Last week began with a badly burned leg on our sweet and energetic Abbi on Monday (Memorial Day). For those of you who are squeamish, I have to warn you about two pictures of her burn that I've included at the end of this post. Abbi has asked several times to post a picture for Alli to see. I've attempted to reason with her, but it seems to beVERY important for her big sis to see her "pain", so I've decided it might speed the healing if I post a pic.
So that was Monday, with 3 hours in the ER, morphine IV's, tears, and bandages.
On Tuesday we went to a plastic surgeon in Elkhart (Mitch's burn Dr.), to have him assess the burn. He felt like it would heal OK without therapy, sent me home with bandages so that I could change the dressings at least twice a day, and a pair of crutches for Abbi. Walking was pretty painful, because the worst of the burn is behind her knee.
* If you're keeping track of past posts, you are correct in counting two kids now on crutches! Remember Kevin's broken foot?
Wednesday was spent transporting Abbi to school (late, because of pain), having several phone conversations with the school nurse, and then picking Abbi up again at the end of day, and changing the dressings.
Thursday at 11:00 Kevin saw his Orthopedic Dr. and was told he was ready to get rid of the crutches!!! However, he was also told to wear the boot for 2-3 more days to be sure there was no pain when he walked. The 2-3 days became about 4 hours. I haven't seen him in the boot since. He is still supposedly on restricted activity (no soccer) until his next appt. in 2 weeks. So now we are back to one kid on crutches! At 3:00 Abbi had another appt. with the Plastic Surgeon to see how the burn was healing. By 5:00 the Dr.'s office was calling Goshen General to set up Hydrotherapy/Debrising (sorry to you medical experts, not sure how you spell that, but it means to pick off the dead skin). He felt like it wasn't healing like he wanted it to. He would've typically had it done at Elkhart General, but I requested Goshen due to drive time. Every little minute counts in this week. Please remember that we are having Mitch's Open House on Friday evening!
Friday began with several other fairly dramatic happenings around our place, in the midst of making a decision to move the open house from the backyard into the house and garage, due to the threat of rain in the evening. And then at 2:45 I was signing all the paperwork to begin therapy for Abbi at GGH. My big sis met Abbi & I at the hospital, so as soon as I got paperwork done and had Abbi calmed down in the whirlpool tank, I left her in the very capable and loving arms of her Aunt Julie! I had to hustle home to finish things up for the open house that was to start at 7:00.
Here's a couple of my hero's completing some last minute details.
So we had the open house, and it was a lot of fun! Sarah, Kim, and Julie all showed up to help with everything in the kitchen. And I'm pretty sure that Wilbur even played a part. What on earth would I do without family!?! I truly felt numb to everything that was going on. It was just rewarding to see all the friends and family that showed up to celebrate with Mitch.
Here's a special picture of Mitch with his Aunts on Dave's side.
These next two pictures are more for Alli's viewing pleasure, so that she can have a glimpse of what it looked like. However, on this one please note the cool tool boxes, funnels, and the oil drip pan that we put food in. Also the dip is being served out of a filter. Imagine the auto parts counter guy's face when I told him it didnt' really matter what engine it was for, I just needed a filter "this big, by this big (with hand motions) to serve veggie dip out of"!
On to Saturday which held another round of therapy.
Sunday same thing. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday(thank-you Aunt Sarah for giving me a break and taking Abbi to therapy in your cool red convertible) .....
Tomorrow (Friday) we will see the Plastic Surgeon again to figure out the game plan for the weekend.
Abbi is counting on going to horse camp at the fairgrounds Sunday - Wednesday, but at this point we just aren't sure if that will be a good idea. So it will be good to get the Dr.'s perception of things. We are still keeping an eye on the area behind her knee (about 2" X 2") and hope that healing happens real fast there. It's been slow-going.
Now I'm going to take an idea from Alli ...
http://www.goshen.edu/b/l/sst-nica08/2008/Jun/03/AJournalEntryfromAlli
and list positive things so that I can get through the tough stuff!
1. My extended family is a blessing! They have been a huge help both in just day-to-day helping, and also emotional support.
2. My husband is my ROCK! When things got ugly Friday, and I "cracked" he was there for me!
3. Mitch has proven his maturity in many ways these last couple of weeks.
4. I get to hear Alli's sweet voice on the phone about once a week! It completely brightens even the darkest days!
5. Abbi really is a trooper, even when the pain wants to get the best of her.
6. Kevin is crutch and boot free! Hooray!
7. I have an amazing and loving God, who cares for me and carries me!
This is where you want to stop if you don't want to see the pictures of Abbi's burn!
This is the second day when I was still in charge of changing dressings.
This is already day two of therapy at the hospital. It's amazing how well things began to clean up. On the picture it's the lower left-hand area that is of concern yet. The therapists that are working with Abbi (Fred & Steve) are wonderful! They care about her, but are firm about what they expect her to do with stretches, ect... Abbi is beginning to feel "at home" there! :)
Hey if you stuck it out to the end of this post, I hope you enjoyed your cup of coffee!
We made, what has become our annual, trip to the ER. Abbi took a spill on Kevin's dirt bike, and burned the back of her leg pretty badly. After some morphine by IV, and a cleaning up of the wound, she got all wrapped up and we headed home 3 hours later. The best thing about going to the ER so often, is that after I give them our name, they don't even need to ask for our address, phone number, insurance info, ect... Because it's already there on their screen. :) So the end result for Abbi is that it's hard for her to walk, because the worst of the burn is right behind her knee, so the bending hurts pretty badly. I need to redress the wound twice a day until the oozing stops, and keep giving her either tylenol or advil. Tomorrow I'm planning to take her to school, and might do that all week. Tomorrow afternoon is her Oh So Important Field Day! She's pretty bummed about that, but has also figured out that she can probably do the frisbee throw, and maybe even the hula hoop contest. :) What a trooper!