Dacey Writes Home

Dear Mom,

I am having a really good time at camp, but there was one incident yesterday that was pretty frightening. I don’t want you to worry because I’m okay now, but we were hiking over some rocks when I slipped and cut my leg pretty badly. There was a LOT of blood (I thought Cowabelle was going to faint!) I tried my hardest not to cry but it really hurt and there was so much blood I was scared!

One of our counselors, Kimmy, was leading the hike and she came over and took charge and knew exactly what to do. She was so calm it made me start to feel better right away. But then she made me do the weirdest thing – she told me to lie down and hold my leg up in the air! Apparently, if you cut your arm or leg, holding it up in the air makes it bleed less. Isn’t that funny?

Kimmy was carrying a first aid kit in her backpack, so she took out a clean cloth and told Roberta to press it on my cut until the bleeding stopped. With so much blood, I was sure I was going to need stitches, but when it stopped bleeding Kimmy looked at it she said that I didn’t need to go to the hospital and she could bandage it.

First though she cleaned it. There were some bits of leaves and dirt on the cut so she lifted those off really gently with a pair of tweezers. Then she washed it with a clean cloth and some bottled water and a bit of soap. She dried it carefully and put some ointment on – she said that would prevent it getting infected – and then she covered it with a bit of gauze and a bandage.

It felt so much better once she was done, but I think the best part was that Kimmy was so calm and gentle with me. Cowabelle was kind of freaking out which really didn’t help, but Kimmy managed to get everyone to just relax and not freak.

So please don’t worry about me – I am going to be fine! I just wanted to let you know what happened.

I love you!

Dacey