Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Today's ER Adventure

It all started today when Haydan and I took Olivia to school. After we dropped her off at 12:30 PM, we drove to San Diego to the bishop's store house to pick up our grocieries. Haydan, Alex and I got back home around 2:30 PM and proceeded to bring the food in the house from the car. I after all the food was in the kitchen, I sat on the couch to eat a sandwhich while Haydan put the groceries away.
Alex was in the kitchen with Haydan watching the process of putting the groceries away. While Haydan was putting meat into the freezer a 5lb pot roast slipped out of the freezer from the top shelf and hit Alex on his right big toe and immediately started crying. I slowly got up off the couch thinking he was okay and jut got a little smashed toe and could be consoled. But as I was half way to the kichen Haydan picked up Alex and called for me. As I looked up I saw blood pouring from Alex's foot and got a closer look and saw that a chunk of his toe was hanging there and yealled to Haydan, "LET"S GO!!" (meaning go to the ER). I Grabbed a clean towel that happened to be on the floor behind Haydan and covered up Alex's toe, took him from Haydan, and ran to get my shoes on and out to the car. In a panic I "ordered" Haydan to grab Alex's cup that was lying on the living room floor and the diaper bag. Haydan didn't have shoes on so he grabbed what I told him to grab, and his shoes, and drove shoeless to the hospital. Knowing first aid, I knew to put pressure on both sides of Alex's toe and elevate it to sloe and eventually stop the bleeding. Haydan drove fast so we got to the hospital in record time. Alex stopped crying when we were about two miles from the hopital.
But everytime someone, namely a nurse or Dr., took a look at his toe and touched it he screamed.
Alex was admitted as soon as we got to the ER. Got his vitals taken and a hospital gown on and off to radiology for X-rays to make sure his bone wasn't broken or fractured. Luckily it wasn't. Then there was talk about Alex either getting the tip of his toe sewn back on or just taking it off and letting it grow back on it's own. The Dr. concluded that she would try to sew his toe tip back on. So she proceded to give numbing shots to Alex's toe. Then she irrigated the wound. Next she examines his toe more closely. After further examination, the Dr.s final conclusion was to cut the tip of his toe the rest of the way off because it was only being held on by a small piece of skin on the back side and the tip was cut too far under his nail to put stitches and the chunk of toe was pretty much dead already. So the Dr. cleaned his toe off some more and bandaged it up really really good. Alex was perscribed and antibiotic to prevent any infection of his toe sence his toe was cut in an unsterile environment and with and unsterile item. He was also perscribed a tylenol/codine mix for his pain. The Dr, didn't think that tylenol alone would be enough pain relief.
Oh while I was in the ER with Alex Haydan ran off to pick Olivia up from school because we couldn't get a hold of our emergency contact. So I was in the ER holding Alex the hole time. Haydan and Olivia came back to get Alex and me back home.
We all got home about 6:00 PM. We gave Alex a dose of both his RX's and tried to get him to eat. All he wanted to do was be held and go to sleep. He's okay now that he is on pain medication and at home resting.
We have to go back to the hospital everyday for the next two weeks to get the bandages changed and have his toe examined to prevent infection. The Dr. said the tip of his toe should grow back and look completely normal after a few months. There will be some scarring but because he is so young, by the time he's a teenager it'll be virtually invisible.
So just imangine your toe instead of being round at the tip, being leveled from just under the nail straight through to the other side. That's what happened to Alex. His bone wasn't broken, fractured or exposed in anyway. I thank the Lord for that because if it had, there obviouly would have been more damage to Alex's toe therefore more pain and more to fix and possibly a much much worse outcome of all this.
I couldn't have been as calm as I was if I didn't have my wonderful husband by my side through this ordeal. I love my family so much and I hate to see any of them in any kind of pain. And I am glad Alex still has his toe. And yes, mom, I plan on calling my home teachers tomorrow to come give Alex a blessing.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Olivia

So Olivia started full time pre-school last Monday the 25th. She was really excited to go. She gets to eat lunch at school in the cafeteria and we qualify for free lunches. So that's all fine and dandy. She has made friends with two boys, Dominic and Jalen, and a girl, Aliveea (pronounced Aw-live-ee-ah) almost like Olivis'a name. So far her teacher says she has done well with sharing and listening and things like that. Needless to say her first week of school was good.
I have had to ask the teacher for a weekly report on Olivia's behavior. Olivia has a Dr's appointment this Wednesday so I can talk to her teacher about getting Olivia into a behavioral specialist again and be evaluated for ADHD as well as getting her asthma checked again. We have to get her astma checked just about every three months. Anyway we have been having problems at home and out on the playground with Olivia. She can't seem to share anymoe and she tries to be queen bee. Not only is she verbally bossy but she is hitting, kicking, pushing, yelling, screaming, and lying. She is like this with everybosy. There is no exception to anyone. I have had a little girl's parents, of whom Olivia plays with on the playgorund, come over to our house twice to talk to us about Olivia bullying not only their little girl but the other children as well. I mean I was told Olivia had been kicking this little girl in the chest and leaving bruises because this little girl wouldn't share her M&M's. It's frustrating because I don't know what to do, and it's embarassing to find out that my little girl is the playgorund bully. I don't think I should have to sit out there for hours on end watching her play when the playground is like 20FT form the back door. She does all this stuff to Alex too.
At home she screams at the top of her lungs at anyone nad everyone over EVERYTHING.Even something as little as going potty because I saw her holding herself. She doesn't listen to anything she is told and sometimes does the total oppisite of what she was told just to make me and her dad angry. Then gets mad because she is introuble...? How does that make any sence?
If we tell her to do something she will not only scream but throw herself into everything and cry over her being told to do something. It's kinda hard to explain unless you have seen it and experienced it yourself. I have tried taking toys away, t.v., the computer, grounding her from going outside, taking awau treats, timeouts. . . I don't know what else to do. ADHD runs strong in my family. From what I have read about and experienced myself with my brother and older sister and myself, I believe I am seeing signs in my daugheter. I am hoping this time the specialist will actually listen to what I have to say and actually observe what is going on and help me get something done about Olivia's behavior. I think by getting her onto some medication it will help her succeed in the future. I am at my wits end with this bullying, lying, constant crying and bad behavior. I love my daughter way to much to let this go un-noticed and not taken care of before it becomes a bigger problem than it already is.