Last week--Wednesday, 4/23, to be exact--the boys and I were in the front yard for a bit. Owen was just home from school and Bennett and I went out to meet him (a friend and I share carpool duties every week...it was her turn to drive). Owen was headed in the house for lunch and I directed Bennett in after him. I was finishing up a conversation in the driveway as both boys were headed inside. I hear the beginning of a 'someting is wrong' cry. You know, not a full-on scream just yet but not your normal-run-of-the-mill fussing either. I look over to see Bennett stooped on the front door threshold, leaning on his hands and beginning to slip into the dreaded silent-cry mode. I run over, thinking he had fallen and hurt himself somehow. When I got to him, he was trembling a bit but his hands were frozen on the doorstep. I actually had the thought "I wonder if that metal is hot," pick him up, look at his hands and see that the skin had already started to slough away! Fast foward through inconsolable screaming, the running of cold water, the call to the pediatrician and the immediate flying down the interstate to the ER...
2nd degree burns. BIG blisters. All from the threshold of our front door!
Very difficult to photograph and get the whole effect, but here's the gist...
As if all this wasn't bizarre and difficult enough, the story doesn't end here. We were directed to follow up with a burn clinic the next morning, presumably for them to get a better look at the burns and change the dressing. I proceed calmly to the appointment only to be told to withhold food and drink for the next 4 hours as he would be put under general anesthesia for a temporary skin graft of either pig or cadaver skin. To say that I was shocked is an understatement somewhere along the magnitude of "I don't care for George Bush" or "I might like chocolate a little bit."
So, after 3-way phone calls with husband, pediatrician, and burn surgeon and after much discussion and debate, Bennett was, in fact, put under general anesthesia and given a temporary, bio-synthetic 'skin bandage'. Ultimately, no cadavers or pigs were harmed in the making of this docudrama. So twice now, in his short little life, I've seen Bennett waking up from anesthesia, fighting post-op nurses and wrestling his IV. (for those who don't know, he had a surgery back in December...all is fine...that's another overdue post)
The worst part of it all was dealing with the bandages for the last week. Both hands were wrapped and taped extensively. We initially joked that we had enrolled him in some revolutionary toddler boxing classes. Within the first couple of days, however, we found that it was necessary to cover the already ridiculous amount of bandages with socks. Otherwise, he chewed the dressings completely off. The socks made his boxing gloves look more like flippers and Owen nicknamed him 'Osbert' after a beloved penguin book that has been read time and time again. Keeping the bandages intact, clean and dry was BY FAR the hardest part of the ordeal.
Yesterday, Osbert's bandages were removed and he is now back to full speed ahead. His was giddy...I mean GIDDY...when his hands were freed and he was able to use them again! His palms are not yet normal in appearance but are well on their way to healing.
Bennett is absolutely no worse for the wear...took the whole thing in stride. We parents, on the other hand, could go another decade or so without seeing the inside of another children's ER.
To prove the relative 'normalcy' of the past week, here's some video footage taken during Ben's bandaged phase. In the second clip, please ignore the household detritus and older sibling making fun of his appendange challenged brother. Otherwise, enjoy.
Despite this brief detour, all is well. As a friend reminded me yesterday, "Crazy is your normal." Ah, indeed.
