Shoulda, woulda, coulda

Monday night of last week I had to take my sweet little princess into the E.R. Do you see the look on her face? She never cried. She lunged head first, over my shoulder into the glass on our fireplace just seconds after we had turned it off, and came up smiling. I didn't even know she had been burned, I thought I had caught her in time. I was "guarding" the fireplace while Ellyn and I played with a whoopie cushion. Obviously it was ineffectual. I normally don't freak out in emergency situations. I freaked out on this one. I thought I hadn't wiped all of dinner off of Ellyn's face, remember no tears and a smile? I rubbed the entire blister off her nose. I could see layers and layers of skin. I was holding cold water to her face, calling Mike, crying, yelling at my kids. It was horrible. Ellyn and I drove to the E.R., on the half an hour drive I panicked, worried that I hadn't done enough to stop the burning. I called Meagan to ask if Wil's hands had scarred when he had burned his hands on Kenn and Barb's fireplace, I bawled my eyes out, so afraid that my little girl would be scarred because I hadn't taken care of her. It was an excruciating drive. Ellyn sat in the back seat, making all of her happy sounds, occasionally rubbing her nose and saying "nose, ouch!"

In many ways the lack of pain Ellyn feels is a blessing, but it is also frightening. It makes me paranoid that I am going to miss something because she has an extreme under sensitivity to pain. Monday night I was just devastated that something she was feeling, but barely, could disfigure her forever.

We arrived at the E.R. and they got us in almost right away. We were there for five hours. We saw five or six doctors. They were concerned about scarring as well. They talked about admitting us, sending us right away to Harbor View Burn Unit in Seattle, reassuring me that they didn't think Ellyn would need a skin graft. What!?! The surgeon came down, took pictures, consulted Harbor View, and decided we could go home and then go to the Burn Center for a consult within the next two days.

Meanwhile, through all five hours Ellyn was the most delightful child anyone could imagine. We played, sang songs, danced... She said so many words, sang little snippets of her songs with me, and stayed tucked away behind a curtain without trying to run away the entire time.


Monday night.

Saturday.


Wednesday we went to the burn clinic. They gave me ointment, they told me she was going to be fine. Her lips were all scabbed, her nose was scabbed, I thought I would have days to take a picture of the mess. I didn't.

Do you know what I am grateful for? Prayers. Prayers and modern medicine. I know that prayers were flooding in from all of our family. I know they kept us happy in the E.R., that they helped the doctors make the right decision, that they calmed an anxious momma and family, that they helped heal our sweet girl quickly.

There were some terrible burns in the burn center when we were there. I'm sure there were prayers there too. I know that we are meant to face certain trials in our life. I am extremely grateful to my Father that this was one that we do not have to endure.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone