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Well....I guess summer wouldn't be complete for our family without some major drama right? Well Brayden took care of that for us this summer. We bought a trailer this year and have been spending a ton of time playing at Bear Lake with my parents. Our family has some property up there as seen in my last post. We love going up there and hanging out. The kids like riding the 4 wheelers on the dirt roads around the camp.
The weekend of Aug. 8th we decided to take a longer trip. Matt took work off Friday and Monday so we could spend some time there. We had a great time and then Sunday night the kids were riding the quads. Jordan and Makayla went out first and when they got back Brayden wanted to take a turn. He was gone for no more than 10 minutes when we heard the familiar sound of the 4wheeler coming back to camp. What wasn't familiar however, was the gut wrenching scream that came with it. It was such a strange scream that we thought Brayden was goofing off and screaming for fun. I finally realized it wasn't a fun scream and ran out to him.
When I reached him his entire leg was covered in blood and his knee was split wide open. We gathered him up, put him in the car and took off for the Bear Lake clinic. Since it was a Sunday evening, they were closed so we had to call to have the on call Dr. meet us there. He cleaned out the wound, stitched it up and we were on our way. The next morning we decided to pack up and head home early.
Here are the pictures that we took at the clinic after he was all stitched up.
We got settled home on Monday and Brayden wasn't able to put any pressure on his leg at all. I went out to get him crutches so he'd be able to get around a bit.
That night he went to bed with a Lortab and around 6 AM I woke up to a THUD and his cry. He got up and thought he could make it to the bathroom but the pain was so bad that once he got there he could not make it back and he fell in the hallway. I have never seen him in SO much pain as I did that morning. I "carried" him back to bed and tried to figure out why it was so bad. It looked a little red and swollen so I got him an ice pack. I felt his head and I could tell he was warm so I knew we were dealing with an infection. As soon as the doctors office opened we called them and they got us right in. While we were there the doctors were NOT impressed with the way it was looking. They suspected that he had a really bad infection that was going into the tendons and even the bone so they sent us straight to Primary Children's Medical Center ER. They decided there that it needed to be re-opened and cleaned out. Here is the funny video of him coming out of his surgery. The sedated him and he was very loopy!
Post Op Party & Rap!!!
Once they did that, they decided it would be a good idea for him to spend the night and have two different IV antibiotics every 4 hours, so we were moved to the Rapid Treatment Unit (RTU) where he'd be released in the morning and he'd go home on oral antibiotics. After a LONG night of antibiotics he woke up the next morning to find that the infection was now streaking up his leg which meant it was getting worse. They decided we'd stay one more night.
Brushing his teeth while he gets his antibiotics. One of the antibiotics, Nafcillin, was a VERY strong, powerful drug that burned SO bad as it went in his vein. Every time they would start it he would just cry because of the pain. He used heat packs to help a little but it was still very hard for him each time.
Here he is getting another Nafcillin infusion. He was sick of laying in bed so this was his first trip to the chair. His appetite was gone so Mom had to make him have a fruit smoothie.
Brayden's grandma Debbie brought him a lot of gag gift stuff to play jokes on the nurses & doctors. Here he is with his fake teeth in. He had lots of fun with the cockroach, fake bloody hand and the flarp that she brought too. He ended up getting quite the reputation for being a jokester! Anything to pass the time as we just kept being told one more day, one more day etc.
The only thing that sounded good to Brayden was Chick-fil-A. He wanted it in the middle of the night and woke up still wanting it. Matt left work and drove clear to Sandy to grab him some as soon as they opened. He was so happy and finally ate!!! We ended up staying for 7 days total in the hospital before they decided to send him home on IV's.
The kids in the primary made this welcome home sign for when we got home. It was signed by all the kids in the ward.
Here is the PICC line that allowed Brayden to come home and receive the antibiotics he needed. It made it much less painful when the medicine ran into his veins.
Here was the fun of trying to give him a bath with both a leg and an arm that could not get wet! It was quite a challenge each time.
Here hs is getting his antibiotics. It doesn't even hurt! :)
Brayden had to miss his first week back to school. Because he had his PICC line still, it just wasn't safe for him to go. We took him for the first day to see who was in his class and let his teacher know he'd be gone for a week. He got to come to work with me all week and we had fun visiting while we shredded papers!
Here is the wound 14 days after the accident. This was taken right before he got his stitches out. It was also the end of the wet/dry bandages and the start of "normal" life.
Here he is getting his PICC line out at home. Sorry the video quality sucks but it was taken with Matt's cell phone. It's nice that he was able to be home resting on our couch while he got this done. Now he is finally free and can go back to school! This has been such a long, crazy ordeal and I can't help but realize how blessed we are to live in a time where there are such wonderful medical technologies. I think of the pioneers and how horrible it must have felt to watch loved ones get sick and die while you stand helpless. I am so glad for such an amazing hospital and wonderful doctors who could make my son better.
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