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

Frustrated in Seattle

We are still here at the hospital, with very little reasoning in my mind. The doctor had told me originally that we would be here for monitoring Mattie's pain and to be certain he would not take off the brace on his right arm. He has only been given Tylenol for possible pain in the night, and one dose for the wound being unwrapped yesterday. He has been in great spirits, you would not know he had been through surgery as well as the fact that his arm brace has not been touched in the slightest. I guess all the prep work we did at home, talking and practicing keeping the brace on along with the fact that he does not have to wash it has made it a piece of cake.
I became frustrated all afternoon when I found out the weekend doctor had gone home, without seeing us all weekend. He came by this morning at 6 am, while we slept and never came back in. He relayed to the discharge nurse that we would not go home until Wed. when the brace is scheduled to come off. This made me upset and frustrated for a number of reasons:
1. I had been asking if we could go home after talking to the weekend therapist about how well Mattie has been doing. Both the nurse and therapist have implied to me they do not see the need to keep him here except we would be taking a chance that something could happen to his brace.
2. He gets little monitoring, I am the primary monitor with his nurses checking in on him, so really there would not be a difference, concerning the brace being monitored, if we were home.
3. The doctor had all weekend to see us, and did not make it a priority to meet with us and communicated with me, the patient's mother concerning decisions involving his care.
4. It is hard to be in the hospital, knowing we could be at home, only an hour away for recovery.

Just pray for my patience with this situation and that I would get some clear communication with the medical staff tomorrow on how best to care for Mattie as he recovers from the surgery. I adore Mattie's nurses, Pam and Abby who have been with us since we started on Friday and they have been very supportive to both Mattie and I. Thank God he gave us such wonderful nurses! I better go get Mattie into bed tonight as he took a short cat nap today and should be tired now.....

Wrapping up the day (3-1-08)

The wrapping on Mattie's leg, where the skin was removed for the skin graft, got semi-undressed this afternoon. Even though it was just the top layer of wrapping it did cause trauma and pain to Mattie. He was pretty resilient though in the fact that once we put his pants back on and he did not see the bandage, he was content to move on. He fell asleep at 8 pm, so we are going to be taking off his pants during the night to air out the dressing where the man-made scab is located. He took a great nap, so I am honestly surprised he is asleep already though he has been super hyper. As Vicky said, you would think he is on a vacation! He is having a great time, hanging out with his brother and grandparents this afternoon, chasing after his nurse Pam (who is willing to grant his every wish, except dinner out, of course!) and racing around in his police car. He used every ounce of energy I guess he had, cause he is out for the count. We will see if he wakes up through the night. Praying for mommies sake, he dosn't!
We moved rooms, or I should say the nursing staff moved our room, when we went to dinner in the cafeteria cause of some new patients admitted, so now we have a new room mate: a canadian couple with a 6 year old who had a skin graft surgery as well. We also had talk of being released, but that talk ended up disipating since we are still here. We are hoping to be released tomorrow, as things are going very well!
We have been very busy since we arrived so when my mother-in-law, Jackie, came this afternoon I took a good long nap, so now I will be up for awhile. Jason had to go back to work but he was able to be here all day, Friday, and was very supportive to me and Mattie. He gave me many back rubs and helped with Mattie so I could catch up with sleep after the operation. Our family is learning so much through this time about what is important-each other. We are so grateful for the loving and financial support so many of you have given to our family! The meals, cards and phone calls, gifts and so much more have meant the world to us. I am so blessed in so many ways and count these blessings daily! God is good.....
1 Corinthians 14:33 "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace."

Waking up in Seattle......

We had a great first night in the hospital, with about 8 hours of sleep, interupted only by 2 potty breaks by Mattie. Once he was going, his thigh started to bother him so they gave him some tylenol to help revlieve the pain and discomfort. He is doing really well, very talkative to all the nurses and other patients. He has a thing for our new nurse, Pam, who he asked to join him for dinner in the cafeteria last night! It was so cute, his first date proposal to a big person. She had to turn him down since she was working, but said she wished she could. Mattie's face went from a smile to a very sad frown, but he quickly moved on; mommy and daddy became quick subsitutes. He had a good appetite, eating most of a hot dog, bowl of fruit, curly fries and some jello! We had some excitement on the floor with police, hospital security and CPS showing up to investigate a situation with a family that had a little boy. I am not sure about what all was going on but Mattie was able to befriend 2 of the officiers who gave him stickers and entertained him, while they were here! I am amazed at how well he is doing, God is good! He is very happy about not needing a bath or wound change for a few days.
We are going to head to breakfast so I must go but I hope you all have a great Saturday!