3 months

I can't believe she's two! The last year has gone so fast, and she's come so far from where she was this time last year. She's been through quite a journey over the last twelve months! (Disclaimer - I am going to be discussing some things of a medical nature, and inserting some pictures that are somewhat graphic. If you are squeemish, or are reading this with your kids, you may want to stop.)

On December 4th of last year, Gracie was very badly burned over 30% of her body. She pulled a cup of boiling tea over on herself. The tea hit her arms, neck, chest, and tummy. It was only God's protection that kept it from hitting her face, since the table was taller than she was, and it came straight down on top of her. It happened really fast. She'd just started walking around Thanksgiving, and we were still not used to her having a higher reach. We rushed her to the the local ER, thankfully only 5 minutes from our house. By the time we got got there, she was so dehydrated they couldn't get an IV in her to give her fluids and morphine. They gave her a couple of injections of morphine, and finally after an hour were able to put a line in her jugular. I don't think I'll ever be able to get her screams out of my head. They transferred us by ambulance to the local Burn Unit, since the hospital we were at was very ill-equipped to do what she needed done. We got to Blodgett, and she was cared for by the finest doctors and nurses imaginable-and I can't say that lightly since I'm married to one! They were amazed at how well she did while they cleaned her wounds - apparently she was even smiling at them though some of it! This is incredible, since the cleaning process is so painful they wouldn't even let us wait outside the room. We were escorted to the waiting room, and told not to leave the room till they came to get us. When they finally let us see her again, she looked like a sad little mummy, all bundled up in gauze. She was drugged, and very sleepy. They took us to a room, and put her in a little crib that had really high rails. Ryan went home to be with the older kids, and I stayed with Grace. She slept fitfully most of the night, tossing and turning and crying out in pain at times. I'd hold her hand and sing to her, and finally put the rails of the bed down, and pulled her out and had her sleep on my lap. This seemed to help her a little, but I had to be very careful not to move, because any movement seemed to cause her great pain. She also had several IVs and leads connected to her, so I had to make sure we didn't unhook those. I rocked her most of the night, just singing and praying. The next morning Ryan came back, and they told us that as long as we felt comfortable changing her bandages, they'd rather we took her home (less risk of infection), and brought her back in every other day for them to check how things were/weren't healing. I was very apprehensive about this, even with having Ryan there to help. I'm not a medical person. I don't handle seeing others in pain well, and the thought of having to look at her wounds twice a day, and cause her pain changing them made me sick to my stomach - it still does. Ryan told them that would be fine, as he was able to get off from work until things were okay with her. They showed us how to cut off the bandages, scrub the burn sites, put on the thermazine, and wrap her back up. She screamed through most of it. I wanted to join her. I think one of the things that bothered me the most was the fact that for almost a week, we saw no smiles from her, and she made almost no eye contact with us. Now please understand that I wasn't expecting her to be up running around and happy, but this was such a huge contrast with her normal personality that it was scary. I kept wondering if we'd lost her. If she'd been so traumatized that she'd never be the same. We changed her bandages twice a day, and gave her medication every couple hours. She'd been given so much fluid that she swelled up like a balloon - her little face was so puffy! We took her back to the Burn Unit every other day for two weeks, for them to check and see if the burns were healing. Ryan and I would change her bandages, and try to convince each other and ourselves that the burns were getting better - and some of it was - but not all of it. At one point, after the first week of visits was done, the doctor told us that he'd give it another week, then we'd have to talk about grafts. We kept watching and praying, not wanting to put her through surgery and more pain. Finally the day came that we had to admit things weren't healing the way they should. The burns on her right upper arm were third degree burns, and would start retracting if we didn't repair it.The doctor told us if we didn't do surgery, she could lose full use of her arm. We took her in for surgery a couple days later, which involved them taking a piece of skin off the outside of her thigh the size of a 3x5 card. They then used that skin to patch where the really bad burns had been. It is a fairly straightforward procedure, the only problem can be the grafts not taking. So we added that to our prayer list! She did great through the surgery, and came out of it quite groggy and wanting to be held. We took her home, and put her to bed. She slept for an hour, then got up and was running around and playing! We couldn't believe how well she recovered! She had a thick bandage around her thigh, and another around her chest and arm.

She started itching the day after we got home from surgery, so we added another medicationt to the list, and kept socks over her hands! We noticed a few days later that she had a strange bump on her leg near the donor site that looked like a pimple. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and was hot and red all around it. Ryan was afraid it was MRSA, so we took her into our family doctor in between visits back to the hospital. They swabbed it, and gave us a nice strong antibiotic that took care of it after a few days. We took her to the hospital for another check of her burns, and the doctor said the grafts were taking really well (they just looked really bad, as you can see in he pictures!)

We just had to keep them really moisturized and protected - no sun or extreme temperature exposures. Things kept healing, and looking better and better. In march we noticed that some of the scars were becoming really red and thick, so at her next check up, we were given orders to massage them, and they ordered a pressure garment for her. Until it came in, she wore this (the shirt, not the undies! Those she stole from big brother!):

This one covered the couple on her chest that were raised, and the one they ordered would cover all of her right arm also. She did have a spot under her chin that was puffy too, but that one just had to be given time, since there was no way to use a pressure garment on it. The doctor talked about the possibility of plastic surgery on it later - ugh, more surgery!

The summer was calm, with us just having to keep her burns out of the sun, and keep the pressure garment on 24/7, so we did a lot of playing inside, and used lots of sunscreen and long sleeved shirts that had been washed in this: http://www.sunguardsunprotection.com/  (I would highly recommend using it even if your kids aren't dealing with skin grafts. I washed all our summer clothes in it at the beginning of the season. ) Gracie was a trooper through all of it. She is truly one of the most pleasant natured kids I've ever seen.

In October we took her in for another check up, and the doctor told us that things looked great! We no longer had to wear the pressure garment, and she didn't need to be seen again! We were so excited, and thrilled that the scar under her chin had gone down to the point that you can almost not see it anymore! The rest of the scarring has lightened a lot, and is looking really good.

We were surrounded by so much love and help through this whole process. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, even people we hardly knew took our kids (not the people we hardly knew -lol!), brought us meals(we had to turn people away b/c our freezer was so full!), and prayed for our sweet baby. We feel so blessed that God has surrounded us with people who love us, and love our children. The body of Christ is a truly wonderful place to be.

Gracie continues to heal. The scars lighten a little more each day, and she's a happy, "normal" (lol!) two year old. Her scars are often a reminder to me of the fact that we all carry scars. Some are just more visible than others. Sometimes they cause us pain, or make us hide. It also reminds me that there is One who will one day take all those scars, on our bodies and our souls, and erase them, giving us new bodies that are pure and perfect. He bears scars Himself, proof of His love for us. I can't wait to see the plans He has for our Gracie girl!

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.