Burn Clinic: Take Two

I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear about the progress with Austin's burn. I will get right to that after my warning..

 WARNING: there are some picture in THIS post that are NOT of the pretty nature. If wounds and blood make you squimish this post is NOT for you!



I was told by some that it was unclear who else was injured in the incident so I thought I would first give a run down of that before I tell you what the burn clinic said.

1st- Andrew did catch on fire but his quick reaction of Stop, Drop, and Roll saved him from getting ANY burns. It worked so fast he doesn't even remember feeling the heat of the fire.
2nd- Merrill received burns on a few of his fingers from trying to stop the fire from going back into the gas tank. (At least I think that is what caused them.)
3rd- Austin- I think everyone knows how he was burned on the ear (front and back) and across his forehead
4th- Daimian (The boy whose head caught on fire) was burned on his head in 4 spots. His hair mostly saved him from harm amazingly so. He didn't need to be treated at the ER. He is being treated with cream and band-aids


Now with the report!

Austin's ear has been doing awesome! Almost every time we change the dressing it looks better, and better. Here are some pictures of the progress:

Taken 4/23/2012

Taken 4/25/2012

Taken 4/26/2012

Andrew buzzed his hair since Austin was so mad about getting his hair buzzed. We were going to let him help me cut daddy's hair but his didn't want daddy to have his hair cut either. We did it anyways..

The Beanie Brothers

Taken 4/27/2012

The Beanie Brothers strike again

Taken May 1st- Burn Clinic day

The nurse practitioner was optimistic about the outcome with a little horror in there as well. The top of the ear is still very concerning. The ear is just a small layer of skin on top of cartilage. So there is a possibility that the ear could get infected, and if it did, there's a chance that part of his ear would need to be removed. Obviously...worse case scenario. So no infection check!

We will continue to change his dressing 2 times a day, and his ear should be looking like the side of his face does in 1 week. Yes that soon! That was until the nurse messed up....

The nurse that was helping Austin was very kind and nice with Austin but she did his wrap all wrong. and sadly I didn't realize how wrong until too late. She barely put any Bacitracin on his wound. That was the part I knew to be wrong. She covered him in gauze and the nurse practitioner took a look at it and ok'd it. They told me to make the wrap just like that from now on. When I removed the gauze for a fresh wrap before bed the gauze stuck to his burn and made him bleed. I felt so bad for him! I made him a new wrap the way they told me to except I put 10 x the goop on it than she did. Thinking that was all I needed to make it better from hers.
 I am embarrassed that my brain didn't think more about this situation and prevented what happened next. I can only say that I believed that the burn clinic knew what they were doing, and told me everything I needed to do.

The next morning when I went to put on a new dressing. The gauze was completely adhered to his ear. I had to almost pry it off. Austin was in tears and blood was once again going down his ear but this time in multiple places and he had a huge scab where his ear connects to his head in the front. This is when I realized theirs and now my mistake. We didn't put on the non- adherent strips that goes against the burn to prevent sticking.  So we went from looking SO good to blood and scabs to worry about. I am now more concerned about him getting the infection in his ear now because of this mistake.

I called right then after getting a proper cover on Austin. I just happened to have just one more of those strips in my stash. A different nurse answered the phone and was shocked that the strips weren't provided or on the wrap we obtained at the clinic. I went and picked up more supplies from them. (so happy I was still at my sister Diane's place)

So we went from this:

 

to this:

And this

All the red area wasn't there on burn clinic day..

   This is after a full day of healing after the incident. I didn't think about taking a picture but you should all be happy I'm not making you look at that! They would have made you cry! I was surprise how quickly the scab went away. Currently he still has blood with every dressing change, but hopefully in a couple of days those will heal enough. I think I'll do another update in a week. That is when we would have to make an appointment with the burn clinic again. But only if he is not healed. So keep your fingers crossed!

The Burning.....

We have had a crazy and scary couple of days. As many of you know Austin was burned by a gasoline fire. Many want to hear the whole story but just like any incident like this, you get tired of telling it over and over again so I thought posting the story here will make it so everyone can read the story if they want to know. First a warning I AM posting pictures of the injuries. So if you don't like that kind of thing, reading this post is NOT for you! Though the pictures don't look as bad as they did in person. (That's what I get for having a horrible camera.) They are still graphic. The worse ones are at the burn clinic. On with the story!












I went to a tupperware party at our friends', the Joneses, house. Yes, a tupperware party started the whole chain of events! Andrew and Merrill were outside with all the kids while us women were inside learning all about the cool products we could buy.

Andrew saw some wood that needed to be burned and suggested that they start a fire. They lit a few matches but they didn't take so Merrill suggested putting a little gas on it to get it going. They shooed Austin and Daimian back away from the fire pit, then They added the gas on the opposite side of where the matches were. As the gas was being added, the gasoline shifted in the container causing more to be added and it ignited big and fast! The fire started going back up the stream of gasoline to go back into the canister. Merrill reacted and as he moved, it made a stream of burning gasoline land on the kids (Austin and Daimian) and Andrew. Andrew seeing that he was on fire dropped and rolled. Merrill saw Austin running away and got him to stop running in time to see that his own child's head was on fire so he ran to help him. My brother-in-law, Scott was out there playing with Gavin and took over with Austin and starting patting away to try and stop the flames. At that point Andrew got his flames out and ran to Austin. He smeared Austin's face into the dirt to get the flames out and rolled him back and forth to get Austin's fire out. Then Austin was rushed inside for cold water. That is when I got to see what the crying I heard outside was about. I was unaware of the fire and thought that Austin was coming in with a bad head gash or something. So as he went to the kitchen sink Andrew said "Austin is burned!" I was so confused at first, how could he be burned? I went right over to inspect him. I saw right away they he needed medical attention. He already had a few blisters that developed and popped. I found our Medicaid card and sent Austin and Andrew off in the car to get him taken care of.

At that point Daimian was brought in. His hair was completely singed and some burn spots noticeable. Merrill and Corinne quickly got him in a tub of water and decided he didn't need medical attention. I got to Gavin who was confused and concerned about what happened but once I held him he calmed down and got down and started playing. As the adrenaline started to wear off, the reality started sinking in; all I could think about is how I should be at the hospital, and started crying. As I said it hadn't registered yet what this all meant. I asked the Joneses to watch Gavin and asked Scott to drive me to the ER.

I was brought back immediately and see 2 or 3 nurses around Austin, and Andrew among the mix.  Andrew gave him a sweet and powerful blessing. After the doctor arrived and stated that he doesn't want to touch it at all but they would but some burn free on it and call Primary Children's where we would most likely be admitted to watch him overnight. At that news I start to tear up, and also thought that the doctor was overreacting to the burn....

At the ER. Right when I first arrived.

  As some of you may remember I burned my hand in High School my Sophomore year. I was cooking bacon, left the pan on the stove with the heat still on. As it was brought to my attention, I picked up the pan, forgetting about the grease in bottom, and poured the grease down my hand, causing 3rd degree burns on my right hand and some spots worse than that.

Getting that thumb taken care of!

Austin's face didn't look as bad as that, which I am grateful for, except the ear had started swelling a lot more. I was concerned about that part. They gave Austin a shot for pain and gave him an IV. They had a hard time finding his vein. (Sorry Austin, looks like you have my veins!) We were able to get him calmed down for the IV and they got him a movie to watch as we waited to see what the game plan was going to be.

Sometime during all this over at the Joneses home they built another fire. Yes, another fire. They built it to show Daimian that there wasn't a reason to be scared of the fire and that what happened doesn't happen normally. They then had a calming prayer for Austin. While they were saying it Daimian suddenly sat up and said "Austin is OK." He said that so matter of factly it was hard not to believe him. It was like he knew.

The doctor told us that the U of U was having a burn clinic the next morning so we wouldn't need to be admitted. He also said they didn't sound as concerned as he was about the burn.

During this whole event Austin was mostly concerned about the burn on his thumb. Not the big burn on his head. Silly kid.

The next morning we called at 8 to get an appointment and were told they were only open til 10:30am. Andrew told me that and I was out the door. I didn't even wait for him to find out any instructions. I was saying so many little prayers on my way down there that I would be able to make it through the traffic quickly and easily. And amazingly enough, the cars almost seemed to part for me. It was a good thing that I didn't run into any traffic on the way there because there was a Marathon going on in SLC and it cut right across the easiest street to get to U of U. I again started praying to have there be a large break so all the cars ahead of me could get through. And only moments later all the cars ahead of me were able to get through and then I had to wait just a few more minutes for me to cross. I made it to the hospital at 10:10. If it weren't for the marathon, I would have been there at 10. It was such a relief that we made it and could get him taken care of. I'm not great with instructions, so just the fact I made it was a miracle in itself.

In the waiting room at U of U burn clinic waiting for our turn.

I gave him a James train and Percy train as a small gift for being so good.

Cutting off the bandage for the first reveal since the accident

Doesn't that make you hurt? He only whimpered a little as they rubbed the dead skin off.

Drawing as we waited for the nurse practitioner.

Still happy after the hands on cleaning job. A little swollen on that side.

Austin wanted a picture of his poor thumb that he obsesses over.

His coloring book for being a good patient. They also gave him 24 crayons to go with it. When we left the hospital they fell out all over the ground. Luckily some bystanders helped me pick them all up!

We are so grateful that things didn't turn out differently. So many things could have been worse. The first being that if Andrew hadn't of been telling the boys to get back a little farther, Austin wouldn't have burned his ear but his face! The other big one being, if Merrill didn't react the way he did the fire could have been worse, making a bigger explosion of fire. Austin's ear is already looking so great, we can't help but know he is being looked after by a higher power and will be back to better in no time. We won't know until our appointment on the 1st if there will be scarring. Thank you for all of your concerns and offers! Austin feels so loved.

Weigth loss: Week 9

So I don't have much to say today except I HATE PUTTING IN SPRINKLERS! We have been working on them off and on for about 1 week now. Thanks to snow and rain we haven't been able to put the real time we've wanted to out on it. This is also where I have been putting my energy to as well. No exercising per say but cleaning out trenches all day and all night ( or at least on hour a day.) We even rented a trencher to do the majority of the work but afterwards a pump was decided to be added so instead of 12 inch trenches, that we have, we need 18 inch trenches in the front where all the big rocks and roots all seem to lie. Joy. So let's see where I'm at...:

Weight: unknown. I don't own a working scale, I use my mother's and didn't have a chance to check before this post so here' hoping that I'm still at -11
Chest: Same,( total, -.5)
Belly: 41, +1 (total -1.25) OUCH I thought it was looking bigger but I was hoping it was my imagination...all well
Hips: 43 inches, -.5 (total -1.5)
Thigh 24.7, -.2 inches (total -.2 inches) It's not really anything at all but its' something..

Not great but it just makes me want to do better! My goal for this next week is to lose that 2 inches I wanted this last time. 2 inches total from anywhere it takes off! I'm hoping for waist and hips mostly! Here we go!