Thursday, August 28, 2008

Another Update
Well, we went to the burn unit again today and Sammi's hands are healed enough that she doesn't have to wear any bandages! We were so excited! The important thing now is to continue with the physical therapy so the new skin doesn't tighten up. We go back in about 3 weeks. Other than that, she is doing great! Thanks again for all the love and support during this time!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Burn Update
I thought I would update everyone on Sammi's condition. We went last week for a follow-up appointment at her pediatrician's. When he took off the bandages, her hands didn't look pretty good. In fact, they looked horrible! But the doctor said that her hands would look worse than they are. Her palms and fingers were all white from being in the bandage. And where she was burned worse on her palms was just red and raw. But he said that was a good sign and actually looked healthy. After looking at her hands, he realized that the burn was a little deeper than he anticipated and told us that we should follow-up at a burn unit. He refered us to the burn unit at Lakeview Hospital, but we decided to go to the U of U. I hear they are the best in the state. So we had an appointment there Thursday afternoon and her hands looked A LOT better! I was very happy. Her skin underneath didn't look so red and you could see a healthy pink layer growing. All of her fingers looked pretty much healed so we don't need to cover them up anymore. The concern is just the palms where she was burned the worse. The doctor gave us instructions to wash her palms (preferably during a bath) and then apply ointment and new bandages twice a day. Also, we have to do physical therapy twice a day where we take her fingers and bend them back as far as they can go and hold it for 2-3 minutes. This is so the skin that heals will not get stiff and that she won't end up loosing any mobility in her hands. And, of course, she hates it! The only way to do them is if she is watching Backyardigans. BUT, all in all, she is doing very well. The doctor doesn't think that she will scar or have to do skin graftings, but we won't know for sure until it heals a little bit more. We go next week for another appointment. I still can't believe she was burned so bad from a door! That is crazy! Anyway, thanks everyone for all your love and support. We will give you another update soon!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Burns
Today turned out to be a horrible day. I took Sammi to her music class that she has on Thursday mornings at my friend Hillary's house. After class was done, she was playing outside and went up to their back door. Their back door is painted black and because it was so hot outside, the door burned her. She put both of her hands on the door and was leaning on it to see if it would push open. Once she realized it was hot, she tried to push herself away from the door, but she couldn't and got burned really bad. She started screaming and I ran over and yanked her from the door. Then she became hysterical. My friend, Hillary, felt so bad (don't feel bad Hillary, it was just an accident). We took her inside to try and run her hands under cold water. She was screaming so bad and didn't want to be held. She just laid in a heap on the kitchen floor. I didn't know what to do and starting crying, too. We tried to give her a cool rag to put on her hands, but she didn't want it. Hillary gave her some children's Ibuprofen hoping to help her with the pain. Her palms were bright red and she had a blister forming on her right hand. I called Kyle and told him what had happened (luckily he was home and hadn't started his new job yet). I took her home and called her doctor. Sammi was still hysterical and screaming. She was in so much pain she didn't know what to do. Her doctor told me to bring her in immediately so he could treat the burns. We took her to her pediatrician and the experience just got worse. Kyle and I had to hold her down while they broke the blisters, cut the burned skin off, washed the new skin clean, and apply ointment. Then they had to wrap both hands up with gauze. She looks like she has boxing gloves on. The process took about 50 minutes and Sammi was screaming so bad the entire time that she was shaking. It was horrible. I was crying with her and felt so helpless. All I could do was try and comfort her during the process. The doctor told us that she has to wear her mits until Monday. Then I have to go back so they can look at the burns and bandage her up again. She will then have to wear them for another 4-5 days. We took Sammi home and she just kept staring at her hands. She didn't know what to think of her bandages. And the worse part is that she won't really be able to play with her toys, feed herself, or pick things up until they are off. It was a horrible experience, especially as a parent. It is so hard to watch your child in pain and know there is nothing you can do about it.

Chicken Little
Sammi LOVES the movie Chicken Little. Whenever I put it on for her, she will get so excited and just laugh! She likes watching the big pig and thinks he is so funny. This is her watching Chicken Little in her room. I know, it's pretty sad when your 16 month old already has a favorite movie.