January - Ruby's Hand Injury

After we were done with strep going around our family and after weeks of me being stuck inside 

due to my surgery recovery, we were getting cabin fever.

So the girls went to a friends house to play 

and Sean and I took the younger three kids to a local furniture store.

I wanted to look at couches and I thought it would a good place for me to go 

since there would be lots of seating options if I got tired.

Honestly, I would have been happy going anywhere. I just wanted to get out of the house!

Eli and Ruby were running around the couches and Eli pushed Ruby over on the ground.

We didn't see it happen. But when she wouldn't get up or stop crying, we started to worry.

She screamed for 30 minutes straight while we held her on a couch.

She also wouldn't move her arm or let us touch it.

That's when we knew something was wrong.

We dropped Eli off at a friends and then headed to Instacare.

Finally she stopped crying. But then she started up again once the doctor wanted to examine her.

We were feeling like we had the worst luck. I still wasn't even able to walk, 

and we had just dealt with strep and now this. It just felt like too much.

She got an x-ray taken. But because she is so little they wanted an Orthopedic doctor at Primary's 

to review it. We waited forever to get a review.

The final verdict was that she sprained her pinkie finger.

She got a splint put on which she hated.

We were told the next day she could take her splint off. 

Which she did all by herself as soon as we got home from church.

After that she never complained about her finger again.

I was shocked and so grateful!

That week two sisters in our ward contacted me and asked if they could bring us dinner.

Just knowing that others were thinking of us, really touched me.

It helped me to not feel so cursed but to see that we are so loved.

December 2018 - Sam's Foot Surgery

Remember how I sprained my foot back in October?

Well I had to get surgery on my foot because of it in December.

You can see in this next picture a bump on the inside of my right foot.

That's the extra little bone that I was born with that was dislodged in the scooter crash.

I had it removed and my tendon repaired.

(You'll also notice my big scar from when I injured my foot at fourth grade pioneer day.

This year has been rough on my right foot.)

The night before my surgery, Ty started throwing up.

And I wasn't feeling the best either. I was so worried that I'd get sick and have to cancel my surgery.

Also, I found out that the friends I had arranged to watch my kids couldn't anymore.

I was stressing out big time.

Sean and our friend David gave me a blessing. Everything worked out.

I found someone new to watch my kids and Ty and I were feeling better the next morning.

But we decided to keep Ty with us that day.

Here's me and Ty in the waiting room.

Here I am all prepped and ready to go.

I had a good experience at the surgical center here in town.

I really like my doctor too.

And surprisingly, I wasn't too hungry that morning even though I was fasting.

(I usually get so hangry so fast!)

Here I am saying goodbye to my baby.

Luckily Ty slept while I was getting surgery.

After I woke up, I remember being so sleeping.

I just kept telling Sean and the nurse to let me lay back down.

I had no interest in getting up and getting dressed and going home.

Here I am the morning after my surgery.

I was feeling surprisingly well.

My friend Angie took my three older kids for the entire day.

Our friends Buck and Aubrey came over and spent the day with us.

They brought us Cafe Rio and recovery gifts for me.

We played Settlers of Catan and had a great afternoon together.

Day two post op was rough!

I felt awful that day. The Percocet made me so sick!

Here I am day three post op.

I went off the Percocet that day and started feeling better.

That day I also had my first post op appointment.

That week my foot doctor had just switched offices. They moved to the second floor.

And the elevator stopped working as soon as I got there.

And of course I couldn't take the stairs!

The maintenance guys offered to carry me up the stairs 

but luckily they were able to fix the elevator ASAP. 

I got my first look at my foot since my surgery.

I borrowed a knee scooter from a friend and it was a life saver!

It made it so much easier to get around (when Ty wasn't on it).

Sean and I needed to do a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping.

So I went to Walmart once the week after my surgery.

But other than that, I didn't leave my house for month, other than to church and the doctors.

October 2018 - Sam's Injured Foot

Sunday October 14th, it was a sunny warm day.

After dinner I told my family that I wanted to go for a family walk.

Eli was whining and telling me that he didn't want to go.

So I grabbed his razor scooter.

I got on it and started going across the driveway.

I turned to look at Eli who was standing in the garage.
I told him he could ride his scooter and it would be fun.

When I turned my head to see where I was going, I saw Lexi in front of me.

I quickly turned the scooter and went into the grass which caused the scooter to stop quickly.

The bottom of the scooter swung around and hit the outside of my right foot.

It knocked me over instantly.

Sean opened the front door just in time to see me fall over.

He and I both instantly knew that I had really hurt my foot.

I couldn't stand up and put any weight on it at all.

That night we iced it, I took Ibuprofen, I kept my foot elevated and we wrapped it.

Sean went and got crutches from our neighbor for me to borrow.

The next day we went to a foot doctor.

He tole me that I sprained my foot and would need to wear a walking boot for a few weeks.

And then I'd have a follow up in three weeks.

I couldn't believe how lucky I was!

The walking boot drove me crazy and it was hard for me to sit with my foot elevated.

After a week and a half, I started weaning myself from my boot.
The spot I sprained on the outside of my foot was feeling pretty good.
But the inside of my foot was hurt and burning and there was a bump.
At my next appointment, I had another x-ray taken of my foot.
It turns out that I was born with an extra bone in my foot that is completely useless.
It's a pretty rare thing. Anyway, that bone was dislodged in the crash and is now sticking out of foot.
And it's rubbing against my tendon, which is why my foot was burning.
They doctor gave me some anti-inflammatory medicine.
He was hoping that some of the bump would go down. It didn't.
I had a follow up three weeks later.
We decided to do surgery to remove the bone and repair the tendon.

Eli's First Stitches

 Last month Eli cut his forehead open when he ran to the window seal to see our cat.

He instantly started screaming and as soon as I picked him up, I knew he'd need stitches.

I started screaming for Sean who was working from home that day.

He ran up from the basement.

(He forgot to close the basement door and Ruby fell down a few step,

not even a bit after Eli cut his head. Thank goodness she was okay!)

Sean took Eli to Insta-Care.

I stay home with the girls and the friends that the kids had over.

Before Sean left I wanted to get a picture of Eli's head.

(His poor forehead. He already had a Band-Aid on it.)

 

Eli was excited to go to a "new doctor" with daddy in Blue Bell (that's the name of Sean's car).

Sean sent me a few pictures from Insta-Care.

 

 

They numbed up Eli's forehead several times with a gel.

And he played happily.

When it was time for the stitches,

 they wrapped him up in a blanket so his arms would be out of the way.

They put a little cloth on his head with a small hole where the stitches would go.

Eli kept calling the hole a window.

And was playing peek-a-boo with Sean while he was getting stitched up.

(He is soooo much less dramatic than his sisters. That was a blessing.)

 



Here's a picture of Eli's four stitches that I took when I was changing his Band-Aid.

 



 

And here's a picture of Eli's forehead after he got his stitches out.

Sean said he did good getting his stitches out.

They didn't numb him (I had no idea if they would or not).

But he did cry a little at one point because there was a scab forming over one of the stitches.

 

 



Avery Has Two Arms and Legs Again!!!



At the beginning of the month, we started weaning Avery off her walking boot.

We started by letting her sleep without it for a few nights.

Then we practiced walking without her boot at home.

He practiced a little bit longer each day.

Here she is walking without her boot for the first time.

 

 

And here she is going outside without her boot for the first time.

We just went to get Lexi from school, so she was in the van almost the whole time.

 

 On the 7th of this month Avery got his cast off!

First she got another round of x-rays.

 

You can really see in this next x-ray the new bone growth in her leg.

 

Eli was really good during the whole appointment.

 



 

 

 I have never broken any bones before so I had no idea what to expect.

Avery was not a fan of the saw.

 

After the hard part of the cast was cut, special scissors were used to cut off the gauze part.

 



And here is her arm seeing the light of day for the first time since her accident.

 



Avery was not a fan of having her cast off at first.

She was super protective of her arm didn't want anyone to see it or touch it.

 



For several days after she got her cast off, she soaked in the tub.

I was hoping that would help get rid of all her dead skin.

 



And here she is the day after she got her cast and boot off.

I'm so happy for her to look normal again.

Now people won't stop us every where we go and ask what happened to her.

 



 

I just want to note that her right arm and leg are both now smaller than her left ones.

Also, her right arm and leg are a lot hairier after not see the sun for 5 1/2 weeks.

And I'm happy to report that Avery is walking, and running and climbing now.

And she is using her right arm normally.

She does get upset still sometimes if someone touches her arm.

She has her finally follow up with her surgeon on November 18th.

At that appointment he will assess her range of motion

and determine if she will need physical therapy.

I'm just so happy to put this all behind us and make it a distant memory.