For the first time, the Great Hunter’s family held a reunion at Reelfoot Lake in northwestern Tennessee. Most of his nieces and nephews live in Nashville and we hadn’t seen them for twenty-four years. But one of the good things about social media, we have been able to reconnect with them, get to know them and be a part of their lives.

Reelfoot Lake is in the northwestern corner of Tennessee near the Missouri, Kentucky and Tennesee borders. Reelfoot was formed during a series of earthquakes in the New Madrid Fault (located in southeast Missouri) during the winter of 1811-1812. The 15,000 acre lake is surrounded by cypress trees and swamp-like land.

The park’s ecosystem is unlike any other place in Tennessee. Reelfoot lake is a flooded forest. While Majestic Cypress trees rise above the water, below the surface are many submerged Cypress stumps. A variety of aquatic plants and flowers occupy the shoreline and saturate the shallow water. The lake harbors almost every kind of shore and wading bird as well as golden and American bald eagles. https://tnstateparks.com/parks/reelfoot-lake

 

It was so great meeting some of the people I had only known through Facebook. My son and his wife and dogs went with us and our “little” Millie had a great time. We had plenty of good food and fun…until the sack races.

My brother-in-law asked me if I wanted to be in the race and my first inclination was “no”. But then I thought I needed to not be such a stick in the mud and give it a try. My main concern was that like many older women who’ve had children, hopping is not a good thing. I’ll just leave it at that. Turned out, that isn’t what I should have been concerned about. After just four hops, my feet got tangled in the bag and I went down. Hard. On my shoulder. When I hit the ground I heard an unmistakable “pop” and immediately thought I’d broken something. Like a rib. Uh oh.

A little bit later as I was clutching my side, we realized that the Great Hunter had a problem.

The top of his right hand was red and swollen and warm to the touch. That generally only signals one thing, infection. He’d been bitten by “Baby Kitty” a couple days ago when he had surpassed her number of allotted belly rubs, but that area didn’t look infected.

Fast forward to the end of the day. There were no Urgent Cares open after 6:00 p.m. in the little town we were staying in and most didn’t open again until the following afternoon or some as late as Monday morning. I guess Tennesseans don’t need medical care urgently.

When we got back home on Sunday afternoon, we both went to our local Urgent Care. We asked for the BOGO special, but they said the BOGO was a NOGO. Har Har. The diagnosis for me was my rib was not broken but G.H. had cellulitis.

Cellulitis: A spreading bacterial infection underneath the skin surface characterized by redness, warmth, swelling, and  pain. Cellulitis commonly appears in areas where there is a break in the skin.

Luckily we had caught it early enough and the NP who treated him said she thought with antibiotics, ice and Epsom salts soaks, it should heal in a few days.