Thursday, March 18, 2010

Pressure Sores Boo Hiss...

The Ups and Downs continue, but Molly's spirits are still good.  She went to school on Tuesday and had a good day.  On Wednesday she had OT (occupational therapy) first thing and then her teacher, Ms. Lynn, came for a home visit with her student teacher.  We spent some time brainstorming how we could make our house work better for Molly, which as far as Molly was concerned involved making her stuffed animals more accessible :).  We had lunch and then Molly took them outside to show how she drives around our circular driveway at warp speed!  Molly's favorite outdoor activity, other than driving her chair around the driveway, is to swing.  She has not wanted to swing since breaking her leg and who can blame her!  Yesterday she was obviously feeling better and said she was ready to swing.  As soon as I got her in the swing and we both saw how well it went, I realized that we should try going in the car (for the first time since Saturday).  I asked if she wanted to go to a toy store - figuring that a first car experience that was a good one would be a wise choice.  As soon as I loaded her in the car I realized that in addition to the toy store we should go and have some help making a new splint.  I was able to make an appointment to see Mr. Chip (a PA at Triangle Orthopedics) and off we went.  We made a new splint that went along the side of her leg and wrapped around the foot avoiding the heal.  I forgot to mention that earlier on Wednesday morning I found that she was starting to have a pressure sore on her heal from her splint.  This seemed to be a good solution and then off we went to the bookstore, where we got yet ANOTHER stuffed animal (a bunny) as well as some Charlie and Lola books, one titled "Broken" that talks about the boy breaking his arm and the other about Lola having the chicken pox and having to find a different way to participate in the school fundraiser (both of which I thought had great messages for Molly).

All was well until bedtime.  At this point she came up with every excuse under the sun and had Jim and I at the end of our ropes.  This was our fifth night of being in crisis mode and it is hard to maintain your composure for that long.  She has been sleeping in our room since her break, which also makes for long days and nights.  After 2 hours of begging and pleading Jim and I finally gave in and headed to bed as well.

This afternoon I took off her splint to have a look and found new pressure sores in different places.  I am now remembering that this seems to happen with her leg fractures and I SO wish that we didn't have to go through the same mistakes each time!!! Grrr.  So, I have now made a new splint that goes along the back of her leg from where her underwear end down to just wear the socks begin.  I am hoping that this gives her femur the support it needs without creating yet another pressure sore.

I found that I had made the exact same splint last time this happened and used that to keep her wrapped so that we could give her a bath for the first time in a week!  She is now in her own bed, clean, asleep and with a new splint and I am so hopeful that Jim and I will finally get a little bit of adult time and also some well needed sleep.  We are still setting alarms throughout the night to give her medication, but that is a quick up and down and barely even registers on the scale :)

Here is hoping that everyone gets a good night sleep and that the three of us can enjoy a weekend together free of pressure sores and other medical drama.

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