2 Year Well Check & Hands Update

Drew was busy showing his muscles at Monday's 2 year well check. Sorry for the grainy picture - it's from my cell phone.

Anyway, here are his stats:
Weight: 23 lbs 11 oz (6th %ile)
Length: 33 5/8" (28th %ile)
Head Circumference: 19 3/4" ( 83rd %ile)

The doctor was very impressed with his verbal skills, and was amazed when she asked about the butterflies on the wall and he was counting them.

Things that we could work on - getting him to eat healthy foods or anything besides chicken nuggets and fries, and sleeping in his own bed. We created a monster over the past few months when he's been sick - he sleeps in our bed most of the time.

So we have a few tips - switching to 2% milk and only giving it to him three times a day. Feeding him whatever we're eating, limiting the snacks, and while it'll be a few month process we should be able to get him to start eating fruits and veggies, and other meats.

Another step, moving his crib mattress to the floor. Since we're convinced he despises his crib (and pack n play at day care). So perhaps he'll sleep better while we look for a "big boy bed". We're actively watching Craigs List for Trundle beds.

Let's just say the first attempt at a nap on the floor didn't go very well.... I'll have a video of that tomorrow.

The doctor did look at his hands, and while they're discolored right now where the new skin is forming, she said we can expect that to remain for a few months. But we shouldn't see any scarring - even on his right hand which she was able to tell immediately was more severely burned.

All in all a fairly good visit. Drew ended up with the final Hepatitis A shot, and they don't want to see him back until his 3 year appointment. We will go back for a flu shot next month and then one month later for round 2. Other than that - we're hoping to avoid the doctor for a year... possible? There's always wishful thinking!

Free at Last, Free at Last..

Free at last, free at last. Drew's hands are free at last!

That's right, gloves are DONE! We changed the bandages for the last time Wednesday night - only his right hand remained at this point. When Dave took the gauze off it looked almost as good as his left hand did after we removed the bandages following our day at Disneyland.

We're so thrilled, although Drew cried asking for his "glove". We had to tell him he's all better. So he just cried to us - "All better, glove". I guess he grew attached to them. They sure made him "brave" - he no longer had a problem waving to total strangers and saying hi. Usually you only get a good-bye.

So 3 1/2 weeks after he first burned his hands, we are on the road to recovery. And the ER doctor said 10 days..... hah!

Healing Hands

I'll warn you - these pictures may be slightly graphic or not what you want to see while eating. While they look a million times better than they did 3 weeks ago today when Drew burned them in the hot embers of our campfire, they're still pretty gnarly.

But these pictures I took last night shortly after the dressing change. We decided to leave both hands open to the air overnight. For the past two days we had the left hand completely exposed - here's that hand...


Not too bad, but the lighter pink areas are where the blisters once were. As you can sort of see from this shot, they covered a good chunk of his hand (fingertips too, but you'll have to take my word for it). Drew wasn't cooperating for this photo shoot as you can see.

And then the right hand was more severely burned - and slower to heal. I managed to capture this shot during a diaper change.


You can see the darker "scabby" looking areas on his palm. The top one under his ring finger was the first spot I saw prompting me to call the Dr. last Thursday for a re-check. Well, that "infection" looking area appears to be getting better, leaving only a scab-like thing on his hands. The finger tips on this hand are still really raw, as is his palm. The fingertips, we've had out of the "gloves" for the past two days, and we've noticed that he's babying them a little. However he has no problem going after and grabbing what he wants when he wants.

All in all, we're on the road to recovery. I just thought I'd share a less gruesome look at his hands. We're headed to Disneyland this weekend, and planning to recover his hands to prevent any germs from attacking this new skin. And we'll see later this morning whether we'll cover the right palm back up. We just wanted it to breathe overnight.

Thank you again for everyone's healthy wishes, prayers, candle lighting, and all. They're working!

Traumatic Hands Update

Oh my, was yesterday's Doctor's office visit traumatic - almost as bad as the ER visit two weeks ago today! We'll share a happier picture, taken on Wednesday while we were playing outside finding "things" - just to keep a "happy" spin on it for a while.

So as I mentioned in yesterday's blog, during the bandage change on Wednesday, I noticed something that looked like it could be an infection on his right hand (under his ring finger). I worried about it all night, and took another peek in the morning before making my decision to call his pediatrician and get him in for a hand-check before our scheduled appointment on Tuesday.

If you talk to Drew or see him as he's about to go to the doctor's office you'd think we're ripping his finger nails out one by one - he absolutely loses it. This was no exception.

So we check in, and I manage to get him calmed down by reading a book about trucks - all boy right?! Well then they call our name, and we're back to the fingernail torture type screaming. The nurse weighs him - and she says he's down a whole pound since we were there last week - and asked if I wanted to re-weigh. I said no, since we're going back in 2 weeks for his 2 year check-up (in hindsight, I think it's a miscalculation since Dave got on the scale with him last Monday, where today he was on the baby scale - alone).

Anyway, the nurse leaves and Drew collects himself, as he pleasantly says "bye-bye" to the nurse and begins begging to "Go bye-bye too". I bribe/distract him with some milk and Fruit Loops.

Then the Doctor comes in, and he said he was surprised to see the bandages on his hands still - and then I explained we were there because I suspect an infection. So we begin the process of taking off the right bandage - which is an ordeal in itself. We get it off, and the Doctor grimaced when he saw the hands, but he instantly knew the area I was looking at as the possible infection.

He went back and forth, kind of talking aloud about whether this was an infection or the "epidermis" growing back - freakin' use the word skin dude! After a moment or two of his going through the options with himself, he says he wants to get a second set of eyes on this. He goes to find a Doctor. Moments later he's back, and says "Let me take a picture" and whips out his iPhone. Then leaves to consult someone.

He comes back and grabs my diaper bag, and asks me to go into another room, he wants to cut off the blisters/left over skin, so that the area can really start to heal.

Oh boy this is where the trauma starts - and I'll warn you it's not for the faint of heart or those with a queasy stomach!!! Ok that's your only warning - read at your own risk!

So he has me sit down in the chair with Drew - who hasn't stopped screaming since the Doctor peeked his head into our room the first time. He then gathers some sterile gloves, sterile scissors, gauze and tape. He then goes to work, all while asking me "Do you think you can handle this" (um a little late now dude, I'm already in it!).

I couldn't watch what they were doing for fear of either passing out or throwing up, so I focused on my screaming child, and tried to sing songs while I had his little legs pinned in mine, and had his right arm (the one he was working on) in one hand, and I used my other arm to brace is other hand and also pat his head to calm him down. I was afraid of having any kicking, head-butting or punching going on while the doctor was cutting at him with the worlds sharpest scissors (no sharper than we were given from the ER for the dressing changes, but still they're razor sharp).

So while Drew's screaming his head off, the doctor manages to cut away all the loose skin. All that Drew has on his right hand is a lot of very raw, pink skin. It literally looks like someone skinned him - it's very gross and frightening to look at. The doctor then put some antibiotic ointment on his hands just in case it is an infection, and then put a lighter gauze over the area - rather than the sterile pads we've been using - which are much thicker. He then wrapped his right hand back up, and put the glove back on.

Poor Drew thought he was done.... but we went for his left hand. I thought the hysterics couldn't get worse, but they did. Luckily a nurse came in to see if she could help, so the three of us had to pin Drew into my lap while the doctor performed the same cutting procedure on his left hand.

The bright side of this - his left hand wasn't burned as bad, so the skin was much more "normal" looking at this point, and less raw. And it didn't have any of the same "spots" where you'd think there's an infection. The bad news it had the the last blister to pop, so the skin was a bit tougher yet to cut than the other hand (where it practically fell off in your hands) -- Hey, I warned you this was going to be gruesome!

We then bandaged up his left hand - which didn't have any possible signs of infection. The doctor said we didn't need to come back, but he wanted to see a picture of his hands in 2 weeks - just to be sure he's coming along. He then called in a prescription for the additional antibiotic ointment, and he wants us to use that and the Silvadene (burn cream) but with the gauze vs sterile pads. He really wants us to let it breathe more, and possibly remove the bandages altogether within the next week or so - as they start to scab more.

But we can continue to put the "gloves" on over the gauze bandages like we've been doing to keep the wound clean - at least the doctor gets that boys will be boys and play in dirt! And we should keep up the changing every other day.

I promised Drew throughout the procedure that he could have anything he wanted for lunch - so I bribed him with McDonald's. That was the least I could do after all of this! Um, I think it's safe to say he's not going to like going to the doctor's office for a long while yet!

Peeping Tom - Already

I know when you have a boy (or any child for that matter) they're going to embarrass you. I did after all have a brother so I saw first hand the misery he put my mom through... like walking through Denny's with his pants hiked up like Steve Urkel, snorting and saying something to the fact of "Don't you Love Me Mom .?Why are you walking away from me ?"

Well this weekend, Drew's started doing it too. On Friday we went to Chevy's for dinner, and Drew needed yet another diaper change (his second during dinner). After getting him off the diaper changing station located in the handicapped stall, I put him down on the ground. All you moms, I'm sure know what's coming....

Drew looks under the stall at the poor woman doing her business and says "I See You! Hi!" Then proceeds to wave with his white gloves at the poor woman.

Had I been smart, I would have apologized to her. Instead I scolded Drew, and was humiliated while I put the contents of his diaper bag back together. The poor woman ran out of there so fast I never had the chance to say anything. Come to think of it, I wonder if she even washed her hands...

But this is just one of many instances I'm sure we'll have with my little "Peeping Tom".

Hands update: Last night I did my first solo bandage change (Dave is in St. Louis on Business). It went better than expected - I think Drew's resigned that he has to go through this torture, and he didn't fight me too much. In fact he was laughing and singing with me when I changed the bandages on his left hand.

The Right hand (burned worse) wasn't quite the same story. It started out well, while taking off the bandages, then when it was exposed, he flipped. I need to look at the blisters to see how they're healing and such, and he wasn't having it. I think I spotted what could be an infection forming, but Drew wouldn't sit still enough to get a great look at it.

So I think I'm going to schedule an appointment for him today to have the doctor look at it. I'd feel better getting it checked out now, rather than our scheduled re-check on Tuesday.

Sign of Resilience

This photo was taken on Sunday - the day we came back from camping, and two days after Drew burned his hands. All weekend, we were commenting at how resilient this kid was, but when we saw him grasping those blocks with only his thumbs and a slippery glove... we were amazed.

Of course when he'd drop them, or couldn't maneuver them into the corresponding shape, he'd get ticked. So ticked, that after about 3-rounds of shapes, we had to put the cube "nigh-night".

This is only one of the many things that Drew's doing with his hands that I wouldn't have imagined - he's also eating, attempting to hold his sippy cups (sometimes successfully), and climbing up and down things.

Thursday morning he woke up around 5:30am screaming - after some consoling and trying to get him to use his words, we determined his poor hands were itchy. I think that's a sign of healing - which is good. It's just so tough to explain to him why we can't take off his "gloves".

Camping Final

Friday after all the hands drama, Daddy showed up and it was a huge relief to me. Once Drew woke up from his drug induced nap, he was busy telling Dave about the campfire and how "it's hot", and you have to "be careful". It was really adorable, but a hard lesson for him to learn. I think it did sink in finally though.

On Friday we were just kind of low key after the ER visit. Everyone else went and walked through Jackson while Grammy, and I were at the hospital attending to Drew. That evening there were some horseshoes, and just a campfire.

Saturday however, everyone had recovered from the "excitement" and we stared the day out with a morning fire. Drew was happy to help Daddy get it started - from a safe distance of course.


We also continued with our plan to go vertical wine tasting at our new favorite winery - CG Di Arie. They were tasting their 2003, 2004 and 2005 Zinfandel. YUMMY. We were able to have "private" tastings with the wine maker, who also is the creator of Captain Crunch & Hidden Valley Ranch.


The wine maker is the one in the hat.

We did visit one other winery - where this candid of Drew and I was snapped (felt like this was a Daddy photo heavy blog hehe)


For Drew this was a different type of camping trip. He was able to watch a TON of movies, where we don't usually allow them except for setting up, tearing down or right before bed. But we had to find something for the poor kid to do that wouldn't involve his hands or getting dirty.

Adrina was a real sport with him, and was extremely patient. Although I'm sure she was bored when Drew couldn't do much with her.

The guys on the other hand, kept up tradition and played horseshoes. I hear Dave really creamed Uncle Matt!



Update on Drew's hands. Per the pediatrician's orders we no longer have to change the bandages everyday, however we did last night because one of the bandages was falling off (he's peeking his left pointer through to do more stuff with his hands). Every fingertip on his right hand is about 2-3 times its regular size with blisters. I think they should be ready to pop soon, which is good.

Drew is doing his best to keep up with the kids and continue to play even if he only has a pair of thumbs to use. He's doing puzzles, playing with his cars and throwing balls around. You'd never know he was hurt - except for the obvious white gloves.

Camping Pt. 2 and a Drew update too

Before I move on to the more pleasant part of our camping trip, let me update you on the status of Drew's hands. (The picture is courtesy my sister shortly after the hospital visit).

We got into his pediatrician first thing Monday morning. Drew HATES the doctor's office and the screaming commenced when we entered the parking lot and neared the building. It continued until Daddy and Drew left toward the end of the appointment.

The doctor said the hands were not as bad as he expected so he was happy with that. But he said the healing to take more like 2-3 weeks, and not the 10-days the ER doctor told us. We are to continue doing what we're doing, keeping his little blistered hands wrapped in the burn cream until they're healed. We can stop giving him the liquid vicodin too, and move to Motrin (of course go back to Vicodin if needed.) We go for a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks.

OK now onto the fun stuff!!

We arrived at our favorite place, Gold Country Campground around lunchtime on Thursday, and began the grueling process of setting up 2 tents and a trailer (Aunt Lisa, Jimmy & Cousin Kady were there with us too). The temps were pushing 90, so we managed to have a few beers in the set-up process.

OK so we didn't let Kady have much more than the condensation, but hey she should enjoy a cold one too.

How did Drew pass the time after setting everything up? As any toddler would do - playing in the dirt of course!


Grammy came to our rescue with some good clean fun - bubbles!


Other fun things to do - chase balls! We were smarter this time, and found a campsite that had either a fence or a screen room to catch the balls. Last trip they went about 300 yards or more downhill. Kady was just itching to play too.


Later on Thursday night, Uncle Matt and his girlfriend Rana and her daughter Adrina came up. It was a mellow night of enjoying the calm, and campfire. Dave was still at home since he had a Friday meeting at work. We all had a nice relaxing night.

Then came Friday... the day started out really calm and and easy. Some playdough, conversation and cards. Here Matt's girlfriend Rana & her daughter Adrina play Go Fish.


This photo was snapped just moments before Drew took a dive into the firepit. I happened to be capturing a few candids while Drew was happily chasing a ball up and down the campsites. I'll have the final look at our trip for tomorrow's blog.

Camping Casualties - Pt 1

Camping started out fun and exciting on Thursday afternoon. But rather than go through our trip chronologically as I normally would, I'm going to start with the most traumatic events and work our way to the happy stuff later this week.

As you can see from this picture, Drew had a little mishap on Friday morning, sending us to the ER in Jackson. For those that didn't hear about it on Facebook or by phone, Drew fell into the fire pit while chasing after a ball.

The good news, the fire embers were from the fire we made the night before. The bad news, it was still smoldering hot, and he suffered first and second degree burns.

The moment it happened, I was snapping a shot of my sister Lisa and her boyfriend Jimmy. But I heard my Mom, who was sitting right next to me, yell my name in that "stop everything you're doing"tone. I didn't have to look at her, just panned to find Drew and saw him going hands first into the fire pit.

All I remember is making the maddest dash from my chair to him in milliseconds. And yelled at him as I was pulling him out, and running into Mom & Dad's trailer, to wash his hands off praying all the while it was just some ash on his hands and he was freaked out, just as I was. As the water hit his hands, and cleaned away the ash, I saw the blisters coming up, and I calmly said, "we need to go to the hospital". I asked for some ice, and we sat on the couch in the trailer so I could inspect his hands a little more - and to catch a breather for myself as everything was starting to sink in, and I was feeling a little woozy.

We tried to apply the ice, and that wasn't going over so well - it never does for bumps and bruises either, so why should this be any different. Much of what I remember during this time, was how amazingly calm I was despite Drew was hysterical. I just gathered him up, got his diaper bag (which had my wallet) while Mom got her keys and we loaded into the truck.

I strapped Drew into the carseat at first thinking, it was the safest thing while I sat alongside of him. We didn't get 1/2 a mile down the road before I just pulled him out and cuddled him. We were on our way to the hospital anyway (about 15 minutes down the road), so if we got into an accident... well we wouldn't be much worse off than we already were. And Drew REALLY just needed consoling. I think this was when the pain started to set in on his tiny little hands.

We got to the ER at Sutter Amador Hospital and they knew instantly he hurt his hands, based on how he was holding them. I filled out the entry paperwork, and Grammy took Drew outside. He has a phobia of doctor's office and hospitals, and all he kept saying was "I go Bye-bye" over and over. So rather than traumatize all the other ER patients, we pacified him while we got everything in order. Within 5 or 10 minutes of our arrival they called us back to triage, and put some numbing cream on his hands and got his first round of "gloves" on his hands (just some gauze to hold the pads).

There was a minor mishap on the weight and we had to have a do-over since the nurse pegged him at 20 lbs when the doc and I said he weighed more than 24 lbs. We were right, but they needed the weight to be exact since they were going to give him some demoral to calm him down enough to check his hands. That demoral kicked in fairly quickly only Drew was still pretty hysterical - it took him perhaps 30 minutes to nearly knock out, and then the nurse and doctor came in.

Good news - they were only first and second degree burns. Not the 3rd Degree which would have sent us to the burn unit for treatment. So the nurse bandaged him up and we were on our way. Poor kid was so upset that he had that "hyperventilating" breathing thing while he slept on the ride back to camp and for a good 2 hours of the nap that followed. Poor baby would wake up and say "all done, no more" in his sleep. This was what he kept repeating as they were putting the bandages on him.

Grammy & GrampC drove back down to town and got Drew's liquid Vicodin prescription filled, and Daddy who wasn't due to come up until Friday afternoon anyway showed up, and I finally was able to relax a bit.

When Drew woke up, he was a true champ! He adjusted to his "gloves" so well and only asked us to take them off for the first 2 hours after that nap. I think he's asked maybe one other time. He's a real trooper. He's maneuvering things around with his thumbs, and still wants to play, pick up toys and rocks.

We decided to stay up at the campground since everything we could do there, we would do at home. And up there, we had extra help and assistance from everyone! It was the right decision, and Drew managed to keep his white gloves pretty darn clean.

Sunday was the first time we had to take those bandages off and clean the blisters. The right hand is definitely worse than the left, and looks like one large blister with five fingertip blisters. We will go to his doctor today and have them take a look as well (I look at it as one less dressing change I need to do).

This was by far the most traumatic camping trip I've been on, and I'm hoping the last time something like this happens. But Drew's a real trooper, and the ER doctor thought he should be all clear in about 10 days. Thank you to everyone who has sent healing prayers our way. Please keep them coming.