Shailyn cont.

This picture for some reason did not load yesterday, this is her left hip.

Shailyn

Yesterday was absolutely the most terrifying day of my life.  I received a call from one of Shailyn's teachers, Mrs. Miller to let me know Shailyn had fallen on her field trip at Mt. Timpanogas the ambulance had been called, but she was conscious and alert.  The nearest hospital was American Fork Hospital so I jumped in the car and headed south, Then I received call number 2... She was being life flighted to Primary Children's Hospital, my body started shaking and I honestly think I went into shock.  When I arrived at the hospital, they weren't aware Shailyn was coming, search and rescue was still working on getting her off the mountain.  We waited forever (they say it was about an hour) before she arrived, once she got here they wouldn't let us see her until the trauma team analyzed her.  FINALLY we were able to see her, and found out she had fallen between 65-80 feet down the mountain. 

As of tonight the internal bleeding on her spleen has stopped. She will be having jaw surgery on Tuesday for her broken TMJ joint and chin. She has fractured her pelvic bone and her right hip, she has a hematoma on her head, had to have 12 stiches in her knee and possibly sprained her left ankle and elbow. Her back and neck are not broken but she does have some disks that are compressed. We don't know what effect this will have on her until she can get out of bed. She has a lot of cuts and bruises but she is going to be okay. With the bleeding stopped they have allowed her to have some clear fluids, if things continue to improve she will be moved to a full liquid diet tomorrow, and she is really looking forward to a milkshake for breakfast! We will know more about her fractures tomorrow when the Physical Therapist comes and allows her to try standing for the first time since the accident.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day started out great!  Tim made the coffee, and he and the girls cooked up some turkey bacon and eggs!  He and the kids bought me a bonsai tree that is as many years old as I have been a Mom! (14 years, I really can't believe it!)  I was able to relax and enjoy the kids company this morning before we headed out to Tim's Moms.  After we were done visiting we headed to my Mom's for a barbecue and our first annual family baseball game.  That is when things got eventful... During our baseball game, Austin ran from third to home but got out so he was attempting to run back to third base thinking he would be safe.  However Kaysie had already made it to third and when Austin got there he toppled right on top of her, Tim ran over to make sure she was okay and she looked up and said "Dad, I just broke my arm."  Well, Tim usually over reacts and assumes any injury needs medical attention, I wasn't aware of what Kaysie had told him so when he offered to take her to InstaCare I just said okay (not to mention, I really thought he was over reacting to the whole situation) so Austin, Shailyn and I waited at my parents for the phone to ring and when it finally did it was bad news.  Kaysie broke both her bones in her right arm, and not only were they broke but we needed to take her to Primary Children's to see an Orthopedic specialist to have her bone correctly set back into place.  I told Tim I would take her, so he brought me the Suburban and Kaysie and off we went.  Once we arrived, we had to go through the ER.  It was one of the most traumatizing doctor visits I can remember... Once they reviewed the X-rays, they gave Kaysie an I.V. so they could administer the sedation.  (Kaysie is absolutely horrified of needles, so this was not a fun process!) Then, they brought in a mobile X-ray machine, an orthopedic specialist, a respiratory specialist, the doctor and the nurse; then they gave Kaysie what they call a conscious sedation.  It was horrible!  The sedation was very mild but it had a memory blocker in it, so she could feel everything she just can't remember it!  I sat there and watched as my poor baby girl was screaming through all of the pain of having her arm set correctly in place, it was pure torture to have to witness that!  She was sedated about 20 - 30 minutes and when she came to sure enough she couldn't remember any of it (Thank Heavens!).  The nurse then offered her a variety of sugary drinks, and poor Kaysie looked at the nurse and told her she couldn't have any of those  because she is choosing a healthy lifestyle... The nurse was perplexed but explained she needed some sugar in her after being sedated so Kaysie was able to enjoy a cherry slushee.  After she finished that they brought her back in for more X-rays, and everything looked great!   Now we just have 8 weeks in a cast to look forward to, and then we can put another memorable holiday behind us.

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much" ~Mother Teresa

Today we found out that Kaysie has pre-diabetes, or hyperinsulinism.  We are going in tomorrow for a full glucose tolerance test, a thyroid test and a liver test to find out the extent of what we are dealing with.  Fortunately, pre-diabetes can be overcome by making healthy life choices (Or a very strict diet, but Kaysie gets angry when I call it that).
Tonight we spent some time going through the food lists and deciphering what we will be eating from here on out.  To my surprise, school lunch is out!  Kaysie will be bringing a lunch from home the majority of the time because the items they serve at school are on the forbidden list!  (Honestly, I was shocked to find out that school lunch is SO unhealthy!) Afterwards Kaysie and I headed to the grocery store... 2 1/2 hours later we left with a carload of whole grains, fruits, veggies and lean meats.  Kaysie seems to be dealing with this okay, other than she is scared of what people will think when she has to eat her "special" food.  I am overwhelmed trying to take all of this in, and hope that we can be the support she needs to overcome this.  I am feeling a lot of pressure, knowing that this is the one chance I get to try to overcome what could end up effecting her the rest of her life.  Hopefully the tests go well in the morning, and I can figure out what to do with the ground turkey and turkey bacon that is now sitting in my fridge!

Easter Eggs!

As a tradition, we always dye Easter eggs the night before Easter.  

This year I thought it would be fun to get different dyes, so I bought the Golden Egg kit, and the Tie Dye kit. 

 I forget sometimes that Austin doesn't exactly agree with changes to traditions and he was not happy about this, so I ended up digging in my cupboard for some food coloring so we could do the traditional eggs as well.

Shailyn and Kaysie on the other hand were both happy to try out all of the dyes!

All the eggs turned out great, however these brilliant kits I bought were more time consuming than I anticipated.  You had to use a paint brush for the golden eggs, and the tie dye kit you had to mix each egg  individually in a little bag.  I think next year I will stick with the plain old egg dye but it was worth a shot.

Autism Gala

Every year Austin's school puts together an Autism Gala during the month of April for Autism Awareness.  The 6th, 7th and 8th grade students all came together to read poetry.  I was impressed with the job Austin did, way to go Austin!  

They also do a big auction for all kinds of  things that have been donated to help raise money for the school.  This year most of the classes also did art projects to sale at the auction.  

Austin drew this road runner!  It literally brought tears to my eyes just to see how far his fine motor skills have come since he started attending the Spectrum Academy.  I can't thank them enough for all they have done to help Austin!

Update on Shailyn

Well, today I took Shailyn into an Orthopedic specialist for her knee.  No broken bones, but there is the possiblity of ligament or cartlidge damage - not good, this could mean knee surgery.  The doctor is leaning more towards cartlidge damage as ligament damage is not very common in children.  The swelling is still so bad they can't do the proper exams so they are having us come back again in 2 weeks.  Hopefully all goes well.