Trauma Part 4: Skin Graft to Puppy Adventures

I was so lucky to have a friend offer to keep Jason and Troy overnight on Sunday night.  They had never been on a sleep-over before and they were SO excited!  When they get older, they will certainly brag to their friends that they slept over with two beautiful twin girls.  But for now, they just see them as friends that happen to be in Troy’s Preschool class.  Ahhh, the innocence of youth!  Anyway, the reason this was so advantageous was because Derek had surgery at 8am , and Jason may or may not have been home from work at that time (he works nights).  That would mean that I had to get all four kids ready and out the door and into the car in time to get to the hospital to sit and wait a couple of hours for Derek to get out of surgery.  Thank GOD for my friend.  She even took everyone to school and then picked them up.

As it was, I took Ashley and Derek to the hospital.  We had to be there at 8am, so as usual, I was about 27 minutes late.  It was not entirely my fault (it never is).  It was raining and I

Ashley

forgot about rush hour traffic…not my fault.  When was the last time I had to drive downtown at 7:30am?  Anyway, I pulled in, blocked five busses full of interns – yes, 5 busses – and ran in to drop off Derek.  A very kind woman helped me find my way, but suggested that before we get going, I move my van to a better parking spot.  I agreed.  The interns were not happy.

When I got back, she had found a wagon and we placed two kids, a wound vac, and my purse into it.  We then got to the registration room.  They didn’t seem to mind I was over 30 minutes late, thank God.  They got us right into the waiting room where the nurse came in and took his vitals.  Then the surgeon came in and said they would try to do the skin graft.  Then anesthesia came in and told me the same thing I have heard now five times.  And no, he is still not allergic to anything!  I signed the paper again.  We waited for about 10 minutes, and then the OR nurses came in and took him away.  Ashley and I went into the waiting room and waited for a little over an hour.  She was so good!  She just sat in the wagon for about 40 minutes just checking out a string she found on her dress.  Then she started walking around, checking out the small area for kids that basically had a couple of puzzles on the wall and a few buttons to push that didn’t do anything.  She enjoyed that for a short while, but then she ventured out to meet some very nice strangers.  She offered several women her string.  They were very kind.  They politely refused and told me how cute she was when I went to retrieve her.  Finally, I heard the woman call out, “Derek’s mom?”  That’s me!  The surgeon came over and told me that everything went well, BUT…

You never want to hear that word out of the mouth of a surgeon, especially when they are talking about your child.  Everything went well, but there was not enough blood flow in the wound to do a skin graft.  They just cleaned it out, redressed it, and put a stronger cast on it to reduce the amount of dressing and stuffing he can pull out.

I was definitely disappointed.  This was our fifth surgery, and we were all ready for it to be our last.  Considering we were originally going to have to do this wound cleaning surgery 2 or 3 times before we did the skin graft, I guess I have nothing to complain about, but they did get our hopes up when they changed their minds and told us we could do it this time.  Now we have to go back next week.  We are still ahead of schedule so I guess we can count our blessings.

This is what the donor site will look like.

I did have a thought while in the waiting room, though.  I was wondering if maybe the skin graft could come from me instead of him.  I think that would be better if it will work.  I am not getting a lot of good information on the internet, but what I am finding seems grim. I know that skin grafts can be very painful.  It is like getting a second or third degree burn in that spot.  When it is healed, it will never be exactly the same color was the rest of his skin, either.  I am certain he will have a significant scar on his foot from all of this.  It would be a shame if he had another one from a skin graft. Also, I have heard and read that these are very painful.  He is in enough pain as it is.  Can’t I spare him this pain?  I am just thinking ahead.  I will ask about it.

So we headed home and I made lunch for the two of them.  I then put Ash down for a nap and let Derek watch cartoons.  I then started calling insurance companies.  Fun.  It was not quite as hard as I thought it would be, but they aren’t going to cover as much, either.  I thought we were going to be working with our medical insurance, but it turns out that we start with dealing with our car insurance.  I guess it is considered an injury accident.

I then called my friend to see how things were going.  She swears the boys behaved well and were very polite.  They better have been.  They were threatened pretty heavily before they went!  When I called, she was out to lunch with Jason, waiting for her girls and Troy to finish school.  Then she was going to take them home, let them play a bit, and then bring them by at 4pm.  Sounds good to me!  She is seriously awesome.

Then I got a call from an amazing couple from church.  They were the ones that

Look at how big the puppies have gotten!!

coordinated the kennel for the pups while we were busy with the hospital stay.  They asked when I wanted to get the pups.  I was ready to go then, so she said they would be by in a half hour to get me and Derek.  Derek was so excited!  He had told everyone that came to see him and the entire hospital staff that, “we have two doggies.”

We got to the vet and they brought out Echo and Sierra.  OMG!!!  They had grown!!  It was like we had been gone for a month!  They tore across the room and knocked me over with their hugs and kisses.  They were excited to see us, but we were definitely being scolded for leaving them for so long.  They were unbelievably hyper and crazy.  We took them back to the van.  I plopped Derek into his car seat, put my purse,

Echo

phone, and keys in the middle console, closed the doors to trap the puppies, and turned to thank the couple for doing such a wonderful thing for our family.  Just as I turned to start talking, Echo came to the driver’s side window and stood on the lock button, locking himself, Sierra, and Derek in the car with my purse, phone, and of course, my keys.  I have promised Jason I would get a spare key made, but I haven’t done it yet.  I heard him scolding me right there in the parking lot, and I am humble because he is, of course, right.

To add to this scenario, Derek was still coming off the anesthesia and I had given him a dose of what adults would call Percoset.  His is the kids’ version, but you get the idea of

Sierra

the effects.  Derek has known how to unlock the car door for a while now.  I just asked him to unlock the door, as he was not strapped in, and he could reach it from his seat.  He was so loopy, he had no clue what I was saying.  He was giving me funny looks and funky smiles through the window.  At one time he grabbed the door handle and tried to open the door.  He then looked at me and informed me that it was locked.  Thanks.

Luckily the couple I was with had AAA.  They called AAA and they were going to pull off the nearest guy they had and send him to us.  I guess people and animals in a locked car are a priority.  Well, while we waited I tried to keep coaxing Derek along.  For the most part, he was just ignoring me and telling me all the funny things the puppies were doing to him.  Finally, he looked at me with perfect clarity, reached over, and unlocked the door.  The AAA guy pulled up at the same time.  Figures.

We thanked the AAA guy and the sweet couple and went home.  Remember how my friend was supposed to drop Jason and Troy off at 4?  Well, it was 4 and I am not home.  She was dropping them off on her way to an appointment.  Figures.  I call her to let her know what was going on and that I was 5 minutes out, but I was in luck.  She was running late and I would beat her to my house.  Sure enough, I got home, and 5 minutes later, she brought by older boys home!  Yay!  I still have very little idea what they did over there.  Boys never tell you anything.  I will ask my friend for details later.  Right now, I am glad to have my kiddos and pups home safe and sound in our house, at least for now.