Levi's Accident

This little guy is a resilient little trooper.  For real.  I didn't know that a one-year old could be as tough as this kid.  Just sayin'.  :)  He makes me proud and breaks my heart all at the same time!

So we had a fun 4th of July, as you saw, and then Levi had a little accident on the 5th.  We had plenty planned to do that day, so we were getting ready in the morning like normal.  The kids were dressed and ready first, so they played while Clint and I got ready.

Usually I put my straightener cord up on the counter when I have it plugged in, but this particular day Levi and Ellie were playing in their room and I totally spaced it.  I was drying my hair while the straightener was heating up.  I was almost done drying my hair, and I could hear the kids playing down on the floor by my feet.  I looked down and saw my straightener sitting on Levi's arm, and him trying to pull his arm away from it.  I just stopped.  I couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it.

I started screaming, not knowing what to do because I was in a panic, and dropped my blow dryer in the sink while it was still on.  I was worried we were going to get electrocuted so I was trying to turn it off and couldn't figure out how to.  I flipped the lights off trying to turn the blow dryer off that way.  I finally just unplugged the dang things and then grabbed the straightener off of Levi.  This all happened within about 5 seconds or less, but trust me, when you're in the moment, those seconds feel a lot longer.  So yes, I blame myself for not grabbing it sooner.  There were five things going on at once and my mind was gone.  It had totally left me.

Clint grabbed Levi because I was panicking and didn't know what to do.  He told me to call Navarro, our brother-in-law who is an EMT and lives across the street, and he called 911.  It was the worst day ever. Levi got two burns, one on the top of his arm on the wrist, and one underneath right below the wrist.  Of all places for that dang straightener to land after he grabbed the cord, it came right down onto his arm, perfectly fitting onto either side.  The poor kid.  Just imagine the pain.

Poor Levi was crying hysterically because obviously he hurt, I'm crying because I'm scared and can't believe it happened, Clint is on the phone trying to tell the dispatcher for the FOURTH time our address, and Ellie is crying in our bedroom.  Poor girl.  She came over and kept saying "I'm sorry mommy, I'm sorry."  I told her it was not her fault, that this accident was mommy's fault and she was such a good big sister for helping Levi.  She just felt awful and was so worried about Levi.

So needless to say, Navarro got to our house before the paramedics did, and he was farther away because he was at work.  He helped me run the burn under cool water until the medics got here to help.  They called and asked McKay Dee if they could handle the burn, or if they should just drive us to Salt Lake right away.  McKay said they could handle it, so the ambulance took us there.  Levi got to ride in an ambulance for his first time before his 1st birthday!

They were kind to us at McKay Dee, but trust me, if your child gets burned, don't take them anywhere but a burn center.  I am grateful for doctors, but when they don't deal with this kind of stuff all the time, they don't really know what they're doing.  We got different directions on how to care for the burn each time we visited the hospital or Doctor's office.  We saw 4 different doctors in two weeks.  You can only imagine.  It was so frustrating and confusing, when all we wanted was for our little guy to get the care he deserved.

07-05-14

The top of his arm

And the bottom of his arm

Getting bandaged at McKay Dee

So this last month has been a roller coaster.  We finally met with our normal pediatrician and he referred us to the burn clinic at the U of U.  Thank goodness for the doctors and staff there, that's all I can say.

We finally are able to treat the burn the way it needs to be treated, and it has started healing.  The top is now almost completely closed up.  It had a 2nd Degree burn, so it has done well.  Underneath, though, is a different story.  He received 3rd Degree burns underneath, we think because he was trying to pull away from the straightener and that's where it was sitting the heaviest.

The doctor today described a burn to me this way:  When we get a normal cut or something on our skin, our skin closes sideways and heals quickly.  But a burn goes through layers and layers of skin, so when it heals, it's like climbing a mountain.  The deeper the burn, the steeper the mountain.  That's why his burn underneath is taking so long to heal.  It burned through every layer of skin he had, so now it has to regenerate each new layer.  Again.

How grateful I am though, that through this whole thing, Levi has been GREAT.  There is no other way to describe it.  He has been the toughest trooper I know.  He is so patient with his dressing changes and knows that he has an owie and that we are just trying to help him with it.  The worst part for him is when we have to scrub the dead skin off and when we have to do his stretches on his wrist.  But other than that, he does great.  Sometimes he even falls asleep on us while we're changing the dressings.  Heavenly Father has blessed us with great kids and I am so grateful that I have mine.

Uncle Navarro and Aunt Kenna went and got Levi a toy ambulance to play with when he got home.  Look at him. . . he was crawling all over chasing after that thing, right after he had gotten burned.  What a tough kid.

Ellie has been great through the whole thing as well.  She loves Levi so much and just wants to look out for him all the time.  Today when we were at the doctor she was getting mad at them every time they went to touch Levi.  She didn't want them hurting him.  She has had an infection on her finger, so she understands the pain a little bit when it comes to cleaning and bandaging these things.  But man I am grateful for her, too.  When Levi is pulling his sleeve off of his arm in the back seat of the car while we are driving she makes sure to tell us so that we can stop Levi. :)  It might be tattling to some, but to us, we know she's just trying to help.

So, long story, I know, but that is why we have been so busy this last month.  That and Birthdays and vacations and the whole lot.

Today the doctor wasn't too pleased with the bottom burn, because once a wound has been open for more than 14 days, there is a risk of scarring.  Well it's been a month and his bottom burn is still open and oozing.  Now we have to worry about his scar tissue.  He is so young and has so much growing left to do.  That scar tissue will not grow with him.  It won't stretch, it won't bend, nothing.  So we had to have him fitted for a compression stocking today that he will have to wear for a year or more.  It will help push the scar down so that it hopefully won't bubble up too much.  Then we have to do stretching exercises with him every day to try and help the movement in his wrist.  So we will see how it all turns out.  Poor kid.

So that was Levi's accident.  Thank goodness for doctors and medicine and blessings and helpers and everything else that I'm sure I missed.  We know Heavenly Father is blessing Levi through this whole thing and we are so grateful.  So grateful.  It is the worst to watch your child go through pain and sustain it in such an amazing way.  Way to go Levi.  We are so proud of you.  Hopefully healing goes well.

07-07-14 Went to a follow up at McKay Dee

07-09-14

07-10-14

 We went to WeeCare this day because we though it was infected with all that "goo" coming out.  Turns out it's called "Sluff," and it's the new skin growing.  Weird.

The 13th was his Birthday.

 I didn't take pictures, but on the 14th we went to Levi's one year well-check, and they cleaned it for us there.  They scrubbed all the dead skin off of the top burn then.

07-20-14

All crusty before we clean it

 We cleaned it at Clint's parent's house that night so that Grandma and Grandpa could see it.

 After the cleaning, with most of the crusties off.

 08-05-14
One Month Later
 I haven't downloaded the other pictures, but these are some from today.  One month after the burn.  Like I said before, the top burn is almost completely closed!  Yahoo!  The bottom one however, still has a ways to go. :(  BUT, the doctors have said that they don't think he needs skin grafts.  Thank goodness!  So they put actual silver on it today, which turned it silver, and that should help speed the process.

Sorry for the long story and gruesome pictures!  There is no other way to tell what we have been through besides the actual truth.  :)  Thanks for reading it, too!