Head Wound #1

I have a feeling that this is going to be the first of many posts (over the years) about Blaine's injuries.  David had stitches close to ten times as a young man (and into adulthood) so it is no surprise that our dear son had his first trip to an E.R. yesterday.

We had our afternoon plans set and we were all excited to get going after naps.  We had the Round Rock outlet mall as our first stop.  Followed by dinner out and then off to the Round Rock Express baseball game to complete our night.  We arrived at our first stop, Stride Rite, to get Blaine some shoes.  Hyperactive, as normal, he ran around the small store and we occasionally corralled him long enough to try some shoes on.  As we were deciding what to get, he ran (and he runs fast) away from us, while at the same time looking back at us, when he turned his head to see where he was going it was too late and his head slammed into the corner of the solid wood shoe display.  Later David said it sounded like he slapped it with his hand as he ran by but I saw the whole thing.

The impact threw him back on his bottom and then he was facing me with a gash in his forehead.  No blood... yet.

Then the screaming started: "MY HEAD, MY HEAD!"  David ran around to pick him up saying to us both (very calmly, I might add), "Let me look at it." but I had already seen it and said, "we've gotta go to the E.R. - it's bad."  David picked him up and ran to the front of the store.  The cashier gave him some tissue but by this time the blood had started gushing and not even Kleenex was going to absorb that!  The bleeding stopped after several minutes, abruptly, and the crying lessened too as we made our way out of the store to the car.  We were lucky enough to be across the street from a hospital and an emergency room with (Thank You God!) no wait. 

As we drove to the E.R. Blaine cried, mostly about possibly having to get a shot and possibly having to get stitches.  When David asked Mister if he knew what stitches were, he said "no", so he told him not to cry about something he didn't know about and then Daddy took quite the risk (I think) of telling Blaine that he was not going to have to have a shot or stitches.  After we saw the nurse the doctor came right in to tell us the good news: no shots, no stitches.  And the good news: Dermabond on the forehead and popsicles for everyone!  After the popsicles came, Blaine started playing up his (as he liked to call it) "sickness."  He would tell his sister to "get away" because "I'm sick" and he wouldn't share the huge popsicle because "the doctor said they were only for sick people."  (Which he totally made up.)  Beside the popsicle (which we later regretted giving him because of the Red40 dye in them, which made him go completely wild!) his favorite part of the E.R. visit was riding in the wheelchair out of the room.

Blaine's attempt at a smile while we were waiting for the doctor.

Post-Dermabond... at the baseball game just hanging out.

So what lesson did Blaine learn?  If you ask him, "nothing."  He made this clear about 20 minutes after we left the E.R. when he was climbing a huge tree, jumping off of picnic tables, and running around like nothing had happened.  We ended up going to dinner and the baseball game and had a great time.  I'll post about those events later.

Where does one begin?

I am not even sure where to begin, but just to update readers - the last 8 days have been very difficult for me and my family.

First, I had a 4-hour glucose screening test which I blogged about previously. God delivered me from that and I do not have gestational diabetes. Yay!

Second, my dad had a health scare (and after making that public just now, I am going to be in big trouble with him but I really don't care since, as Blaine says when he gets in trouble, "Jesus Loves Me.") The good news: this health issue turned out just fine and Dad was washing his truck and boat hours later and then fishing the next morning. I think the health problem had something to do with not catching his limit of Crappie one day... or was it Walleye?

Third, Kole (the dog I've had since the 7th grade) needs to be put to sleep. He can't really walk anymore (without significant struggle) and we have to pick him up to move him from one place to the other like 90% of the time. He will be going to Doggie Heaven in the next few weeks - look for a tribute to him and please pray for us and that decision.

Fourth, and most disturbing, on my walk last Saturday morning I was the first person to discover the body of a young boy who had gone missing the night before. I needn't say more than that at this time but it's been a very tough last few days as you can imagine. The boy was only five and was not alive when I found him. His death is being investigated as a homicide. My prayers and love go out to his family and friends.

It seems almost cruel or insensitive to continue on after that last statement. It certainly is not a "matter-of-fact" statement, but as this blog serves to document my life and that of my family, there is always more.

Finally, yesterday around 5:00, Blaine was climbing (or attempting to climb) the bookshelf and since it is not secured to the wall, it started falling forward. I caught it and was able to deflect three objects that came crashing down so they wouldn't hit him, but one heavy wood frame, an 8x10, came down and the corner of it punctured my foot. I screamed in pain and blood went everywhere, I ran to the bathroom and rinsed it out. It is about 1/4" long and a 1/4" deep. Doctor David said I don't need stitches but I am a worrier, so I have a doctors appointment this morning to have it checked out. Blaine was so sweet as I cried in pain. He ran to his bedroom and brought me a diaper (LOL!) and then told me to get some medicine and then hugged my neck and said he was sorry. (I told him not to climb the bookshelf anymore.) Thank God Jesus Loves him! :) And I do to... Little stinker.

Oh, and how could I forget this (though this is the least significant happening). I finally signed up for prenatal yoga and got myself down to the studio last night (after the punctured foot incident). My sweet husband got off work early to take Blaine and met me at the studio. When I got there and signed in I was informed that the prenatal yoga teacher had just called minutes before to cancel her class. Seriously? Yes, seriously! I've been taking yoga classes for almost 10 years and I've never encountered a canceled class.

Who needs a relaxing, meditative experience such as yoga anyway? Not me, I guess!

Welcome 2010

Maybe Blaine has discovered his passion for photography - he now loves taking his own picture.

He let me take this one before we colored today...

And here is my belly at just under 18 weeks. My face is not in this picture because it is actually my face that looks the most pregnant (oh how I despise fat-pregnancy-face... but I don't really despise the candy and cookies I ate over break - I am sure there is no correlation!). We are having our anatomy ultrasound on February 3rd - how exciting! Blaine pointed to my belly yesterday and said "baby sister. baby sister" out of the blue so maybe he knows already...?

I love this family picture of the three of us. Blaine's smile is so precious.

And last, but certainly not least... David's thumb is broken. A doctor confirmed this on Wednesday. Look at the tip of the thumb - that long gap is the break. They said that since it is still attached by about 1/3 of the bone, they don't want to do surgery. He is wearing a splint on it and still going about his normal daily routine - he's even hitchhiking to work now since he's got that nice thumb to use :)

Hello Urgent Care, my name is Blaine.

Friday night was like any typical night. It was 6:00 and I was starting dinner. The grill was on and ready for some chicken and Blaine and I were in and out of the house preparing the meal like we've done every night since he was born. While playing outside on the deck (our grill sits on the lower level patio and behind it is a deck) Blaine kept telling me the grill was "Hot! Hot!" and was putting his hand near the back of the grill (can you see where this is going?). I told him no numerous times, that the grill was hot and he needed to get away from it. He left the grill to pluck flowers out of the flower pot, I turned, opened the back door to get something off the kitchen table to bring back outside and as I was coming back out the door it happened! The dreaded it! Blaine touched the 600 degree grill and screamed a painful and terrifying scream. My "No" didn't reach his brain in time as his curiosity ("is this thing really HOT or is she just pulling my chain?") pushed him to touch it.

The series of events that followed were painful for everyone involved. I immediately put his hand in a glass of cold water and only after about 10 minutes did he stop screaming in pain. If he took his hand out of the water or I changed the water he would scream. I called David and told him to come home and that I was going to call our nurse hotline (through our insurance company) to find out what we should do. After a brief conversation with the sweet nurse, she said, "Go have it looked at now. The E.R. will have a long wait--go to the Urgent Care in Round Rock, they are open until 9:00". By this time, David was home and we had everything packed up and ready to go. (Dinner for Blaine, milk, diapers, p.j's etc...) Traffic was awful so it took us a good 25 minutes to get to the Urgent Care clinic. Blaine ate noodles, a banana and triscuits for dinner (since we hadn't eaten yet). When we arrived we only had to wait about 30 minutes, so I thought we were in the clear. We'd get some excellent medical attention and be on our way. Yeah, right. When we got to our personal room a nurse checked Blaine's vitals I found out that we were waiting for "Julie" (it struck me as odd that she wasn't referenced as Dr. SoandSo or Dr. Julie, but I didn't question it). When Julie came in, she briefly examined his hand and told us that we should take it out of the water (and not put it back in), that he had a 1st degree burn (on all five fingers and his palm), handed us a prescription and said goodbye. My response: "So, are you going to treat it now, put medicine on it and wrap it for us?". Julie's response: "No, we don't have that medicine here. We only have the cream that can be put on adults, not toddlers. But go to the Walgreens across the street and pick up the prescription, put it on, and wrap it up good." My response (very annoyed and very shocked that they were not going to do anything): "Ummm, ok. What about the pain?". Julie's response: (who is, by-the-way a Physicians Assistant, not a doctor)"Children's Motrin is fine." So off we go with our prescription, a burned hand (out of the comforting cold water), a screaming boy, and two frustrated parents (I, of course, was bawling my eyes out and David was the cool, calm and collected one - thank God and thank you David). We went to the Walgreens and after a 10 minute wait I'm told, "We don't carry that medicine, but we can order it for you - it will be here on Tuesday." Were they fricken kidding me?? No. You don't want to know my response (if you catch my drift). They called two other pharmacies and none of them carried this alleged medicine that Julie prescribed. When the pharmacist called Julie to get the prescription changed to the other thing (which Julie told us couldn't be used on toddlers), Julie of course said 'no' and explained why. So the pharmacist (now knowing the whole story and understanding that I had a burned, screaming, toddler in the car) told me to put some neosporin on it, wrap it up and well... good luck. I went to the car, feeling defeated and sad and angry but we did as she said because really, what else were we supposed to do? After we had it bandaged up, and Blaine had a dose of Motrin, David was able to help him fall asleep. This was four hours after he burned himself and three and a half hours after his normal bedtime. I was not satisfied with what transpired so I called our pediatrician's after-hours line (which has been a God-send) and the doctor on call, Dr. McGraw called me back in 3 minutes. When I tearfully explained the course of events, she said, "Oh I am so sorry! They did you wrong... I don't know what they prescribed you initially but the drug she told you could only be used on adults was not based on factual information and he indeed can use that medicine. He also needs tylenol with codeine for the pain. I am calling it in right now to the 24 hour pharmacy - you go pick it up now." My Angel-Doctor continued to reassure me that the medicine she was calling in was what he needed and she gave me additional directions for the care of the burn in the days to come. I went to the 24-Hour Walgreens and they had everything ready. What a night!

Blaine woke up at 5:30 am Saturday and seemed fine, but did start complaining about his hand about 15 minutes after waking up. We administered the Tylenol with Codeine, changed his bandage after putting his new medicine on the burns, and he's been on the mend since then.

Honestly, I thought he'd be struggling a lot more than he is, but he's doing great. We change the bandage (we call it his mitten... he does have roots in Michigan you know :) twice a day and he gets his medicine every three hours. He has not tried to take the mitten off and he is such a champ when it's time to take his meds. He even says "mecine" and takes it without a fight.
We are so fortunate that he's ok and though David says that it was going to happen sooner or later and I am not to blame, I certainly won't leave him outside (or inside) even for a few seconds ever again if I've got something cooking.

Here are some "after" pictures of him with his mitten.

"Hey, if I burn this hand I can wear two mittens!"

"Talk to the mitten, Mom!"

See, he has one good hand to eat with though he did discover that some food sticks to the bandage and this is a handy way to feed himself.

A little Saran Wrap, tape, and a ziploc bag goes a long way when it's bath time.

We anticipate a normal week. Blaine will go to school and see Siri and Chrissy two days this week. Dr. McGraw said it would take about 10 days for his hand to heal completely. We'll appreciate your prayers for his healing.

Gluttony, Eye Emergency and Tree Drama

Blaine's totally-bored face.

Daddy cutting down the Lyon Family Christmas Tree!

"I hope none of my friends see me here with my parents!"

"OMG, are we done yet?"

Sweet baby in his Christmas sweater.

The Gluttony:

We went to Plano, TX for Thanksgiving. Marie and Nana made a meal fit for Kings (and Queens). Wow. I ate way too much, way too often, for way too long. I felt so sick on Saturday night from over-eating and eating too much sugar. It was all so tasty, but too much of a good thing ruins my waist line. Thanks for the hospitality and taking good care of us, Marie and Jeff. :)

Eye Emergency:

Before we left on Saturday I went to put my contacts in (as I always do) but mistakenly used contact disinfectant (not saline solution) to clean my contact, then proceeded to put it in my eye and then screamed and cried in pain as my cornea burned off. No joke. I basically put Hydrogen Peroxide in my eye... and the contact (and the deadly disinfectant) sucked to my eye, so I couldn't get the sucker out. Finally when I did, I flushed with water, but the pain was unbearable. I cried and cried and cried. Which was actually probably good for it. Needless to say, I've been wearing my glasses since Saturday. My eye is improving, but when you burn your cornea, it doesn't get better over night. My eye was/is fire engine red where there should be white. Poison control and a nurse (and the Mom of the Pharmacist at Walgreens (my most reliable source, thus far)) said that there is nothing a Dr. can do... just keep flushing it out with eye cleaner, so I've been doing that. Please keep me and my right eye in your prayers for a full recovery!

Tree Drama:

Every year, David and I go to Elgin, Texas and we cut down our own Christmas Tree. This year was no different, well except for the fact that I have only one good eye and we have a 9 month old superstar on our hands. It was chilly--the perfect weather for cutting down our tree. Because we're in a drought, the tree selection was not that great, but after about 45 minutes, we found "the tree" - it was full and beautiful from all angles. Or so we thought. David cut it down and we took it to be shaken (to get all of the dead needles out) and tied up for the ride home. Much to our surprise and sadness, when we got home, this 8 and a half foot monster of a tree was actually a very pathetic, very bare and very sparse tree. The poor thing had lost so many needles that it was essentially bare from the ground up 2 feet, so David had to cut 2 feet off the bottom, and we were left with what you see here. It doesn't look too bad in the picture... but trust me, this tree is hurting! I did what I could to make it presentable and we think it turned out just fine, regardless of its lack of needles :) Now the house is all decorated, except for some lights outside that we need to hang this week. It looks good: Simple but pleasant and festive. We have a holiday party for David's work here this weekend and then a company party next weekend, then the Gay's arrive for some good ol' fashioned Christmas partying. Phew... I am a tired Mommy...