Amelia finally started walking again on Friday - one full week after the incident. She's doing great and her foot is starting to look human again. Dr. Freestone said it would still be a couple months before the skin on her foot isn't super tender and easy to tear. Poor kid won't be able to go barefoot till later in the summer. But she doesn't seem to mind all the bandage changing, and yesterday when I took her in the shower she didn't have any trouble with the temperature of the water (I did turn it to basically luke-warm, but it wasn't hard on her body or on her foot).
I feel like I'm finally coming out of this cold business. I'm not sure why nobody else in the family got it, but I'm extremely grateful that they didn't. It has been truly miserable. I can't imagine how tough it would have been if Amelia had been sick as well as injured.
So, the house is a complete wreck (and no, I'm not exaggerating with that description) and I have tons to do in the way of projects. Still working on the lawsuit stuff, as well as the medicaid stuff. I also have a couple of building projects and I will post pics if I ever get started.
On Friday I got together with my friends Michelle and Anne to brainstorm and write and it was extremely productive. I have great ideas and a definite direction. Now I just need to write it all out. This is the project I'm looking most forward to tackling.
We're good. Not perfect, but definitely good.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Update on Amelia - day 3 (caution - scary pics)
So, as requested, we took Amelia to the doc again this morning to change her bandages. Dr. Freestone said it's healing nicely with no sign of infection, but again, it was a difficult experience.
It was much easier than yesterday, but she still screamed. She can't put any kind of pressure on her foot and she won't keep the bandages on her hands. Still, healing well.
You can see Amelia's toes - they're essentially all giant blisters. The pics of the bottom of her foot - what's hanging off is the oily gauze they put over the top of the exposed under skin. First they put on some thick antibiotic ointment, then they cover it in this oily gauze (so it doesn't stick), then they cover it with regular gauze and then a stretchy sock-like thing. The bandage is pretty intense. We're going back on Thursday for another change of bandages.
It was much easier than yesterday, but she still screamed. She can't put any kind of pressure on her foot and she won't keep the bandages on her hands. Still, healing well.
You can see Amelia's toes - they're essentially all giant blisters. The pics of the bottom of her foot - what's hanging off is the oily gauze they put over the top of the exposed under skin. First they put on some thick antibiotic ointment, then they cover it in this oily gauze (so it doesn't stick), then they cover it with regular gauze and then a stretchy sock-like thing. The bandage is pretty intense. We're going back on Thursday for another change of bandages.
Monday, April 19, 2010
"In some countries, she'd now be considered a man!"
So, I'm pregnant. Official due date is September 21. We have a boy name picked out and a girl name picked out, but we should be able to find out what we're having in the next few weeks. You're welcome to submit suggestions. :)
After the lawsuit* thing in January and the pregnancy thing right around the same time, life got a bit stressful. We did the calculations once I became eligible for insurance and we figured out that it would actually end up costing us for me to keep working. So last Thursday was my last day.
But the weekend before I got sick. Like really sick. I have no idea what's going on, but it's been over a week and I can still barely talk. I wake up every night coughing up a lung and if I go too long without coughing my throat closes up and I can barely breathe.
Thankfully, I'm the only one. Illnesses as a parent are actually easier to handle when it's just the parents. When it's the parents and the kids it's much worse.
Friday night we had a movie night with some friends. We invited lots but ended up enjoying the evening with Mike and Bethany and kids. It was incredibly pleasant. I really really really like them.
Saturday morning Felix didn't want to wake up. He was totally listless and mostly asleep all morning and if he did wake up he threw up. About noon we roused him again and he was thirsty. He wanted to get dressed and go out with grandma and grandpa in the yard. Acted 100% so I let him go.
Brent and I took advantage of the grandparents and when Amelia woke from her nap and wanted to go out we let her go too. My parents had been burning old sticks and such to clear out the yard, along with lots of cardboard that had accumulated.
Because Amelia is super quick and super determined, my parents didn't see her when she walked straight through the coals of their bonfire to get to Felix. She got right to the middle of the coals and fell over, and my mom was there almost immediately, but the damage had already been done..jpg)
This was taken at the emergency room. It was pretty traumatic. They gave her some kind of narcotic which stopped the immediate screaming, till they had to wash off her foot. Tylenol with codeine, in tandem with ibuprofen, was a huge help, and she was walking on her foot very quickly.
Till this morning. We took her to her pediatrician (we adore Phil Freestone in Orem, by the way, if anyone needs a good pediatrician) and although he was very gentle, he still had to do some major work. This is what her foot looked like when the bandages from the ER came off:
This actually wasn't the worst of it. All that white skin on the bottom of her foot had to come off - it wasn't attached anymore. I did take a pic of it, but it didn't come out. And it would have grossed everyone out anyway. Brent came with me, thankfully, and held her down (with my help and that of the nurse) while Doc Freestone pealed and cut. That's a terrible thing for a parent... thank goodness she won't remember any of this.
Doc says there will be scarring and we have to take her again tomorrow. And this evening Felix had a reaction to a tiny amount of pecans. Sigh. It never ends.
*We next heard from the lawyers in February saying they weren't opposed to a settlement or payment arrangements. We figured they saw my response and got afraid so we didn't do anything - just waited for notice of the court date. It didn't come. End of March/beginning of April we got a big official notice from the lawyers saying that because we didn't come to court the judge threw out our response and sided with them. We talked to the courthouse and found that they had filed the "notice of pretrial" in February. We didn't get it - till the day I went to the courthouse to get copies. They had mailed it the day before - April 7. Court was scheduled for March 12. So along with requesting a new hearing, we're thinking of filing a countersuit because they've deliberately sabotaged our efforts to pay and to defend ourselves. I'm angry enough with them (and with their jerk of a legal assistant - she was never less than a complete ass to me on the phone) that I'd love to get someone fired over it. Stay tuned.
After the lawsuit* thing in January and the pregnancy thing right around the same time, life got a bit stressful. We did the calculations once I became eligible for insurance and we figured out that it would actually end up costing us for me to keep working. So last Thursday was my last day.
But the weekend before I got sick. Like really sick. I have no idea what's going on, but it's been over a week and I can still barely talk. I wake up every night coughing up a lung and if I go too long without coughing my throat closes up and I can barely breathe.
Thankfully, I'm the only one. Illnesses as a parent are actually easier to handle when it's just the parents. When it's the parents and the kids it's much worse.
Friday night we had a movie night with some friends. We invited lots but ended up enjoying the evening with Mike and Bethany and kids. It was incredibly pleasant. I really really really like them.
Saturday morning Felix didn't want to wake up. He was totally listless and mostly asleep all morning and if he did wake up he threw up. About noon we roused him again and he was thirsty. He wanted to get dressed and go out with grandma and grandpa in the yard. Acted 100% so I let him go.
Brent and I took advantage of the grandparents and when Amelia woke from her nap and wanted to go out we let her go too. My parents had been burning old sticks and such to clear out the yard, along with lots of cardboard that had accumulated.
Because Amelia is super quick and super determined, my parents didn't see her when she walked straight through the coals of their bonfire to get to Felix. She got right to the middle of the coals and fell over, and my mom was there almost immediately, but the damage had already been done.
.jpg)
This was taken at the emergency room. It was pretty traumatic. They gave her some kind of narcotic which stopped the immediate screaming, till they had to wash off her foot. Tylenol with codeine, in tandem with ibuprofen, was a huge help, and she was walking on her foot very quickly.Till this morning. We took her to her pediatrician (we adore Phil Freestone in Orem, by the way, if anyone needs a good pediatrician) and although he was very gentle, he still had to do some major work. This is what her foot looked like when the bandages from the ER came off:
This actually wasn't the worst of it. All that white skin on the bottom of her foot had to come off - it wasn't attached anymore. I did take a pic of it, but it didn't come out. And it would have grossed everyone out anyway. Brent came with me, thankfully, and held her down (with my help and that of the nurse) while Doc Freestone pealed and cut. That's a terrible thing for a parent... thank goodness she won't remember any of this.
Doc says there will be scarring and we have to take her again tomorrow. And this evening Felix had a reaction to a tiny amount of pecans. Sigh. It never ends.
*We next heard from the lawyers in February saying they weren't opposed to a settlement or payment arrangements. We figured they saw my response and got afraid so we didn't do anything - just waited for notice of the court date. It didn't come. End of March/beginning of April we got a big official notice from the lawyers saying that because we didn't come to court the judge threw out our response and sided with them. We talked to the courthouse and found that they had filed the "notice of pretrial" in February. We didn't get it - till the day I went to the courthouse to get copies. They had mailed it the day before - April 7. Court was scheduled for March 12. So along with requesting a new hearing, we're thinking of filing a countersuit because they've deliberately sabotaged our efforts to pay and to defend ourselves. I'm angry enough with them (and with their jerk of a legal assistant - she was never less than a complete ass to me on the phone) that I'd love to get someone fired over it. Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
