Day 11 @ the Burn Center

Today I got in about 11:30am. As I was gowning up at the nurses station, LouAnn came in around the back office area and stopped to talk to me. She had been in the treatment room this morning during Missy's debriement and said that the left hand is starting to look better. She said that there is a thin layer of eschar but she could see some new skin buds popping up around the area so she is not planning on grafting now. Thank God! The poor woman in the bed across from Missy had her first grafting late Monday night. She has been crying in so much pain since then after every change of dressing. She'll be going into surgery in the morning for her second grafting. LouAnn had said early on, that grafting would be used as the last alternative if possible because of all the pain at the donor site. When I got into Missy's room she was sitting up in her bed eating some of her lunch. They had just given her a Benadryl injection so she was getting pretty sleepy. She went to sleep and I lightly dozed myself in the chair (my neck is feeling it about now too!). About 2:30pm Kevin, her OT, came in and was working with her on her range of motion. Since she pulled off all that thick skin yesterday, the fingers move so freely, which helps with the stretching that she needs to do. He was real pleased with her range. The stretching really is painful, yet in a good way (kind of like when you had a tooth almost ready to come out, so the OT told me). Around 3pm this afternoon- Sharon, Jeff, Kim and Sal stopped by to visit with Missy. The floor was regulating the number of visitors today, so I came out and Sharon and Sal went in for awhile and then I took Kim in to see Missy. Jeff decided that he would stay off the floor. It was well over 10 years ago now- wow how time flies, that Jeff was in the hospital himself for months because of Leukemia, he beat it and has been in remission! After they left, Mike stopped by after work for a visit as well. We stayed until 6pm and said our goodbyes. Julie and Justin were coming by @ 8pm. We are definately on the road to recovery and with Missy's determination to get back to her busy life it will be a speedy one.