Aria's Burn Update #2

Aria took her first submerged bath the day after her appointment. She held her hand up above the water while I washed her. I told her she could play, but when she started putting her hands in the water, she said it hurts. And every evening while changing her bandages, washing the wounds was a struggle. The wounds hurt when they touched water the first time. So every time after that she remembered. While we're trying to get the old bandages off, she would start saying, "Mommy don't hurt me. Don't hurt me."
And by Saturday evening, we had to force her hands under the water to wash them as she cried out to stop. It was so heartbreaking. I didn't want to do it because I can imagine how painful it was, but at the same time she has to clean them in order for them to heal and not get infected- which would be worse pain, for a longer period of time.
But by Sunday night, she was better. The wounds were starting to scab and the water doesn't hurt as much. This time she fell for my bubble distraction as I made bubbles with my hands from the soap.
Monday evening we attempted another fully-submerged bath. And this time she wasn't bothered by the water. She stayed in the tub and played for awhile.

Tuesday morning we headed back to Hopkins for Aria's follow up. Little Miss Independent sat in her own chair this time and let the doctor unwrap her bandages and examine her hands. The doctor said there is still a little spot on her right ring finger, where she got the deeper burn, but it's not worth wrapping up her whole hand for it. So she gave Aria the all clear to be free. No more bandages! If she starts picking or scratching at them as they heal more we have to put band aids on them. Otherwise, she can have her hands free and do as she pleases. At least three times a day we have to moisturize and massage the fingers to help heal and prevent scarring.  And as long as nothing changes for the worse, we don't have to go back for a follow up!

Reading before going to the doctor's

Aria's Burn Update #1

We went to Johns Hopkins Pediatric Burn Center in Baltimore yesterday with Aria. What an amazing place!! The anxiety and stress of not knowing what to expect, then the flashbacks of what they did, and the overcoming with guilt that she's going through this makes my heart race and almost led to a migraine this morning.
But the office is wonderful. They have college-aged kids who volunteer in the waiting room and all they do is disinfect the toys when kids are done playing with them and play with the kids. They bring out new toys, help them play games on the computer screen, play with the toys with them, bring out coloring books, and turn on a kid movie. We were enough impressed with that, though Aria wasn't really into it because she's only 2, but other kids were happy about it. They will also sit with your child and play with them while you fill out paperwork.
Then we went in to get her weighed and measured. They had a special bubble light thing on the wall for distraction, and a pad on the floor with liquid inside near the wall to measure height.
Then we go in for the appointment with the doctor. Aria was on my lap the whole time but was a little antsy, so they called this young woman in whose job is to entertain and distract the child. She was sitting on the floor in front of Aria, had a Mary Poppins bag of toys, and turned on an episode of Dora for her to watch. The woman helped her interact with the show and even sang along to the songs. What is this place!?! More importantly, why can't every doctor's office have this?!

We think Aria has some kind of super power where she has a super high tolerance for pain. Yes, she's been on a normal dose of Motrin for a few days, but just during the day not at night. During this whole exam she only flinched once and said "ouch", calmly, once. Frederic and I were more nervous and sad and expecting pain in our own fingers.
The doctor undid the dressings and took pictures on her fingers. Then she informed us she was going to drain the last blister that still had fluid in it and then rub off all the dead blistered skin with a cotton brush and cut off the skin. OMG, what?!?! WHY? Because she has a thermal burn they need to take the dead skin off to see the depth of damage. It also promotes healing.

So they did this. Aria was so chill. She even kept reminding the doctor and nurse that they had to do the other hand as well. The skin under her blisters are super pink/red and just look so Raw. Raw is the only word I can think to use. I just can't imagine the pain, even though she wasn't saying it hurt. There is one spot on her ring finger on one of the hands that had a deeper burn and that layer of skin is actually pale. It needs to turn pink/red in the coming days. So our main focus is preventing infection.
After they cleaned it all up, they put ointment and new dressings on. They gave us instructions for changing her bandages once a day for the next week. They even let her pick out a colored gauze for the outter layering. She chose purple over pink and then asked for green too before we left.
The nurse was so cool she even wrapped up Dora's hands to match Aria. 💚

We have to take her back in a week for a follow up. I guess we'll learn then what the next steps are in healing, which could take a month. Because the burns start above her nails/top knuckle and go up toward her middle/main knuckle, as they heal we have to be aware of the new skin or scarring stretches enough so she doesn't loose mobility.

I just pray she 1, doesn't get any infections, and 2. she doesn't need a skin graft to aid in the healing.
So I'm thankful she didn't get burned somewhere else on her body, like her face; it wasn't more than what it is, and it's not right before we go to the beach this summer. But I still feel completely horrible and devastated and wish it were me, not her, dealing with this.

Aria amazes us these past few days by acting normal and using her hands like nothing happened. She doesn't complain of pain (though we keep giving her Motrin for inflammation, etc). How fitting our Tough Cookie wanted to wear her Cookie Monster pjs to the doctor's office.

Weight: 27.5lbs
Height: 36.75 inches

Oh, Aria. We really do love your personality, your care-free ways, independence, thinking you can do something a 5 year old can do even though you're only 2. I'm trying to embrace your strong will and determination. I know in the future it will help a lot being a teenager and woman in this world. I'm sure you will excel at these qualities better than I ever could muster up the strength to even attempt.

However, you are not 5 years old. You do not listen very well to safety instructions. And in consequence, you now have 2nd degree burns on four of your fingers, two on each hand. And though Daddy and Mommy do take the blame for it for turning our backs on you for 1 little shortest second in eternity, you really had no thought in your head to lay your fists down on the electric stove burner that was just on High for 20 minutes cooking pancakes.
Bearing your weight down on your fists as you reached over to look at the finished pancakes, I can't believe that even 1 second of touching it led to such horrible burns. But you are also one super tough cookie. Actually, Daddy and I wonder if you have some super power where you don't feel as much pain as you should... You cried for only a few minutes, mostly because I scared the poop out of you as I screamed and pulled you away from the stove. Then you sat and ate your breakfast while I called the pediatrician on call and only kept whining a little saying, "It hurts."
The PA at the urgent care says you have 2nd degree burns. You have been stellar at sitting still as we rebandage your hands 3 times a day. When we take the bandaids off the burns you say, "Oh Woooow!" You scrutinize each step and try to help by insisting on holding the scissors. -Really of all things, the scissors? Do you just live for danger, child? Motrin has been helping with the pain, but you don't seem bothered at all by these burns. You go about your day playing, climbing, etc. without a care in the world, as if your fingers aren't tied together and healing from trauma.

Tomorrow we go see a specialist at the Johns Hopkins Pediatrician Burn Center. We need to learn how to continue to care for your burns as they heal and make sure there is minimal scarring, and the scarring/new skin over your knuckles don't mess with your finger's mobility.

Pocono Weekend

Aunt Anita and Uncle Ron let us, with Matt and Jackie, stay at their place in the Poconos last weekend.
Besides the slow moving trucks and all the RV/campers, it was an easy drive up. The kids were great in the car too! Whew!

Saturday was supposed to be on the cool side, but clear. But it was still cloudy and cold when we got there. At least it wasn't raining. After we settled into the house, we walked to the lake so Luc could go fishing. No fish were biting because it was cold and later in the day, but Luc still had fun. Aria tried to chase the geese to feed them bread but they kept walking away.

When we were done trying to get fish, we headed back to house where the kids played on the big rocks around the house. We found some salamanders under rocks and Aria tried to killed one.

Later that night, Luc went to bed in the tent set up on the screened-in deck. He was so excited to go "camping" and have Frederic in the tent with him all night.

We ate our BBQ dinner and hung out outside talking. Frederic decided to put branches into the Weber charcoal grill to help keep us warm. But it really didn't do much. It was getting down to 32 degrees that night. I started feeling sick and went inside to go to bed. Around the time everyone else was going to get ready for bed, I got sick. Aria woke up and decided she wanted to sleep on the cot and not in the bed with me anymore (which worked out fine by me since that gave me more room to get comfortable and not have to worry about her falling off when I had to run to the bathroom again). I got sick a few more times that night and didn't get much sleep. No one else got sick, so I'm not entirely sure how I got it.

Sunday morning everyone else had a big breakfast while I finished watching Moana. Then we headed back to the lake to fish. Matt helped Luc get hot dog bait onto the hook and tempt the fish. Luc caught one and reeled it in. Then Matt got another one to bite and let Luc reel that one in. Luc was so ecstatic and proud for his first catches.

Aria was playing by the edge of the water trying to grab pine cones she threw into the lake when she lost her balance and half fell in. So that called it a day.

"I fell! I all wet."

After lunch, we headed home. Luckily it didn't take us long at all, and we pulled into the driveway after 3 hours on the road. The kids slept half way (and Luc slept more than that). And thankfully, my stomach stayed calm the whole way home. Whew!

Easter 2017

What a busy weekend! I need two of just rest now (but that won't happen).

Friday night before Easter about 10 kids from the street were out on their bikes. Four of those kids had just gotten new bikes since seeing Luc out on his all the time now. This gave Frederic and I a chance to talk with some parents whose kids go to the local elementary school. Our county is ranked quite well for public schools, but even within the county you have not-the-best schools. And of course our house is zoned for one of those. This has made us a little nervous. Obviously you want your kids to have the best education. We are already thinking about when Aria is done with preschool what we'll do. We're keeping Luc in the private school with Aria until she's done, then we have to decide if want to pay for both kids to stay where they are, or move them into public school near home. The neighbors have reassured us that the elementary school is good, the teachers are young and attentive, there are lots of activities and involvement opportunities. It's not as bad as we think it is. And if nothing else, it still beats higher than other counties in the state. So that was a sigh of relief.

Saturday was another packed day and Luc's friend from school, Kira, came over with her bike that afternoon. She'll be in the Philippines with her family for 6 weeks, so we planned a play date before she left. But the kids were having so much fun (the neighbors came out again), that we didn't go inside until almost 8pm and she didn't go home until 9:30pm. The kids kept going, but Aria hasn't been sleeping well in general this past week (up 2-3 times a night), and Luc was still up at 7am on Sunday.

I'm so glad I took a video of the kids opening their Easter baskets because I was sad I didn't on Christmas with their stockings. Luc was so ecstatic and Aria was very funny. After a long bike ride since it was gorgeous outside, and Aria took a nap, we headed to my parent's house for Easter. The kids were too energetic the whole day. And then hopped up on sugar from dessert. And note to self, don't let Aria have so much dessert (or spray Whipped Cream right into her mouth- yes, I did) and then put her in the car less than an hour later. She complained of her belly hurting the whole way home and I thought for sure she was going to be sick in the car.

Other Updates:

*Aria can count to 10 (playing hide and seek has paid off).

*We're finding that giving Luc 10 pennies (or a few dimes) in the morning and telling him he'll loose one every time he does something he's not supposed to, doesn't listen, or teases his sister, is a great way to improve his behavior. All you have to say is "Penny!" and he catches himself and stops. If does get a coin taken away, we tell him he can do something genuinely nice to get it back.

*We started Luc on allergy shots a few weeks ago. Tuesdays are now long and tiring. After a day of work, I pick up the kids, jump right back in the car, and drive past home to the doctor's office. Luc gets his shot and we sit in the office for 30 minutes before heading home. Then I rush to feed him and Aria dinner because they're tired and cranky and on the verge of a meltdown.
Luc is a real trooper. The nurses told me he's the youngest in the practice getting allergy shots. And each time they try to distract him when they're about to give him the shot, but he looks right at his arm and barely flinches when the needle goes in. Then he runs back to the toy corner in the waiting room. The nurses are so impressed that he handles the shot a million times better than teens and some adults.
We're really hoping by the end of the allergy shot course (5 years later!) that he won't be allergic and can have a less worried life wondering if something will trigger an asthma attack while he's visiting some place new and unknown. 

Easter Prep 2017

We got some pre-Easter activities into our weekend.

Saturday afternoon when Aria woke up from her nap, we helped the kids color eggs. This was Aria's first time and she didn't really understand the concept of coloring them and kinda made up her own rules. She refused to use the egg holder and just dug in with her whole hands. She put the same egg into multiple colors, which I thought would turn the egg brown, but they were actually more colorful than Luc's. haha She also insisted on dipping a sponge into the dye to decorate afterwards. After awhile I was loosing my patience because she was starting to get sloppy and make a huge mess and almost tipped over a few cups. So we wrapped it up. They each did a dozen eggs.

Frederic helped Luc draw on the eggs with crayons first and Luc took over the coloring. He probably would've done 50 eggs if we had them.

"I do it Myself!"

"ooOoooOo"

Luc's eggs

Aria's eggs

Shrek hands

 And when Aria napped, I busted these out. I've been meaning to make these for about 2 years since I saw them on Pinterest. Of course they didn't turn out as well as what I pinned, but ...

Sunday we headed to Bonne-Maman and Bon-Papa's house for an Easter egg hunt. Luc was being a little greedy trying to grab them all before Aria could. Aria still made out with 11 out of the 30.

Update: Pedal Faster

Well buying bigger training wheels was a waste (unless Aria needs them in the future). Luc went outside again this weekend and spent the whole time on Sunday riding his bigger bike without training wheels on.