It is really easy to think we are prepared for anything, but are we really?

It is important to live without fear as it is a waste of time and precious energy and to focus on being prepared.   You will find great comfort in times of turmoil when you have already rehearsed things in your brain many times, practiced them as a family or have protocols in place.

May 11th on our homestead is not a day I wish to relive. We were having a nice evening enjoy a good Christian movie and just having a quiet night. All was good and God certainly had this night specially orchestrated.

Normally I am a few minutes later heading to bed than the Mountain Man, but THANKFULLY this night I was ahead of him and getting settled in prior to him lying down. He took a natural over the counter sleep aid which was 100% valerian root, BUT he chewed it when he should have swallowed it. Was it the coating? Did he actually take two and not one? That will always be a mystery because after he chewed the pill EVERYTHING was forgotten.

He headed out of the bedroom filled his water container and returned to the bedroom. He shut off the light, laid down and was no longer really communicating with me. Had I come to bed even two minutes after him that evening like I normally do I would have assumed he was just exhausted, I would have left him sleep and morning would have come and he would have been with Jesus‼

I asked him if he was ok, because he just seemed off… Usually, we will chat before we sleep about our day and we would do so with the light on so when he turned the light off that was a BIG indicator that something was off and then he did not communicate well with me. I asked him if he was ok and in a dreamy voice he said “I am fine… I love you?.” So I rattled him (shook him) and a normal response to that would have been, “What the heck are you doing to me‼ “. When he didn’t even react I knew something was up so I turned on the light to find his pupils HUGE and extremely dilated… and he wasn’t very responsive…

911 here we come… I’ve played this out many times in my mind… Was I freaked out? SURE, but I knew I needed to stay calm and roll with what was happening…

911 would not go through when I tried. The direct line to the sheriff’s told me it was the wrong number when indeed it was correct and on a ditch effort, I tried a friend of ours that on occasion runs with the ambulance and Praise The Lord I was connected…

I told him our gate would be unlocked and to please call the ambulance and got them in route, the Mountain Boy headed and opened the gate while my dear friend Rhonda and I kept the Mountain Man breathing. It was getting harder and harder to do so. Shortly after calling my friend, another friend reached out via FB messenger to tell me that 911 needed more information so while rattling my man to keep him awake, I was also messaging my friend Jaque to keep the EMT and ambulance up to date on his condition. He literally stopped breathing 7 or 8 times before the ambulance arrived.

We also have a Life Flight plan so that we can quickly call and have a helicopter dispatched to our location. Having these things in place, numbers by the phone and a plan in place will make these experiences much less stressful, but living in the wilds of Idaho, off-grid, things can happen and we knew this stepping into this lifestyle.

We do not live in fear, fear is debilitating and a waste of priceless energy, but we do live prepared. We discuss these things as a family and as a family we have protocols in place for many different things such as these types of situations, fires, intruders, etc… Being prepared keeps us a step ahead and in this case, ALL ALIVE!!

As soon as the EMT arrived and saw the Mountain Man’s condition, they got him into the ambulance and in route to the hospital. He did not have an anthralactic shock experience, but more just a reaction to the pill(s) – the pills caused his side of the brain that tells you to breath to basically stop working. We arrived at the hospital at about 11:20 on the evening of the 11th and it wasn’t until 3 am after sedating him and putting a breathing tube in that they got him settled. Blood work, cat scans and many chest x-rays were taken and nothing else appeared to be causing his issues.

I just thank the good Lord that he orchestrated things that evening the way he did or I would have awoke on Thursday as a widow! Selfishly, I am thankful that God has further purpose for him here on earth and was not ready to take him!

This is not something I ever wish to relive, but I am thankful we had plans in place and that in experiencing this we have all grown in our knowledge and are proud of how we handled things and that we were prepared. This was a good experience for the Mountain Boy as well. It has matured him in ways I could have never prepared him for and he learned that he is capable of reacting properly in such situations. When the Mountain Man fell 16 feet from the ladder that started to fall while building our house in 2010, the Mountain Boy was paralyzed by the event and didn’t react nor knew how to react. Good can always come from bad experiences and there is always something to learn from each experience we go through.

I can’t encourage you enough to have plans in place, discuss things as a family, numbers by the phone and protocols together for all scenarios that may affect you in your neck of the woods. Whether it is hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, wildfires, health emergencies, bug out plans, bug in plans, etc…, discuss it, be prepared and be ready!

Our families are our most valuable possessions and if you don’t take time now to be prepared you may be putting one of them or yourself at risk!

Know who to call for whatever needs you may have and have backup plans if you can’t get through. Being proactive and having things such as Benadryl, and Epipens available for those with allergies and things on hand for known varying needs. In this case, had we not been able to get help and attention for the Mountain Man the next step would have been to get him in the truck and get him to the hospital as quickly as we could. Thankfully we did not have to take matters into our own hands, but knowing what to do is important.

Here are three resources I feel are very important to have on hand or to participate in:

The Survival Doctor’s Complete Handbook by James HUbbard, MD, MPH

The Survival Doctor's Lifesaver Course

The Survival Doctor's Master Course

If you are considering a jump to off-grid and remote living, please take into consideration that you will most likely be in a location that will have definite delays in varying services such as fire, ambulance, police, etc… And all the more reason we need to be extra prepared living this lifestyle.

Do you have protocols in place?? What scary situations have you experienced?

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