Mi Vida Loca

Saturday December 8th, a very memorable day. It started with the Snowflake festival. This is a great fun party put together by the Children's Therapy Clinic (where Izzy and Xan go for speech and OT).

There were all kinds of characters and games and crafts even Santa! And all the kids got special presents with their names on them, and they were selected for them.

Izzy n' Xan playing toss!

Dimon and his dragon!
Marlene (Xan's Speech Therapist) and Scott (his OT)

Present Time!

Craft Time!

We had a great time and can not say enough about how much fun we all had. Even though Xander would not eat anything. (He refused donuts!!!) We left with ornaments, toys and lots of great pictures!

The Accident and the Bravest Boy in the world

After that the day was looking good. Andy and I were headed down to Louisville to see Joe and Mel and the kids were staying at my parents house for the weekend. Everyone was really happy and excited. That was about 1130 in the morning. At about 1230 we were in the ER of Bloomington Hospital. Xander had stuck his hand in a hot glue pot, that heats to about 4oo degrees. He had run away from Dad and when Dad told him to get away from the pot he looked up at him and slammed his hand into the pot. TOTAL ACCIDENT!!!! Dad and mom called and said that we needed to meet them at the hospital, thankfully we had just left home so we were only about 5 minutes from home. He had 2nd degree burns on his right hand and a small 1st degree burn on his left wrist from where he flipped some of the glue from his other hand. They wrapped his hand after getting the remaining glue off of his hand and called Riley Children's Hospital. Dr Gupta (@ Riley) said that because of his Autism and chances of being worse he would like to see him. So we headed to Riley, Andy's parents drove us. Before we left the emergency room here in Bloomington Andy, Dad and Ryan gave Xander a blessing. Once we got to Riley they said that the burn had not reached the membrane and he should heal pretty well, but they wanted to watch him for a few days because burns can get worse over a 72 hour period. So what we though would be a short stay turned into a 10 day long, very long stay at Riley in the ICU Burn Unit. (Tony and Andy getting ready to do a dressing change->)

As unhappy as we were about being there we could not have asked for a better place or a better staff. We love the nurses there at Riley! They were so good to all of us. Andy and I stayed the whole time, and my parents took Izzy and Dimon for the 10 days. The first few days were the worst for Xan because we were debreeding his hand (taking all the dead skin off by rubbing a washcloth over it.) But he was so very brave and smiled about an hour after it was done, if he didn't go to sleep first. Sunday, my Aunt Jane and Grandma came by to see if we needed anything. We had several phone calls and text messages from friends to find out how they could help. They really meant a lot to hear from people. Dave and Lil came up almost everyday to visit and my parents brought the kids up a lot. That really made Xander happy, because he kept asking for Izzy, and he even asked for Dimon a few times. After a few days we were able to get some smiles and laughs from Xander, he even played alot with one of his nurses, Tony. (who we absolutely adore.) He even braided my hair for me one day.

Like I said the nurses were amazing, Paul, Xander's night nurse for most of the 10 days, and Katie, even gave me a bed one night because Xander kicked me, litterally out of his. We spent a lot of time feeding pennies into the fountain downstairs, and walking the halls playing with all of the cool toys we found. We also went to the library there and checked out movies and just spent a lot of time playing with the toys that the Cheer Guild brought.

The people at Riley are amazing. There is just not enough words in world to explain how wonderful and beautiful the people who work at Riley are. They want to do nothing but help.

Penny Throwing, one of many games set up in lobby one day, Safe Place.

And there was always something going on in the lobby during the day. Xan got very accustomed to a little red wagon and it was his safe place. No one would mess with his arm if he was in his wagon so one day, when he was having a really rough time he climbed in and even fell asleep in it. The reason that we had to stay for so long was one, Xander developoed psuemondus ( I know I mispelled that) and then because until the 10th day he was still on IV meds instead of oral. Trying to give this boy any kind of medicine by mouth is worse than changing the bandges on his hand! But the last day they said that we knew everything about doing the changes and how to take care of him, if we were willing to give him the oral meds then we could go home. So we came home. YEA!!!!!!! We are so proud of Xander, he has been such a little trooper. So have Izzy and Dimon, they were really good for my parents. (Not that I think they would tell me otherwise)

So we are home and happy now. Xander is doing great. We only have to wrap 2 of his fingers now because the rest is healed. Changes are still rough, but it's his anxiety and soon we won't have to do that anymore, we hope. So now its on to Christmas. Everybody say presents!

PS> We want to say thank you to everyone who has helped us out at the hospital, once we got home, and those of you who kept Xander in your prayers. It has meant a lot and we want you to know that we love each and everyone of you. Merry Christmas!!!