Last night took a bit of a turn in the wrong direction when Josh began running a pretty high fever. His nurses kept a really close eye on his temp. throughout the night, and thankfully it was back down to normal early this morning. We were told that this might keep him from coming home today, but thankfully it didn't, and he's resting comfortably in our bed at home now. We're all wiped out and ready for a nap, so I'll post another note (complete with pictures) later.
Thanks for your prayers...God has answered them in so many wonderful ways!
allison
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Please Pray
I'm sorry that I haven't gotten this out earlier...it's just been a whirlwind these past two days. Josh took a spill down the stairs early yesterday morning, and broke his leg/ankle. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that it was immediately obvious what had happened. Because of the excruciating pain and the fact that the little ones were sleeping soundly upstairs (it was a tremendous blessing that they didn't wake up to see what was going on!), I called 911 around 5:45 in the morning, and by 10:50 Josh was in surgery with an excellent foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeon. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
As I ran down the stairs when it happened, Josh was screaming that he had broken his ankle, and he had severe deformities of his foot and lower leg. The firetrucks and amulances (all three of them) were here within a few minutes. They did what they could to stabilize the injury, and they started an IV right there in the foyer to give him morphine because he started to go into shock. My next door neighbor came to stay with the kids while I left right behind Josh for the hospital. Once there, they did x-rays and saw that Josh had dislocated each bone in his ankle and had broken his tibia and fibia in four places. They were having a hard time managing his pain(he was maxed out on morphine), and they were concerned that one of the bones was going to tear through the skin, so the ortho. doctor came down to do a reduction under conscious sedation. The pain was much more manageable at that point, and he went in for surgery shortly after that.
Once the doctor got in his ankle, he realized the injury was even more severe than he had originally thought. So the surgery took longer than expected, but he said it was very successful. Here are the stats from the surgery and Josh's recovery:
six incisions
1 metal plate
12 screws (two of which will be removed in 10-12 weeks)
2 weeks out of work
6-8 weeks on a walker and crutches
8 weeks without driving
and several months of physical therapy
There are several additional factors that play into this scenario (I'll tell more about that later), but please pray for all of us during this time. I have so many specifics to pray about, but I'll leave it at that for now. I don't know when I'll be able to write an update...maybe tomorrow if we get to go home. God has already answered several specific prayers, and I know He'll give us everything we need during this time. Please pray that we'll remember that when we get discouraged!
We don't have access to e-mail while we're at the hospital, but we have our phones. Love to all, and thanks for your prayers and for the help so many of you have already given to us!! You have ministered to us in countless ways, and we really do thank God for you (Phil. 1:3).
As I ran down the stairs when it happened, Josh was screaming that he had broken his ankle, and he had severe deformities of his foot and lower leg. The firetrucks and amulances (all three of them) were here within a few minutes. They did what they could to stabilize the injury, and they started an IV right there in the foyer to give him morphine because he started to go into shock. My next door neighbor came to stay with the kids while I left right behind Josh for the hospital. Once there, they did x-rays and saw that Josh had dislocated each bone in his ankle and had broken his tibia and fibia in four places. They were having a hard time managing his pain(he was maxed out on morphine), and they were concerned that one of the bones was going to tear through the skin, so the ortho. doctor came down to do a reduction under conscious sedation. The pain was much more manageable at that point, and he went in for surgery shortly after that.
Once the doctor got in his ankle, he realized the injury was even more severe than he had originally thought. So the surgery took longer than expected, but he said it was very successful. Here are the stats from the surgery and Josh's recovery:
six incisions
1 metal plate
12 screws (two of which will be removed in 10-12 weeks)
2 weeks out of work
6-8 weeks on a walker and crutches
8 weeks without driving
and several months of physical therapy
There are several additional factors that play into this scenario (I'll tell more about that later), but please pray for all of us during this time. I have so many specifics to pray about, but I'll leave it at that for now. I don't know when I'll be able to write an update...maybe tomorrow if we get to go home. God has already answered several specific prayers, and I know He'll give us everything we need during this time. Please pray that we'll remember that when we get discouraged!
We don't have access to e-mail while we're at the hospital, but we have our phones. Love to all, and thanks for your prayers and for the help so many of you have already given to us!! You have ministered to us in countless ways, and we really do thank God for you (Phil. 1:3).
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Friday Funny
After meeting Josh for lunch, the kids and I headed over to Kohl's to do a couple of returns. We've got a nice little budget going right now, so I knew I couldn't go full-blown shopping, but I did want to grab something in place of the pants I was returning.
Sit back, get comfortable, and imagine this scene with me...
I'm wearing Isabel in the baby carrier, I'm pushing Jack in the stroller (not the small umbrella stroller...it's the tractor-sized Graco stroller that you can put entire car seats into), and Abby is walking beside me holding my hand. I've already scoured the Misses section, but nothing there fit quite right. Now I'm off to the next section over to find some replacement pants. I think to myself, "Ooh...I love these. Let's give them a try."
So now I'm entering the JUNIORS dressing room with my pint-sized entourage in tow (keep in mind that the diaper-bag-for-three counts as a whole other child itself). As Abby, Jack, the semi-truck stroller, the 58-pound diaper bag, Izzy (who looks like a half-asleep tree frog plastered against my torso), and I squeeze into the dressing room designed for an 76-pound teenager, I hear something peculiar.
What is that? Are you talking to me?
Ah yes, I know that voice.
It's IRONY.
And it tells me to look in the mirror at the hilarity of my situation. Am I really a 31-year-old shopping in the Juniors section? And more than that, am I really a 31-year-old mom of three shopping in the Juniors section?
So I wiped a couple of goopy noses, changed an atomic diaper, stared Irony right in the face, and chanted I. Will. Not. Wear. Mom. Jeans. Then I paid for my size ___ cute jeans, went straight to the minivan and spent the next 11 minutes loading up my loot, the aforementioned "stroller", and each of the four children I had with me (that includes the diaper bag).
I don't know about where you live, but it's GORGEOUS here today. My Juniors jeans and I might just have to take the kids for a walk later. Enjoy your day! :-)
Sit back, get comfortable, and imagine this scene with me...
I'm wearing Isabel in the baby carrier, I'm pushing Jack in the stroller (not the small umbrella stroller...it's the tractor-sized Graco stroller that you can put entire car seats into), and Abby is walking beside me holding my hand. I've already scoured the Misses section, but nothing there fit quite right. Now I'm off to the next section over to find some replacement pants. I think to myself, "Ooh...I love these. Let's give them a try."
So now I'm entering the JUNIORS dressing room with my pint-sized entourage in tow (keep in mind that the diaper-bag-for-three counts as a whole other child itself). As Abby, Jack, the semi-truck stroller, the 58-pound diaper bag, Izzy (who looks like a half-asleep tree frog plastered against my torso), and I squeeze into the dressing room designed for an 76-pound teenager, I hear something peculiar.
What is that? Are you talking to me?
Ah yes, I know that voice.
It's IRONY.
And it tells me to look in the mirror at the hilarity of my situation. Am I really a 31-year-old shopping in the Juniors section? And more than that, am I really a 31-year-old mom of three shopping in the Juniors section?
So I wiped a couple of goopy noses, changed an atomic diaper, stared Irony right in the face, and chanted I. Will. Not. Wear. Mom. Jeans. Then I paid for my size ___ cute jeans, went straight to the minivan and spent the next 11 minutes loading up my loot, the aforementioned "stroller", and each of the four children I had with me (that includes the diaper bag).
I don't know about where you live, but it's GORGEOUS here today. My Juniors jeans and I might just have to take the kids for a walk later. Enjoy your day! :-)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
In Lieu of Wordless Wednesday...
...I'd like to share a little dialogue I had with Abby this morning. We work throughout the day on "academic" skills in the context of the regular playing and conversing that we do. Here's proof that we have a ways to go:
ME: Abby, do you know what rhymes with "cat"?
ABBY: Umm, hat?
ME: Yes, good job! Do you know what rhymes with "cup"?
(thoughtful silence)
ABBY: I KNOW, I KNOW!!
ME: Super! What rhymes with "cup"?
ABBY: Fishsticks!!!!!!!!
Note to self: keep working on rhyming words.
ME: Abby, do you know what rhymes with "cat"?
ABBY: Umm, hat?
ME: Yes, good job! Do you know what rhymes with "cup"?
(thoughtful silence)
ABBY: I KNOW, I KNOW!!
ME: Super! What rhymes with "cup"?
ABBY: Fishsticks!!!!!!!!
Note to self: keep working on rhyming words.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Eyes Have It
That's the theme for this week's contest on I ♥ Faces.
When I saw what the theme was going to be, I immediately thought of this picture that I took a year or so ago of Abby. I love capturing all of her different expressions, and this is one of my favorites!
Make sure you check this site out! It's got contests for children, adults, and pets, so join in the fun. And congrats to Anna (who got me hooked on this fun little contest)...her daughter's picture was on one of the collages on the website. She's a doll!!!
When I saw what the theme was going to be, I immediately thought of this picture that I took a year or so ago of Abby. I love capturing all of her different expressions, and this is one of my favorites!
Make sure you check this site out! It's got contests for children, adults, and pets, so join in the fun. And congrats to Anna (who got me hooked on this fun little contest)...her daughter's picture was on one of the collages on the website. She's a doll!!!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Did you ever wonder?
Did you ever wonder what a two-year-old boy (who is bored out of his mind from "taking it easy") would do with 90 seconds alone with a pair of scissors.
Wonder no more...
Now I'm definitely not complaining. I'm fully aware of the fact that the damage could have been MUCH worse. No new haircut. No destroyed books. And most importantly, no missing fingers. So we've survived our first "guess-who-found-the-scissors" moment! :-)
(And in case you're wondering, that face is a mixture of guilt over what was done and fear of what's to come with a smidgen of excitement about getting to play with the grown-up scissors.)
Wonder no more...
Now I'm definitely not complaining. I'm fully aware of the fact that the damage could have been MUCH worse. No new haircut. No destroyed books. And most importantly, no missing fingers. So we've survived our first "guess-who-found-the-scissors" moment! :-)
(And in case you're wondering, that face is a mixture of guilt over what was done and fear of what's to come with a smidgen of excitement about getting to play with the grown-up scissors.)
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