Colin made it through his first year with barely even a
sniffle. He had one cold when he was 9 months old but he mostly slept through
the whole thing.
Just a week after Colin's first birthday he got bad diarrhea, nothing was making this go away. A trip to the doctor was our next step. Our family Doctor, Dr. Scaman was away so we saw his replacement Dr. Kuhn. Dr. Kuhn suggested we do the BRAT diet (banana's, rice, apple sauce & toast) and if he is not better in 5 days bring him back. 5 days later we were back. Told to continue on with the diet. This was Friday April 16, 2010. I knew my doctor was back on Monday so I begged the girls to get me an appointment with him for Monday morning.
Colin's rear end problem didn't get any better over the weekend so come that sunny warm morning on April 19th I packed Colin up and headed to the doctors. Along the way I picked up my mom.
Our family Doctor told me to take him off the BRAT diet because new studies are showing it is doing more harm than good. All it does is constipate them and when that finally clears itself up you are back to your original problem. He gave me a form for some lab work. Lovely, I would have to collect a stool sample.
So here we are almost lunch and I have nothing to feed him at home so we decide to go to Colin's favorite muffin place. He can have a muffin and formula while mom and I enjoy a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll.
This next part is really hard to write.
We were sitting in the mall at the food court. I had just clipped Colin in his highchair. He stood up and reached for the tray that had 2 cinnamon rolls, his carrot muffin, 2 cups of coffee and one of hot water. I quickly pushed the tray back farther and realized that the clip on the highchair seatbelt was broken. I turned around to grab his cup and yell to my mom to get a different high chair, Colin was a climber after all!
In that few seconds our lives changed. Colin wanted that cinnamon roll so bad he stood up in his highchair and pulled the tray and its contents all over him. 2 cups of coffee and one of hot water. He was covered in the hot liquid and it was burning him. I ripped him out of the chair and started stripping him down to his diaper. I glanced down at him and saw that the burns were already starting to blister and pop. I grabbed him just in his diaper and I ran for the walk in clinic in the next building over, leaving all of our stuff behind for my mom to bring. I ran into the clinic with him screaming. The doctor was just getting ready to go for lunch so we were lucky he was still there. He immediately started first aid on him while the nurses called 911.
When the paramedics arrived (2 ambulances) two of them went to my car to get his car seat and the other 2 started working on him right away so he would at least be comfortable for the 3 minute ride to the hospital. They stripped his diaper off and out him in his car seat with a special blanket. Somehow I managed to call Tom and tell him to get to the hospital ASAP Colin was burned badly.
We arrived at Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer center where they had the Pediatrician and a team waiting for us. Colin was rushed right into the pediatric emergency and had no less than 8 people working with him and a nurse taking care of me for shock. After a few attempts they managed to get an IV in him and some drugs for the pain. They then realized they were not equipped to deal with this type of burn and we were notified that he was being transferred to BC Children's hospital in Vancouver about 1 1/2 hour away but because they are in the beginning stages of building a new bridge the drive would end up being closer to 2 1/2.
I went with Colin in the ambulance while Tom (who said he drove 180km on the highway from Chilliwack) took my mom over to our house to watch the dogs and get some stuff for us. Oh and Colin was still not wearing a diaper and he was in his car seat, remember the bum issue?
We get to Children's emergency room where they were not expecting us, but get us a bed right away. It turns out he was supposed to go straight to the burn ward where they were scrubbed up waiting for us.
When they found out we were in emergency they came right down and assessed Colin. They decided they were going to give him something to sedate him and get him cleaned.
When they started cleaning him up Colin was still whimpering even though he was heavily sedated.
He had burns to his stomach, top of his thighs and one arm. His diaper saved his private parts. So all together he had 2nd degree burns to 12% of his body and 3rd degree to 8%.
The doctors bandaged him up but then we had to wait for Emergency to release us to the burn unit upstairs. That took about 4 hours. By 9pm we were finally in our bed upstairs where the nurses had to re wrap his bandages and his rear end problems came into play again. By this time I have actually looked at myself in the mirror and realize I have blood all over myself from when I had to carry him across the parking lot. Thank goodness Tom brought me clothes. Colin was heavily sedated this first night and managed to sleep through the nurses and doctors coming in to check on him. I on the other hand was up all night because I could not get the screams out of my head. They are still there some nights.
Just a week after Colin's first birthday he got bad diarrhea, nothing was making this go away. A trip to the doctor was our next step. Our family Doctor, Dr. Scaman was away so we saw his replacement Dr. Kuhn. Dr. Kuhn suggested we do the BRAT diet (banana's, rice, apple sauce & toast) and if he is not better in 5 days bring him back. 5 days later we were back. Told to continue on with the diet. This was Friday April 16, 2010. I knew my doctor was back on Monday so I begged the girls to get me an appointment with him for Monday morning.
Colin's rear end problem didn't get any better over the weekend so come that sunny warm morning on April 19th I packed Colin up and headed to the doctors. Along the way I picked up my mom.
Our family Doctor told me to take him off the BRAT diet because new studies are showing it is doing more harm than good. All it does is constipate them and when that finally clears itself up you are back to your original problem. He gave me a form for some lab work. Lovely, I would have to collect a stool sample.
So here we are almost lunch and I have nothing to feed him at home so we decide to go to Colin's favorite muffin place. He can have a muffin and formula while mom and I enjoy a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll.
This next part is really hard to write.
We were sitting in the mall at the food court. I had just clipped Colin in his highchair. He stood up and reached for the tray that had 2 cinnamon rolls, his carrot muffin, 2 cups of coffee and one of hot water. I quickly pushed the tray back farther and realized that the clip on the highchair seatbelt was broken. I turned around to grab his cup and yell to my mom to get a different high chair, Colin was a climber after all!
In that few seconds our lives changed. Colin wanted that cinnamon roll so bad he stood up in his highchair and pulled the tray and its contents all over him. 2 cups of coffee and one of hot water. He was covered in the hot liquid and it was burning him. I ripped him out of the chair and started stripping him down to his diaper. I glanced down at him and saw that the burns were already starting to blister and pop. I grabbed him just in his diaper and I ran for the walk in clinic in the next building over, leaving all of our stuff behind for my mom to bring. I ran into the clinic with him screaming. The doctor was just getting ready to go for lunch so we were lucky he was still there. He immediately started first aid on him while the nurses called 911.
When the paramedics arrived (2 ambulances) two of them went to my car to get his car seat and the other 2 started working on him right away so he would at least be comfortable for the 3 minute ride to the hospital. They stripped his diaper off and out him in his car seat with a special blanket. Somehow I managed to call Tom and tell him to get to the hospital ASAP Colin was burned badly.
We arrived at Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer center where they had the Pediatrician and a team waiting for us. Colin was rushed right into the pediatric emergency and had no less than 8 people working with him and a nurse taking care of me for shock. After a few attempts they managed to get an IV in him and some drugs for the pain. They then realized they were not equipped to deal with this type of burn and we were notified that he was being transferred to BC Children's hospital in Vancouver about 1 1/2 hour away but because they are in the beginning stages of building a new bridge the drive would end up being closer to 2 1/2.
I went with Colin in the ambulance while Tom (who said he drove 180km on the highway from Chilliwack) took my mom over to our house to watch the dogs and get some stuff for us. Oh and Colin was still not wearing a diaper and he was in his car seat, remember the bum issue?
We get to Children's emergency room where they were not expecting us, but get us a bed right away. It turns out he was supposed to go straight to the burn ward where they were scrubbed up waiting for us.
When they found out we were in emergency they came right down and assessed Colin. They decided they were going to give him something to sedate him and get him cleaned.
When they started cleaning him up Colin was still whimpering even though he was heavily sedated.
He had burns to his stomach, top of his thighs and one arm. His diaper saved his private parts. So all together he had 2nd degree burns to 12% of his body and 3rd degree to 8%.
The doctors bandaged him up but then we had to wait for Emergency to release us to the burn unit upstairs. That took about 4 hours. By 9pm we were finally in our bed upstairs where the nurses had to re wrap his bandages and his rear end problems came into play again. By this time I have actually looked at myself in the mirror and realize I have blood all over myself from when I had to carry him across the parking lot. Thank goodness Tom brought me clothes. Colin was heavily sedated this first night and managed to sleep through the nurses and doctors coming in to check on him. I on the other hand was up all night because I could not get the screams out of my head. They are still there some nights.
Tomorrow night Part 3
The many days after
So terrifying! It must be hard to talk about, even after all this time.
ReplyDeleteJolene, I still remember hearing this awful event! still brings shivers all over my body!
ReplyDelete