Sleep, it's a wonderful thing!

Ronny volunteered to take a 1/2 day off of work today so that he could do the night shift last night with Joseph so that I could get some sleep. Joseph went down within minutes last night and finally slept. I woke him up to take his antibiotics at 2:30 and he went right back down. Hooray! Things went so well that Ronny went to work at the normal time this morning. Joseph seems to be doing well this morning. Today I have decided to give him pain meds only when he asks for them. We'll see how well he does. We've pretty much given up on the sling as its too hard for him to keep his arm upright so he walks around with "Sponge Bob" on all the time. Its pretty funny.

My sister, her husband and children and my mom all came for a visit last night. Joseph really loves having visitors. It helps him laugh and keeps his mind off his finger. Sometimes we have to remind him to slow down and be careful when they are here. Uncle Mike brought over an assortment of flavored milks for Joseph. He is in heaven with those.

Today Joseph asked for help getting dressed. He apparently has decided that he is done living in his pajamas. This is a good sign! I told him he has to have a bath first and that we would have to cover his arm with a trash bag before getting in, he thinks this is going to be cool. We'll see. He is also going to start practicing writing with his left hand today in preparation for returning back to school next week. He is not so jazzed about that.

Long Nights Part 2

After returning home Joseph was feeling pretty good. The morphine and lidocaine shots worked longer than I had anticipated. Ronny surprised Joseph with IN N OUT for dinner that night. (This is Joseph's favorite!) Our great neighbor across the street kept the kids entertained all day and sent home some food with us when I picked them up. We are truly blessed to have her next door!

When it came time for bed, Joseph surprisingly went right to sleep. Unfortunately we had to wake him up only a couple hours later to give him his medication. At that point he really felt the pain! He cried and fussed for a good two hours not being able to be consoled anymore. At that point I just crawled into bed with him and held him. We had Ronny set up the laptop on top of his dresser and we watched Star Wars the rest of the night. Sadly he would finally fall asleep and then have to be woken up shortly there after for his antibiotics. I think be both only managed about 2 hours of sleep that first night.

Yesterday was better than we hoped. The other kids were able to distract him most of the day. I couldn't seem to convince him to take a nap though. I took him to karate for a few minutes to watch the new moves he would need for his test when he gets his splint off. He managed about 20 minutes before asking to go home. His sensei is great and is missing a couple fingers and his left leg so he totally understands what Joseph is feeling.

After dinner Uncle Aaron and Aunt Meghan came over for a visit. Joseph loves Aaron! (probably because Joseph is a carbon copy of him in personality). Aaron had him laughing hysterically which was good to see. We took them over to the new house and gave them a tour. We were pleasantly surprised to find the house complete aside from the new carpet and landscaping. (I think we may close sooner than expected!)

When we finally got him in to bed he was hurting again. I think the nights are harder because there are no distractions from the pain. He and I ended up watching more Star Wars but did manage about 4 hours of good sleep. An improvement which we hope continues.

The kids go back to school next Tuesday. Joseph is very worried. He knows that the end of the year tests start as soon as they go back. We are not sure how this will work as he can't write with his right hand. We plan to practice with his left one in the next couple days. For a kid who gets out of work anyway he can, he is surprisingly concerned about these tests. It will work out, I'm sure Joseph is not the only kid who breaks an arm or hand right before tests.

Trauma Part 1

Joseph with his foam support. We affectionately call it "Sponge Bob"

Joseph after getting home from a long day in the ER. We both were there in our pajamas as we didn't have time to change before heading over.

Yesterday morning I was sitting at the computer when I heard Joseph scream, "Mom there is so much blood!" I hate those words, they are never good! He came running up the stairs holding his finger out. The tip was covered in blood and dripping profusely. I jumped up carried him downstairs, grabbed a clean cloth, and shouted to Charley. I really didn't look too closely at his finger as it was apparent he needed the ER right away. She came running, I told her I was taking Joseph to the ER. She didn't even bat an eye. She just said no problem Mom. (Its pretty sad when she thinks this is just another normal day!). I called Ronny who had just left for work and told him to turn around and come home as Joseph had just seriously cut his finger and he needed to come home to be with the other kids while we were at the hospital. On the way I asked him what had happened. He had been wrapping the cord of the blinds in Sam's room around his finger and pulling his finger out. He said usually the cord just loosened up and his finger came out. This time though the cord took his finger right off.

Thankfully the hospital is only 5 minutes away and happens to be a new Primary Children's endorsed hospital. We walked in and were greeted by the sign in lady and an older women who immediately came over and tried to soothe Joseph while I checked him in. We were immediately taken to triage where I got my first real look at his finger. The nurse looked at me and asked if I had brought the missing portion in as well. The top 1/2 inch of his finger was gone and the white portion sticking out that I originally thought was his finger nail was actually his bone sticking out. I grabbed my phone and called Ronny and told him to find the missing piece, wrap it and bring it to the hospital ASAP. I also told him to take the kids next door while I prayed our neighbor was home and could take them indefinitely. At this point, knowing how bad this was I wasn't sure if they were going to transport Joseph to Salt Lake or be able to take care of him there.

Ronny arrived at the hospital just as the doctor came in and he cleaned and prepped the missing portion of his finger and cleaned and dressed his finger. Up to this point Joseph was upset and terrified but still able to be consoled. The doctor then said they would need to give him an IV and Joseph freaked out! It took Ronny and I and another nurse to hold him down. Once the IV was in they pushed morphine and an anti nausea medicine. The nurse looked at me and asked if she should go get some more for me. I was doing great up until this point. Thankfully Ronny was there so that I could pull myself together. It took me a few minutes but I didn't pass out or lose my stomach. (Quite an achievement after seeing his finger I assure you!) They then took him to x-ray to confirm the bone was still intact, it was.

The doctor came back and told us he was calling in a specialist from Salt Lake who would come and reattach Joseph's finger. We said great but didn't realize it was going to take him 3 hours to get there. GRRRRRRR! When the doctor arrived and examined Joseph's finger he told us there were a few problems. The way the finger was severed it exposed the bone and killed the blood vessels that provided blood supply to the top of that bone. This left us with 3 options. To save that portion of the bone he could connect his finger to his abdomen for the next month while more tissue grew to cover the bone that could provide blood supply, 2. Fuse his first and second finger together with the first at an arc to do the same thing, 3. File off the bone until enough tissue that was left could be skin grafted to cover the bone and provide the blood supply. Knowing how active Joseph is and knowing he is a 7 year old boy the first two options would probably result in him tearing more tissue and bringing us back to the third option eventually so we opted for option three which turns out to be the most recommended and chosen option.

At this point the surgeon asked if we would like to put Joseph in a papoose board. I have had experience with this and knew this would traumatize him more than just holding him still. They pushed in more morphine before starting and I calmly gave Joseph the choice. He could hold really still while the doctor gave him the lidocaine shots and worked on his finger, or they could tie him to a board to keep him still. He tried to negotiate for just putting him to sleep. I explained he would have to go to the OR for that and would probably end up staying the night and Mom and Dad couldn't come with him if that was what he wanted. He chose to have me hold him and lay still. Joseph did a GREAT job! He laid perfectly still although being totally terrified (that made two of us!). I held a sheet between the doctor and his face and the two of just hunkered down while the surgeon and nurses did their thing. Ronny joined us when they started the shots but watched most of the procedure.

When the surgeon said file his bone, he really meant cut his bone. He ended up taking about 1/3 of an inch to 1/2 an inch off the top of his finger. Then he removed all the inner tissue of the tip of his finger and reattached it to what was left of his finger. His finger will be about 1/2 inch shorter than it was before but he will have a nail bed that will probably grow a little crooked. In the end Joseph really did amazing. He didn't move an inch. After that they gave him antibiotics through his IV and then proceeded to splint his arm. The splint goes from under his elbow up and over his arm and hand and then back down and around the elbow again. His arm is completely immobilized for the next month. He is prohibited from any physical activity that would jostle his hand. To this little boy, that is pretty much everything!

The doctor informed us that once the morphine and other drugs Joseph was given wear off, Joseph would have a really tough time with pain. He cautioned the next 24-48 hours would be the worst of it. We are seeing that now!

WHAT!?!?!?

This morning (May 24th) we woke up to this!

So the boys are doing this!

House Pictures

Front of the house, they will start to lay the cement for the stairs tomorrow.

Side of the house: Those white doors go to a built in storage shed.

Living Room from the front door; blue carpet to be replaced soon.

Another angle of the living room and stairs.

Kitchen, we went with quartz counters as none of the granite matched the cabinets. Stainless steel appliances were already ordered to go in so our fridge will match.

Kitchen and dining area. All this is tiled and we have recessed lighting in here.

Master bath and shower. This was done before we bought the house, we love the tile!

Master Vanity

Half the walk in closet (apparently I forgot to take a picture of the master bedroom). Picture large room with lots of windows and blue carpet for now.

Laundry Room (its upstairs, Yahoo!)

Kids bathroom

Two of the three kids room. At the right is a large linen closet.

Hallway to half bath and stairs to basement.

Stairs to basement

Family Room in basement, through that door is the unfinished portion. We will eventually finish another bathroom, bedroom/office, and storage closets.

Back of the house, everything not concrete will have sod. Eventually we will put in a fence.

From the driveway; view of the path to the park and church.

House Update

This last Friday night the kids and I headed over to the house to see what had been done this last week. Some good friends of ours came along to check things out as well. We discovered the carpet installers were just finishing up laying the carpet as we came in. Unfortunately they were just finishing putting in the WRONG carpet! The carpet chosen for this house before we purchased it was midnight blue, not really up my alley! We went to the design center 3 weeks ago and changed to a dusty brown color called Harvest Sable. Apparently someone didn't get the paperwork for the change. I picked up a scrap of the carpet and asked the installer what color this was. He told me black! I told him he had just laid the wrong carpet. I don't think he spoke much English so I'm not sure he understood me. So on Saturday we went into the sales office to pick up something and see the builder's realtor. We told her about the carpet and she immediately apologized and confirmed we had picked out a brown/beige carpet. She told us she would call the design office first thing Monday morning and we told her would do the same. She assured us they would fix this. Hopefully this won't push our completion date back too far.

On a happy note, the formica counter tops that were originally installed have been removed and the quartz counters we picked out have been installed. They look great. I need to remember to take a camera next time so that I can post the progress.

Completion Date

The builder of our house finally set a completion date, June 10th. We have been waiting for this the last two weeks. Now we have an idea of when we'll be needing to be packed up and ready to move. Ironically its the same day we are heading back to Oregon for graduation so we will see when we'll actually close with delays and travel plans. At least we now have an idea. I started the packing process yesterday. I'm sure it will pick up now that we know what to expect.