Our Clumsy Season

This is the blog post that explains much of our last 2 months of the year (and the reason our blog posts came to a stand still for a little bit).  

It all started the night before Halloween, I did not do the smartest thing, I was putting a rather large picture frame high above my head, the glass slid out and I caught it with my thumb.  Went to an after hour urgent care facility and had 8 stitches.  This was the first time I have had stitches. 

This is about what it looked like, all wrapped up for about 2+ weeks.  It was really hard to keep it dry with 3 active kids and a house to clean.

About 2.5 weeks later, on Monday, November 18th, after Caleb was very comfortable and confident riding his bike without training wheels, he took a corner too quickly at the park and he went sideways.  The concrete won with a bloody, bloody nose. A sweet friend, stepped in amazingly, and watched the littles, so that I could rush Caleb to the Emergency Room (our first visit).  

After a CT Scan, they were worried about the drainage coming out of his nose being brainal fluid.  It came back clear but he still had a nasty broken nose.

This picture was taken a few days later at the ENT, when the doctor said it was called a Green Stick Break and wanted to see us back when we returned from Austin after Thanksgiving.  The Monday after Thanksgiving we went back and decided that is was a 50/50 on getting surgery to correct it.  We all decided since he IS a boy and chances are this won't be the last broken nose, we decided to pass on having a surgery now (since Daddy has had 3 broken noses).  Caleb has gotten back on his bike but not with the same excitement he once had and he is a bit more cautious now.

Then, here comes the worst one...We were in Austin, staying at Mammy and MeDad's house, before Thanksgiving.  It was a week after Caleb's broken nose incident, on Monday, November 25th (almost to the minute of Caleb's) at 5 pm.  We had the glass enclosed electric fireplace on during Avery's nap, Caleb fortunately turned it off once she woke up.  Not realizing how hot it still was and losing track of her for 3 seconds, she went over and touched the glass.  

It was absolutely awful!!!! It was the worst cry we have ever heard, we ran cold water on it but it started bubbling up within 5 minutes.  By 10 minutes we were in the car on our way to Dell Children's Emergency Room.  They saw us instantly and began giving her pain medicine and caring for her.  The blisters were huge on both palms, and each of the 10 tiny fingerprints.  The blisters had already gotten so big (about an inch high) that they both popped.  After having a few people look at them, and a stronger dose of medicine, they bandaged her up and then bundled them up with diapers.

Avery's getting very sleepy, after some of the strong pain medication 

Kind of grateful that this happened in Austin, the boys were in good hands with Mammy and MeDad (and spent some time with the Cowden cousins later in the week), and Mimi came to give a shoulder to cry on and to be a helping hand. 

They had a nurse come in that was there just to entertain Avery and use a fancy ipad thingy!

This was the next morning in her hospital gown, diaper wrapped bandages, and such a sweet demeanor.  They had to cut her shirt off in order to not mess with her blistered hand.

After daily visits to the wound care, this is about what her bandages looked like for a week.  

We came back home and got Avery's care transferred to Children's Hospital.  They made some incredible splints that were personalized just for her sweet little hands.  Avery only had these big splints for a few days because she kept getting out of them.

Not being able to use her hands didn't slow her down, she would carry this toy around in her mouth.  She also had to learn how to be patient at meal time because we would have to feed her since she couldn't use her hands. 

This was Avery's next splint that she had for the next week.  They were concerned that the skin on her palms was healing improperly so they had this next splint have a thumb brace to hold it back for proper healing. It was amazing how much more Avery could do with a little thumb hanging out. 

This is one of the brutal debriding (cutting away the dead skin) process .  I will spare you the hundreds of gruesome pictures of these sweet little hands.  

We were in the process of changing her bandages and letting her have a few moments being able to use her hands.  She got into a plant and made quite a mess, but how could I be upset about having to clean it up when she hasn't used her hands in weeks.

So, fast forward all the doctor's appointments, daily bandage changes, splints, tears, and one happy little girl...she had a week of just wrapped up palms, and now only has to sleep in splints with a scar away pad on her palms.  We have to do this for about 4-6 weeks and rub lotion on her hands multiple times a day.

So, after the 3 injuries, we decided to do 2 elected surgeries since we met our deductible.  We had about 3 weeks to get a few in and have Christmas.  On Tuesday, December 17, at the crack of dawn Davis had a little procedure called urethral meatoplasty.  We noticed how difficult it was for Davis to aim in the toilet when he would go.  He had quite the power when urinating.  Also, nice hair Daddy!

Sweet boys!

The "Silly Juice" is kicking in and he is feeling good

Precious boy after the surgery was a little confused, thrown off, and disoriented.

Davis is back to his precious self, and now just keeping him from running/jumping/etc for the next week. Ha! 

The second surgery was Craig's big Vasectomy!!!  Don't worry - no pictures below. (We were going to wait and do these two surgeries in January but we just moved them up a month or two).  So, now we are praying for a healthier 2014!