignore them...and today I am off for a check up with my 'regular' doctor.
That was my weekend in Hell aka Lake Piru...of which we will not be revisiting. Even without me being sick, that place was just not our type of camping experience.