Life Lessons

You never know when your going to happen upon a wake up call as a parent. We never see them coming or if we do its in a split second where we can't prevent it. From a quick grab of a curling iron....to a cut from a sharp spot on the coffee table we should have covered.... Anyone done the "its not that bad" to a screaming child only to watch an hour later as the bruise gets darker and bigger!

UGH!

Here is my most recent life lesson and PLEASE let it be a lesson to all of you my dear friends.
The post before this was all about the wonderful day my kids had at the lake with Grannie and Aunt Laurie. Unfortunately, the drama following has not been wonderful but a scary, frustrating, emotional roller coaster.

This picture is of my kids about 3 hours after we got home from the lake. While mind you the "group shot" in the post below was minutes before we left. The continual reddening of their skin was AMAZING!


Noah in misery.


Joshua in misery.


I'd like to preface the rest of this with... YES sunscreen was applied! I don't know for sure how often. But the ladies who love my children *almost* as much as me, did a great job of making sure noone drowned and to their credit...... Madilyn, Krisalyn, Elijah, Gabriella weren't red at all. Caitlyn and Breaunna had areas on their backs that were burned and they hurt but not too bad. My *guess* is that the boys went back out in the water before the sunscreen on their abdomens could dry. Because their faces and necks were not burned more than your average little too much sun burn the following day.

Noah is usually my tanner. I put sunscreen on him as a protectant only because he gets really dark in the summer. He had a fairly significant burn on his back and a few water blisters on his shoulders. Enough to make clothes hurt and he was stiff for a few days but he's on the mend now.

Joshua our little red head was a different story. He cried and didn't move much all day Saturday. I did the whole "Its just a bad sunburn" "You'll be better in a few days" "Stop complaining theres nothing more I can do besides aloe" routine.

On Sunday morning things changed. Vince dropped both boys at mom's house while we went to church. Between my house and being at hers for 10min blisters began popping up all over his body. These pictures don't do it justice really. You can't see the hundreds of little blisters. And you can't see the pain.... :-(

We took him to Care Now and they prescribed Tylenol with codeine and some burn cream.
This did NOTHING to help him.

Tuesday morning first thing we took him to our pediatrician, and she was really concerned. She said he had 2nd degree burns on 17% of his body. He had gained 5lbs from the fluid build up and swelling. If we had medical insurance she would have sent him over to Cooks Children's burn unit but since he was no longer vomitting, she spoke with them and we came up with a plan to make him comfortable at home "if possible".

We bought white sheets and 4 new pillows and sterilized everything. He and I went to my moms house in Grand Prairie so the kids and dogs wouldn't be bothering him...plus its germier ;-) She perscribed a bucket (literally) of sylvadine burn cream that we apply two times a day. THAT is so hard. He cries and begs me to stop and keeps asking why.... She also gave him some very VERY strong pain medicine.





He had more small bubble blisters than I could count, 3 the size of grapes on his arms and one the size of a golf ball on his back. It made getting him in a comfortable position next to impossible. So we set up a white throne (as he affectionately refers to it) on my moms couch in front of her coffee table which has a raisable lid. We raised it and he leans forward and sleeps with just his head on a pillow on that table.

Blessed blessed sleep....... that pain pill knocked him out cold and he slept for 7+ hours Tuesday night.

When he woke up Wed. morning it was evident immediately that our prayers had been met more that abundantly! All the blisters had opened over night and the swelling had decreased significantly. He was in a great mood! The pain was so much more manageable!!!

Thursday he is even better. He has a very raw section on his back where the golf ball blister was. And the itching is driving him wild. Benadryl helps some.....

So now the prayer is for protection from infection. She is very concerned about him getting a staff infection.

Make sure and lather up your kiddos. This is an experience I hope noone else ever has to learn from. I should also add..... God has been so good and gracious to us through all of this. His healing touch is evident in the progression of Josh's getting better! Praise and thanks to Him!