An update on healing. It has been over a year!!

Wow, as I prepare to write this email I reflect on all that has occured in this last year for my wonderful son, Mattie. He is a precious gift from our Father. I am amazed at all we have learned and gone through from this experience.....

I was dissapointed by the visit today in a few ways. The doctor that we had with the surgery is no longer there and a new doctor was in his place. Dr. Kline was really blunt about the scaring on Mattie's body. He said that it is what it is pretty much, with minor changes in time. I was hoping for more positive words than that. I knew that he would have scaring but his donar spot, right leg and arm are still very off colored among other words to describe the appearance. I am not big on appearance but I do not want my child to have all this scaring for the remainder of his life! I always thought some scaring is ok to be reminded of God's protection in his life, though.....

I spoke to him a bit about his hip (he has an excessive amount of scar tissue there that was healthy skin grown over) and he said he would not consider surgery at least for another year. He is concerned about his ability to heal since he could not sit still for the appointment. I know my child, he has always had a lot of energy (go figure, I am the one he gets it from!) and even though in time he will be calmer he will always be ACTIVE!

I spoke to the nurse after he left about getting a referal to a different doctor but at Harbor view he is the only specialist in this field. She said I would have to have our family doctor give he a referal to another hospital. Though I hate looking outside of Harborview, I really need to seek out a second opinion on this matter since this surgery could posibly be done in two stages with the thick amount of skin that needs to be removed. It could take up to one year of healing to occur after each surgery. I would like to do the surgery while he is younger, as it would have less memories of it happening as well as the fact that it will slow down his abilities to be in sports and other activities while it is healing. I need to share my opionion with a doctor that is willing to listen to me and give me some wise counsel not make the decision for me! Gosh darn it!!

Good bye arm garment! We will need to cover his arm with sunscreen to avoid harmful sun rays. It makes me a bit nervous for him as he is not shy and will show his arm to anyone. I am just not sure about showing it as it is hard to look at still and will lead to questions from strangers who do not know our story. So far he has not wanted to take it off after the nurse and I told him it can come off, he is very attached to it. I figure there is no harm in wearing it a bit more so when he is ready it will come off and stay off.

I guess it has been a hard day cause I had hoped to have more answers and left feeling like I have more questions. I am not sure if any or all of this makes much sence as I am tired and have a lot to do tonight and it is already 11 pm!!! I will let you know more as I know.....
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

p.s. we did get to see Hector, our favorite hospital chef! He always makes Mattie and I smile!

I know this is overdue, but better late than never I will have to say! I have been meaning to write an update on how Mattie is doing cause a week does not pass that people want to know the status of his healing. I am so happy to report to you that he has been completely healed (meaning no open wounds since the end of March)!!! He has received 100% mobility into his arm and hip both. We did a lot of physical therapy at home and with the physicians at Harbor View. We need to keep the burned area moisturized and do physical therapy by way of massage daily. We still drive up to Harbor View for visits every six weeks for check ups. The doctors are impressed with his healing process just like the rest of us.
Mattie is continually amazing us with his determination; he was able to do the monkey bars with both arms just recently!
Thanks for all the support and encouragement every step of the way.

BIG Praise!!

Mattie was laying next to me last thursday while I was watching survivor on TV. I looked over and saw that his right arm was stretched straight out! This is the first time ever that he stretched it straight out without help. I called for Jason to come and see. When he came in and we made a fuss over his arm, Mattie decided to show us that he could stand up tall, sit up and bend over still while holding his arm out straight! You could tell that even he knew this was good after all these weeks of theraphy and hospital visits! The Lord is so good, to be healing his arm! This praise was in due time as I had been driving home less than an hour before this occurance and was feeling worried and fearful of his healing being so slow!
Mattie has continued to stretch out his arm, as well as bending his arm toward his shoulder. It really does make me proud of him and what he has accomplished through this ordeal!

Recap of the last week....

I am happy to report, Mattie is going well. The skin graft on his right inner elbow area was completed on Feb. 29th and we spent another 6 days in the hospital. After 4 days of recovering at home, we returned to Harborview for the bandages to be removed. The doctors all say he is healing really well, which is great to hear! The next step is to go back to doing physical theraphy on his arm. He needs to be stretching and using his right arm daily so that he will not have permanant damage to his internal muscles. We also learned at our last appointment that it is vital for his wound to have physical touch, without it his skin will not heal properly. We have a long road ahead of continual doctors visits in Seattle as well as special wrappings he will wear to help with the recovery. We are so grateful for the support and encouragement!

home stretch

So to all who are reading this and wondering if you should be sending us our Christmas Card to Harborview this year, I am happy to report that we are now home in Orting! It has been a long road and I am very tired. So without further information for tonight I am heading off to get some much needed rest in my OWN bed! yeah!
Thanks for the support.....
g'night

Melt down in the Cafeteria

Have you ever had a moment in motherhood, where you wish you could transfer the term "mom" to some other lost soul? Well that is my mommy moment from this morning. We had a tough night as you can read on the entry below, and to make matters worst, Mattie woke up at 6 am!?!?! I of course, being the smart mama I am, turned on the cartoon channel and went back to sleep (you know you all have done it!) until 8 am. Once we were up and going it was time to get some breakfast in the cafeteria. I asked Mattie, more than once if he wanted some yogurt and he replied, more than once that he did not. He opted for some peanut butter toast, muffin, fruit and eggs. We were in line and the man in front of us, had a meal voucher with no extra cash and went over in cost which made him give his yogurt back to the cashier to decrease the cost. Once he was done, I took the yogurt he had set aside and asked to have it added to my order. I thought, this will be a kind and giving gesture, as I needed to have a positive moment to start out my day. Once I paid for everything, I saw the man and handed him the yogurt, telling him that I hope he has a good day. Mattie saw my interaction as the man took the yogurt, thanked me and walked away. As soon as this occurred, a massive temper tantrum ensued! No joke, right in the front of the cafeteria Mattie, in his police car screamed at the top of his lungs "mama, no that is my yogurt! I want that yogurt, give me that yogurt" Thank God the man walked away so quickly as he might have felt guilty and tried to return it but now I was left with a tray of food, and a toddler out of control. He was crying and trying to make his way back to where the yogurt was and I was trying to stop him in the crowd as well as juggle the tray full of breakfast. I wanted to sink in the crowd and feel bad for the mother having to deal with an intolerable and tired child, but instead I WAS THE MOM! Somehow, through a prayer of patience and complete perseverance we made our way down the long corridor to the elevator which became another battle. He was trying with all his might to NOT get on that elevator and I was trying with all my might to GET ON the elevator! I wish this was just a funny story I read on a moms website but this is the honest truth. Mommy was ready for a melt down herself as the two of us, exhausted and bedraggled stepped onto the 8th floor. One of our kind nurses greeted us and tried to console Mattie but I knew he needed to eat and rest ASAP! So that is what we did and I lived to write this story (and not in the third person, I may add) so that you all know I am a real mom with crazy moments, just like so many of you.
P.S. DO NOT mention yogurt today as I made the mistake to tell the therapist this story and re-opened the floodgate of tears......

A very long day!

So it has been a long one....I had hoped that we would be out today but here we are at Harborview still. I finally was able to talk to the Burn Doctor on duty and got informed that we will be staying here until Wednesday to recover from the surgery. Wednesday is when the splint will be removed and the graft area can be viewed by all. I was hoping to have Jason come and relieve me tonight but he got mandatory overtime duty at work tonight and will not be home until the wee hours of the morning.
I was getting stir crazy again and asked God to help me think of a creative solution to the boredom created in the hospital, and he did not fail me! I remembered a speaker from our MOPS group sharing about making a MAP, like Dora, for running errands. So that is what I did; pulling out a large piece of white paper, markers and letting my creative juices flow I drew Mattie a Map that involved him searching for familiar things and then circling them once they were found. Once the hunt was complete, he got a treat from his favorite nurse, Pam. He was delighted and rested well at the nap he had, once it was done. Jayden, came to visit tonight and we worked on making a map for tomorrows hunt. It added joy to my day, and to Mattie's I am sure!!
Jayden and my parents came up to visit tonight, which was super fun! I got to spend some time playing on the PlayStation with Jay and talking with my parents, who are always supportive and encouraging. It was very restful since Mattie has had a hard night, falling asleep a little after 1:30 am. He was in some pain and discomfort and the nurse was not able to get meds right away. It makes me frustrated cause if I was home, I could get something to him quicker to de-escalate him. Instead he got wound up, and we walked the halls to calm him down, in a red plastic wagon which he finally fell asleep in, when the nurse finally got the meds! I better try to get some sleep....
over and out
this mom is checking out