Carol & Safiya hanging out on Christmas
Chloe taking calls on her Iphone:)
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
12/31/2008
Well, long time no post. Life has been a little crazy over the holidays. You would think I would have had more time to write, not less, but that han't been the case.
Today is Chloe's 2nd birthday....she keeps getting fireworks on her birthday!!
So what's going on with Carol and the family the last couple weeks. Carol's left arm after her revision, hasn't quite healed up all the way, and I want her to have the hand surgeon at Swedish to take a look again. Part of the suture line reopened, and even with the aid of butterfly bandages and other special dressings, it hasn't seemed to close all the way yet. It was hurting her for a bit, so I got her on some antbiotics just in case. A couple weeks ago, Carol burnt her right middle finger. Totally my fault. I made her a hot pockets, and apparently the center of it was way to hot, although it was still edible. In any case, we hadn't noticed the burn on the finger (she can't feel it) until she began walking later in the day, and she noticed her hand felt wet. She got a blister from her finger nail, down to the first knuckle. Like a 2nd -3rd degree burn/blister. Luckily we are experts on this sort of thing now, and it is healing as well as can be expected. We got her a proclined excercise bike and a super fancy computer for xmas. With the computer she can talk to it, it can talk to her. We have not yet begun to get into all of it's capabilities. Her spirits throughout the break have been up and down. The week of xmas itself we went up to a cabin near crystal mountain with the girls, Heath, and Carol's mom. It was a hard week for everyone. Shawn's birthday was supposed to be on xmas day, and this was the first year without him. So overall that whole trip to the mountain, didn't quite feel like xmas for all of us. I think we have all agreed to do something more conventional for us next year. Visually, Carol has been having alot of "hallucinations" lately. Doing a bit of research and from what the neuro opthomologist told me at Swedish so many months ago, this can be common. I think it is called Charles Bennet syndrome or something. Gotta get to work.. i will try and post some pictures of the last couple weeks tongiht!!
Scott
Today is Chloe's 2nd birthday....she keeps getting fireworks on her birthday!!
So what's going on with Carol and the family the last couple weeks. Carol's left arm after her revision, hasn't quite healed up all the way, and I want her to have the hand surgeon at Swedish to take a look again. Part of the suture line reopened, and even with the aid of butterfly bandages and other special dressings, it hasn't seemed to close all the way yet. It was hurting her for a bit, so I got her on some antbiotics just in case. A couple weeks ago, Carol burnt her right middle finger. Totally my fault. I made her a hot pockets, and apparently the center of it was way to hot, although it was still edible. In any case, we hadn't noticed the burn on the finger (she can't feel it) until she began walking later in the day, and she noticed her hand felt wet. She got a blister from her finger nail, down to the first knuckle. Like a 2nd -3rd degree burn/blister. Luckily we are experts on this sort of thing now, and it is healing as well as can be expected. We got her a proclined excercise bike and a super fancy computer for xmas. With the computer she can talk to it, it can talk to her. We have not yet begun to get into all of it's capabilities. Her spirits throughout the break have been up and down. The week of xmas itself we went up to a cabin near crystal mountain with the girls, Heath, and Carol's mom. It was a hard week for everyone. Shawn's birthday was supposed to be on xmas day, and this was the first year without him. So overall that whole trip to the mountain, didn't quite feel like xmas for all of us. I think we have all agreed to do something more conventional for us next year. Visually, Carol has been having alot of "hallucinations" lately. Doing a bit of research and from what the neuro opthomologist told me at Swedish so many months ago, this can be common. I think it is called Charles Bennet syndrome or something. Gotta get to work.. i will try and post some pictures of the last couple weeks tongiht!!
Scott
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
12/16/2008
Just want to send a big thanks to the members of the Pierce County Dental Society. Thanks so much for all your genorosity. I am trying to find the right words to say but can't seem to find anything but....thank you!
Scott
Scott
Sunday, December 14, 2008
12/14/2008
Thanks for all the advice we have gotten on managing Carol's pain. Keep it coming. So what has happened in the last week or so. Carol got her teeth cleaned. Something she always enjoys. She has been able to make it out and complete her Christmas shopping in a couple trips. Her prosthesis(s) seem to be fitting much better, and she has been getting around much better again. Most of her family was here over the weekend, and it's always nice for her to have them all around. Chloe is getting super excited for the holiday it seems. The tree, decorations, and now snow are bringing it all together for her. There are lots of cool things anonymous people have been doing for us the past couple weeks. If you read this, thank. Back to Carol. Her hair, seems to have stopped falling out, and is growing back...I think. Her left arm from the previous surgery, looked to be almost healed, but a very small area of the incision from the surgery, has not quite healed as I think maybe it should have, and I think she needs to have it looked at again. Her right hip is all but healed up. No changed visually. Her skin seems to be smoothing from her grafts pretty well, and pain around those areas seems to be diminishing a little. Hopefully she will have a bump up in energy for walking and the such soon. Spirit wise she is doing ok. This time of year is tough not being able to see, for her. Plus her brother who passed away, his birthday was on xmas day. Up's and down's as expected.
Friday, December 5, 2008
12/5/2008
Another good progressing week has come and gone. Carol is looking forward to a relaxing weekend. She had a couple visits up in Seattle this week. One with the doctors at the burn unit at Harborview to discuss her pain around her grafted areas. Basically this is normal, as the new skin and new nerves are regenerating in those areas. It is supposed to pass in a couple months. We are working on other remedies for her phantom pain. We had our office Christmas party up in Seattle last night. After a conversation Carol had with someone, it made me think of something I haven't maybe talked about. When I say phantom nerve pain, what I mean is that at times her feet hurt. She really feels like her amputated limbs hurt at times. This is especially bad in her or what was left hand. Apparently your nerves often feel the way they were before they were amputated. Her left hand was necrosing so badly before the amputation it was curling into a tight fist. She often feels her hand is in a super tight ball and she can't expand it. Super wierd. Anyway, interesting topic. Her other visit was today with her prosthetist. She got things tightened up on her lower prosthesis(s). She is really starting to walk great, in small amounts. She is starting to really let go of the walker and use just a cane more and more. I will post picutres when I can. Again, thanks for all the meals and support. It is much appreciated!!!
Scott
Scott
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