Mary's Legs

After being in Idaho this summer, right after the accident, it's been hard for me to be back home in Texas - so far away from everything, unable to help, and left wondering "what does it mean that Mary's legs are looking good???" I've been wondering, what does "good" mean? There was obviously before-the-accident good, and then there's the picture in my head of what her legs might eventually look like (typical burn scars that I've seen). So where do Mary's legs fit into that spectrum, because it's quite a difference! Anyway, I imagine that many of you out there who keep up with this blog are wondering the same thing. Well, a few days ago Mary posted this picture on her Facebook page. It was taken from a Telemed camera from the appointment that she just had in Boise with the SLC docs. I asked her if it was OK if I posted it on the blog and she said "of course!" All I can say is, you go girl!! Way to have confidence and way to let it out there! I was pretty surprised at how RED her legs were!! And then I was wondering what the "white" patches were on her legs. Evidently the patches that look white in the picture are the parts of her legs that were second degree burns, but were not used as donor sites. So the white is actually just flesh colored. And all the red parts are either the donor sites (on the front of her thighs) or are the actual skin grafts themselves. I asked how long they would be so red and sore looking, and they will likely be quite red for a long time (a year?). The donor sites on her back are losing some of their red color already, so hopefully her legs will follow suit. But honestly...who cares about her having red legs??? She'll be in compression pants for the next year, almost 24 hours a day, and those legs are going to see the light of day for a long time! Leggings are going to be her new best friends! I'd also like to comment on the fact that the day after she sent me this picture, I also saw her proofs for her engagement pictures. WOW!! She looks gorgeous! Not a soul on earth would ever see those pictures and think that this was a girl who lost over 50% of her skin to burns and grafts within the past two months. No way. So some red legs??? It could be much worse! I can't wait to see her walking like a champ, looking amazing, on her wedding day!! So keep working hard, Mary!!! Push yourself and that stubborn skin to it's limit. I know it's hard and painful, but I know you can do it. As stubborn as you are, I know you won't let that stiff skin beat you! (OK...sisterly pep talk is over.) Mary was fitted for her compression pants on Monday, and she was told that her wounds should be all healed up within the next two weeks. Two weeks!! That's pretty amazing. Looking good Mary!!

No News is (Usually) Good News

We realized the blog hasn't been updated in a while, and in this case no news is definitely good news. Mary has been seen by the doctor here and had her Telemed appointment with the doctor in Salt Lake, and both said her legs are looking good! They are healing really nicely. I actually saw them the other day unwrapped for the first time since before her second surgery and they are looking great! Very different. The physical therapy is going slowly but surely. I think some days it's been hard for Mary to "make" herself do it.....I'm sure she's so tired of it. However, I know she knows how important it is for her recovery so I have faith that she'll keep working hard. She and Kyle are headed to SLC on Monday for her to finally get fitted for her compression pants. If things are still looking good she probably won't see a doctor, but could if she needed to.
She is pretty much in full-up wedding planning mode! Still planning for mid-November.....lots to do to get ready. I'm sure that's way more fun than wound care and physical therapy! :)

Check-up

Mary and Kyle left Boise yesterday headed to SLC. Mary had wound care, physical therapy, and a check-up at the hospital there today. The doctor in Boise had mentioned the other day that there were a few spots of concern on her legs that he wanted the doctor in Salt Lake to look at. So she had her check-up today, and for the most part it was good news. The doctor there said he wasn't overly concerned yet. He definitely said she isn't "out of the woods" yet, but didn't see anything that made him think she needed another surgery right away. So that was definitely good news. He wants to see her again in a week, but said that the Telemed (fancy webcam) appointment they have set up would be fine (no 10 hour round trip to UT). They didn't, however, want to measure her for her compression pants today. They said she had too many open wounds. Mary was going to try and talk them into it tomorrow, but we'll see. So they may have to make another trip before too long. Anyway, overall it was a good check-up. My mom is meeting up with them tomorrow in SLC so they can all head to St. George for the weekend for some fun and our cousin's wedding!

Back home...again!

Mary is back home...again! This all feels like dejavu, don't you think? It seems like I just wrote this same post - only it was three weeks ago! Let's just hope this is the last "coming home from the hospital" post there is! Anyway, Mary, Kyle, and my mom all drove home from the hospital in Salt Lake on Wednesday afternoon. The drive home was pretty uneventful, and Mary tolerated it quite well. Thursday morning the three of them headed in to The Elks Wound Center in Boise for Mary to receive her wound care and physical therapy. Hurray...they don't have to do it at home by themselves anymore (well, except for the weekends). That is the good news. The bad news is that it took 6 hours at the Wound Center for them to do it all! It's a full day. So even though they're home, they're not really "home." But that will come with time, I'm sure. Today it was closer to four hours, so it's improving already. When they saw the doctor on Thursday (after Mary asked him if he knew anything about burns!), the doctor said that he thought her legs were looking really good. Both the Boise doctor and the doctor in Salt Lake see a pinkish color in her legs, which is a really good sign, but they both also acknowledge a couple of small areas that aren't looking great and will need to be watched closely. Hopefully those will clear up soon!! The wound care and physical therapy will be taken care of at home until Tuesday, and Mary will actually be traveling back to Utah next week to be fitted for her compression pants. She is walking unassisted, although it is pretty slow. But considering that she just had surgery last week?? She's doing great! Thanks for checking in!

Insurance Sucks!

I'm sorry, but there is just no other way to say it! So, the insurance company has decided that they will not pay for Mary to stay at the hospital and do wound care and physical therapy there anymore. They will only pay for it in Boise. So, my mom, Mary, and Kyle are heading to Boise tomorrow! I'm sure it's a little bittersweet....nervous about leaving the hospital only one week after surgery, but also kind of excited to be coming home. They will probably discharge Mary sometime tomorrow afternoon. Before she goes they are going to measure her for the compression pants, which is the next step after bandages. I guess the wound care and physical therapy will now be in the hands of the doctors and nurses here in Boise. Also, the doctor from Salt Lake will be coming for his trip to Boise in the next two weeks or so. I'm sure it will be fine, just not what we were planning on. We will definitely be praying for a safe trip home tomorrow and praying that the staff at the wound center in Boise will take good care of our Mary!

Looking Good

The title says it....things are looking good! They've unwrapped Mary's legs twice now and taken out all the staples. The doctor is very pleased with how her grafts look. Mary was able to tolerate both checks very well. They've even had her up and moving a little. She's doing great! Okay she did pass out once after standing up, but wasn't hurt and was laughing about it after. They're going to take it pretty easy with her physical therapy for a little while so as not to disturb the grafts. They haven't said yet how long they want her to stay in the hospital, but I'm sure Mary is hoping she'll get out sooner rather than later. As far as what's going to happen when she gets out, they're not sure yet either. Mary is thinking she'll stay local, probably at Kyle's parents house for a week or so. The doctor mentioned having a nurse or healthcare worker go to Mary and do wound care after she's out. No one is wanting to risk infection! We'll see how it all works out, but so far she's doing really well after her second surgery!!

Bed Rest

Mary has been on bed rest now for two days since the surgery. She is doing well, bored, but feeling well. They are going to unwrap her legs tomorrow and look to see how things are healing. They will then just wrap them back up and she'll continue to be on bed rest. On Sunday they are planning to take out the staples. They will not be sedating her for either of these bandage changes. She is a little nervous about that, but hopefully it will go well. She is off the IV meds and is doing well on just the oral medicine. My mom is thinking they'll probably have her try to start moving on Monday. Mary is very glad they only had to take the skin from her thighs....I'm sure it's made a world of difference as she's recovering. Not too much new to report, but just very grateful Mary is feeling good and hoping the leg check tomorrow goes well. Thanks for checking in on Mary. We so appreciate all the good thoughts and prayers!

Surgery Day

Mary went in for her surgery at about noon today. The doctor only ended up needing to regraft about 2/3 of her left lower leg.....guess she found some live skin while in surgery. However, she ended up having to do a little more on the right leg than she thought. She was able to only use skin from Mary's thighs and didn't even have to use the backs of the thighs. That will be a tremendous help in Mary's recovery. The doctor seemed to think it all went well. Yay! Coming out of surgery however was quite rough. They didn't give Mary the same pain meds this time right away, and she was in A LOT of pain. Apparently she was screaming and crying for about 2 hours pretty much nonstop. They were definitely giving her everything they could to help, but it took a while to get it under control. :( Finally at about 6:00 she fell asleep and slept until 8:00. When she woke up she was feeling MUCh better than before.
We were very glad to hear that surgery went well, and really hoping she can get some good sleep tonight. Sending lots of love Mary!

Surgery Tomorrow

Mary had her final check by the doctor today to determine what areas would need to be regrafted tomorrow in her surgery. The doctor told them her left leg from knee to ankle will need to be regrafted. On her right leg there is an area about the size of a dollar bill that will need to be regrafted. The news about the left leg was a little disappointing, but compared to her first surgery I'm sure this will seem like a breeze! :) They don't know why the grafts didn't take to her left leg, the doctor said it was actually quite common to have areas that don't take. The doctor is hopeful that they will only have to use the skin on Mary's thighs for the new grafts. She won't know for sure though until they are in surgery. This would be very nice because the donor sites on her back and hips were much slower to recover. The surgery is scheduled for 11:00 tomorrow and should take about 2 hours. After surgery the doctor doesn't want Mary to move for about 5 days and said to expect to be in the hospital for about 2 more weeks. My mom and Mary are hoping it won't be quite that long, but we'll see.
Mary, we are all thinking of you and praying for a successful surgery tomorrow. We love you!!

The Latest

The doctor has been very pleased with how Mary's legs have been looking the last two days. She said that each day the infection as well as the grafts are looking better and better. YAY! They are going to keep her on the antibiotics through next Monday. At that point the doctor will reevaluate what areas (if any) need to be regrafted. She does think some regrafting will be necessary, but we're hoping and praying it will be minimal. The surgery would then be on Tuesday of next week. Just like last time, Mary won't be able to move for 3-5 days after surgery. My mom is guessing that she will be in the hospital about a week after the surgery takes place.
That's about all we know at this time. I think Mary is feeling a little better today than she has the last two or so. Apparently the pain was pretty bad Wednesday and Thursday, and she was back on the really heavy narcotics. Today when I talked to my mom, she and Mary were in the middle of making lists of things to do for the wedding and receptions, so I'm taking that as a good sign! :)

Back in the Hospital

Mary got back to the burn center of the hospital last night at about midnight. The doctor saw her this morning. They are "very worried, but not ready to book an O.R. yet." She definitely has an infection of some sort. They don't know why or how, but she does. So they wrapped her in special anitbiotic wraps and have "soaker tubes" hooked up to her legs that administer more of the antibiotic every 4 hours. My mom likened this to soaker tubes in a garden. They are going to do this for the next 2 days. At that point, the doctor will examine them again to see what to do next. She (it's a different doctor that's on rotation there for the next couple weeks) said she can't tell until the infecton is taken care of if the grafts just aren't taking or if they are what she called "ghosting." Not totally clear on the difference, but either way, they would have to redo at least some of the grafts. They said her thighs are healing nicely, but her calves and shins are not and especially on the left leg. Now for some good news.....if they have to regraft, they CAN use the same donor sites, so they don't have to take more of her "normal" skin. Also, the doctor mentioned that regrafts heal a lot quicker than first grafts.

That's pretty much all we know at this point. We are just very thankful that the doctor from Salt Lake came to Boise when he did and she didn't go another week or more before this was caught. I'll post again as soon as we know more. Mary is pretty down today at the thoughts of more surgery and just being back in the hospital....as you can imagine. Thank you for your concern and prayers!!

Setback

Today was Mary's appointment with her doctor from Salt Lake. It did not go well. He asked if they wanted the good news or bad news......."The good news is Mary's a very nice girl. The bad news is her grafts look terrible." :( This is definitely not what we were hoping to hear. He said it could be an infection. If it is, they will treat it.....not exactly sure what all that entails. But if it's not an infection, then they'll need to redo the skin grafts from her knees down. Mary, Kyle, and my mom are on their way back to Salt Lake today. They are going to admit Mary back into the Burn Center and do a culture to figure out if she has an infection and go from there. The doctor thought she'd be inpatient for at least a couple days depending on what they find. If they have to redo the skin grafts, obviously longer. I will keep the blog updated as soon as I hear anything. Please continue to keep Mary in your thoughts and prayers.

Home Life

Mary has been home for almost 4 days now. She is really enjoying not being at the hospital! They (Mary, Kyle, and my mom) still have about 5-6 hours a day of wound care and physical therapy. Kyle is very good at pushing Mary and getting her to work hard! Yesterday she saw a doctor here in Boise. The doctor seemed to think everything looked like it was healing really well. She even mentioned that the spot the other doctor thought might need to be regrafted was looking good. She said she thought Mary probably wouldn't need another surgery. Yay! Keep those prayers coming!! They also gave Mary some new wraps and bandages that she is liking a lot better. Mary continues to be able to do more each day......yesterday she walked up the stairs "like a normal person" as she put it. Her feet are looking a lot less swollen each day, and both the donor sites and the skin grafts continue to heal at amazing rates. Skin is so cool......it is really just incredible stuff!! Mary has loved being able to see and visit with people. Thank you to everyone who was able to come to the Open House. And if you missed it, please feel free to call and come over to say hello. I know Mary would love it. She and Kyle went to dinner and a movie last night....I'm sure it felt great to be out doing "normal" things again. Mary's doctor from the U of U is coming to Boise next week (apparently he does this once a month) so she will get to see him next Tuesday. So we may know a little more then....but so far everything at home is going well.

She's Home!

They made it! Mary, my mom, and Kyle made it home last night. Mary had a check-up and her bandage change at the hospital in SLC yesterday morning. The doctor thought things were looking good; however, mentioned that there was an area that may need another skin graft. We are all really hoping and praying that it won't come to that.
We were all so excited to see them last night! Mary looks GREAT....moving a little slow, but that could be due to the extra weight on her left ring finger.....she has a sparkly new accessory! :) But she is actually getting around quite well. I know she was excited to be home, maybe not under the best of circumstances, but home nonetheless. She's excited to see everyone at the Open House today. We hope to see you at the Thompson house anytime between 2-4. Welcome home Mary!!

Open House, Sunday from 2-4

It looks like it's really going to happen!! Mary is scheduled to come home late Saturday evening. So unless the doctors veto the road trip, she, Kyle, and my mom will be heading to Eagle after getting a final check up at the burn center. We know that many of you out there are anxious to see Mary, and would love the chance to give her a big hug and let her know you've been thinking of her. And I know she wants to see you all too! So we thought it would be a good idea to host a little Open House for Mary on Sunday afternoon to welcome her home. We're hoping this will give Mary an opportunity to see and thank as many people at one time as possible, so that she will still be able to focus on her recovery. Her wound care and physical therapy continue to take around four hours a day, and her body is still needing a lot of rest as it heals. This will also give Mary something fun to look forward to as she arrives home. If you're not able to make it during this time, but would still like to see Mary, it's probably best to call ahead of time - pop ins would be a little tricky at this point! :) We'll be sure to let everybody know if plans change. Otherwise...hope to see many of you at the Thompson house on Sunday afternoon!!

Thursday, August 4

I think Mary's first day out of the hospital was a success! She slept okay at the hotel. The power went off in the room and so they woke up quite hot at about 5:00 a.m., however, they were able to go back to sleep. The wound care and physical therapy took over 5 hours today.....yikes. The report we heard was that it went "okay." They go to the hospital tomorrow for outpatient physical therapy and back on Saturday for wound care and check up. Then the plan is to head to Boise after that if all goes well. Not too much new to report today, but as we've said sometimes no news is good news!!

Mary has flown the coop!!

Mary was released from the hospital today!!! She was so happy and excited about this news, and also just a touch nervous. She will be staying with my mom in her hotel room, just a few blocks away from the hospital. She will need to remain in the local area for the first coulple of days, to continue to receive outpatient care at the burn center, but she is planning to return home with my mom this weekend - hopefully Saturday. When I texted down there this evening, wondering where they were, the three of them (my mom, Mary, and Kyle) were out to dinner at Red Lobster!! This is so hard for me to imagine! But there they were. Now, my mom did say that it took her at least 10 minutes to get in and out of the car, and since she is still not able to straighten her back when she walks, she was definitely getting a lot of looks (wondering what the story was, I'm sure). But dinner out!! I'm sure it felt great. I mentioned to my mom that I bet she was so excited to sleep in a real, actual bed - not the hospital variety. But actually, she is missing that old hospital bed! It was so much easier for her to get in and out of, evidently. But still...don't you think it's going to be the best she's slept in over two weeks?? I guess we'll see tomorrow. Now, tomorrow morning my mom and Mary will need to do her wound care solo for the first time - in a hotel shower. I know that my mom is quite nervous about this, and I know that they will both need an increased amount of patience while they learn how to do this on their own. Of course they'll both need a lot of patience over the next several weeks and even months, but tomorrow morning...I'm thinking they'll need an extra dose!! Good luck guys!!!!

Tuesday, August 2nd

Mary has reached the point in her recovery that "no news is good news," and there is not always something to update at the end of each day. So we may not post something every single day from this point on, but we will continue to give frequent updates on her status as she progresses and improves. So if you check back and there's nothing new...no news is good news! Here is what Mary has been up to the past couple of days: lots of physical therapy!! She has wound care every morning, which is where her skin grafts are checked and her bandages are changed. She is doing a lot of this on her own now, but she is stil far from being able to take care of it on her own. She has physical therapy every morning and afternoon, and this entails lots of stretching and bending and is quite uncomfortable and even painful at times. But her physical therapists seem to be very positive and supportive, but at the same time they really push her to her limits. In general, Mary is hesitant about trying new things (like walking without her cane, which they made her do today). She is convinced that she can't do it, but once she tries it and succeeds, then she will no longer struggle with that particular thing. She was also able to check another major "to do" item off her list today, but standing up and sitting down on her own. That is one of the things that she needs to master before she can be released from the hospital. So...check! Way to go Mary! Also on the list, walking without a cane or walker. Check! Now, rather than give you the false idea that she is cruising up and down the halls of the hospital, I should mention that she is still not able to stand with her back straight, and when she walks her knees are not bending. So it's more of a hobble than a walk, similar to the walk of a 90 year old woman (no offense if you're a 90 year old woman). But her walk will continue to improve, just as it has so far. I can hardly even imagine her walking, frankly, since when I was with her 5 days ago she wasn't even been able to put weight on her legs. The human body really is amazing. Mary had a low point yesterday, where she was really ready to be out of the hospital. She feels like she is doing her best every day, but sometimes gets the impression from her doctor that she is not improving as quickly as they would like. But her physical therapist reassured her today that they aren't measuring her against "other people," but rather against herself. And as long as she is improving, they are happy. No official word yet on when she will be released, but it sounds like they will want her to stay near the hospital for a few days afterward. So I know that many of you are wondering when she will be coming home (so am I!), but we just don't know yet. As soon as we know...you'll know!!

Another funny drug-induced quote: "If my nephew Tyler was here I would ask him if he wanted to go steal that boat and go hide somewhere to eat it in secret...and he'd say yes!"

Sunday, July 31st

Mary is plugging along! She had an actual shower today, which she really enjoyed. We had wondered if the shower stream would be painful, but she evidently loved it. I can only imagine. She also assisted with her wound care today, unwrapping her own bandages. She said she didn't even cry! Her legs are continuing to heal well, although the doctors have commented that they are healing a little slow. There are a couple of places that the wounds are still a little deeper than they'd like at this point, but no reason for any concern. And she walked a lot today, using only her cane. She'll be zipping around in no time!

Here are another couple of hazy quotes from Mary this past week: "Salt has 89 calories, 99 from fat." ... "Are there bowls in my room? (answered - what do you mean, for your cereal?) No, the bulls. Like torro torro." :)

Saturday, July 30th

Another day of some pretty good progress for Mary today. As has been the case throughout this entire recovery, she is definitely improving gradually, but there are constant set backs and ups and downs. So each day she continues to be able to do new things, but she also struggles with other things. But she continues to press on. Yesterday she was able to walk to her afternoon physical therapy with her walker, and she actually walked back with a cane. Which is just so amazing to me, because I saw what she was able to do (or not able to do!) just two days ago! This morning her legs were bleeding, which was not usual. She was pretty worried about it, especially when they didn't allow her to go to physical therapy, and they had to unwrap her legs to see what was the matter. Thankfully it turned out that there was nothing the matter, no reason for alarm, and she was able to continue on throughout the day as usual. She again walked down to physical therapy, but for some reason wasn't able to do quite as much stretching and bending as yesterday. Again...the ups and downs. Kyle was able to wheel her outside tonight to see the sunset, and she really loved that. As for her projected date of coming home? I think she's going to make it home this week! Another girl that was badly burned in the accident was released from the burn unit today, and they figured that she was 2-3 days ahead of Mary's progress. They are planning on having Mary assist in changing her dressings tomorrow, so they are definitely moving toward her becoming less dependent on the hospital staff. They are also planning on letting her have a real live shower tomorrow! I'm sure she's very excited about that!

Another couple of funny medicine induced Mary sayings for tonight..."Am I at Taco Bell?"....."How old am I" ... (crying out in her sleep)"Ouch! I just got stung by a bee!" ... "Are there turkey's pecking my feet? (answered - no Mary) Oh good. I don't want them to.":)

Friday, July 29th

This is exciting news, people!! Mary has had a GREAT day!! But before I get to all this great news, I should say that the day sure didn't start out that way. At 5:45, when my mom arrived at Mary's room, Mary looked like death. She was extrememly pale, her kidneys had actually started shutting down, and she was really doing poorly. It was a scary start to the day. As Stephanie mentioned in yesterday's post, Mary has had a difficult time digesting and processing her food. And this one fact, seemingly unrelated to her burns, has completely hampered her recovery. She has been back on IV fluids, off solid food, and had been needing more blood during the last couple days. She even had her belly x-rayed yesterday to try and determine what the problem was. Well, I am happy to report that whatever the problem was, she has passed it!! She also had her dressing changed this morning on her legs, and she was able to tolerate it without being put under. Comparing that to three days ago? Amazing! She had a chance to see her legs today as well, for the first time after her surgery, and she took it quite well. She was asking the doctors a lot of questions, and seemed to handle the sight better than the rest of us have! It was a miraculous day, considering how far she came from 6:00am - 2:00pm. By 2:00 she had been completely taken off her IVs, she was eating food (ordered Wendy's for dinner), and was moving around with her walker. What a huge relief!! Thank you (again!) to all of you for your prayers and concern for Mary. I was able to spend some time with her this past week, and I admit that I was a little worried about seeing her. I was afraid that it would just be too sad. But I found it really comforting to see her. Her spirits lifted mine! She is doing so well mentally, and she is determined to not let this accident define her life. I'm really amazed at her attitude.

Tonight we were all sitting around talking about Mary (we haven't talked about much else lately!), and my mom pulled out a list of quotes and conversations that she's had with Mary over the past week and a half, while Mary has been heavily medicated. We all had a good and much needed laugh at some of these comments. So over the course of the next several days, I'll share a quote on the blog - we can't forget this stuff! So tonight I'll kick it off with a funny little thing that she woke up saying the other night, out of the blue: " Did I learn Spanish? Am I a missionary?" :)

Second Thursday

Yay! Pictures of Mary from today courtesy of Kacee! Love that smile....

And the beautiful hairdo she's sporting.....
As you can see, Mary was able to be wheeled outside today! I'll bet the sunshine never felt so good! Mary also started physical therapy today. Apparently she did quite a bit of stretching, bending, lifting, and even some walking with the help of a walker. My mom said they were pushing her pretty hard and she was able to keep up! She will now be doing this physical therapy twice a day. They also told her she would need to do this for the next 6-9 months....obvioiusly not in the hospital, but on her own.

Mary's donor sites, which are the areas on Mary's body (her back and sides) that they took the skin from to put on her legs, continue to heal nicely. The doctor commented that it took quite a bit of skin to cover those long legs.....he said kind of like doing skin grafts for a giraffe.....that girl is all legs! :)

Although Mary's spirits are great and her skin grafts and donor sites are healing well, her health has been declining the last day or two. Her insides are not quite working normally.....food is not digesting as it should. Because of this, she hasn't been eating or drinking much the last two days. This has caused her to be put back on IV fluids, and she had to have another unit of blood today. We are hoping things get moving in a better direction tomorrow. The next wound care and bandage change is tomorrow. They're hoping to do this without putting her under, but if she isn't feeling better they might have to. Hang in there Mary....we love you!!

Second Wednesday

This morning the doctor sedated Mary to do wound care and change her bandages. My mom said even under sedation her legs were jerking and twitching. They also took all the staples out. They said the skin grafts look great and everything is healing as it should. After that, Mary slept a lot. When she woke up she was feeling pretty good. She stood up!! She was able to stand for about 10 minutes and marched a little in place. Tomorrow she will be starting the physical therapy....not sure exactly what that entails. Friday is the next bandage change, and they will attempt to do that without putting her under. They are still talking about discharging her next week sometime, around August 4. Of course that depends on how she does between now and then. Keep up the good work Mary!!

Tuesday

After a great day yesterday, today started off pretty bad. They attempted to do "wound care" and change Mary's bandages without her being put under. They gave her as much pain medication as they could, but it was still too unbearable. This was, as you can imagine, extremely hard for my mom to watch. After a while of screaming and crying, the doctor finally said they needed to stop. She had already eaten breakfast, however, and so they could not put her under. So they did not change the bandages today. They are planning to put her under tomorrow and do it. After a rough morning, she slept a lot and then woke up feeling okay. Mary actually put make-up on for the first time today! My sister Kacee and her kids drove down to vistit today and I think Mary was very excited to see them. She was able to be put on a "traveling bed" and wheeled around a little bit. I'm sure it did her a world of good to be out of her room for a while. She did, however, throw up while out and about....so that wasn't too great. But the day ended MUCH better than it started! After they change her bandages tomorrow they are also going to try and have her stand and maybe even try walking. I'm sure that will be difficult, but they don't want to wait much longer before having her put some weight on her legs and bend her knees. We know you can do it Mary!! We'll all be sending our good vibes your way!

Monday, July 25th

I am happy to report that Mary has had a great day today!! Her pain has been much less, she has been much more alert, and according to my mom the difference between yesterday and today has been remarkable. We are so thankful! Yesterday the motion of moving the bed from a horizontal position to a sitting position was extremely painful for her, yet today she was able to lift her legs enough to move the pillows underneath them. Way to go Mary! We also got a bit of a "schedule" for her recuperation during the rest of her time in the hospital. I thought it would be helpful to pass this information along in case any of you out there have plans to visit Mary. Every day between 7-8, both am and pm, she is visited by the doctor for an exam. So not even my mom can be in the room during that time. Then, starting tomorrow, she will have wound care every morning at 9:00 and physical therapy at 11:00am. So mornings will be full of work for Mary, with no spare time for visits. She definitely loves visits, and can officially start having visitors again tomorrow, but afternoons are the best and the time for each visit should be limited. There's no official "time limit," but Mary is still recuperating from a major trauma and will need time to rest during the day. And we all know Mary - she'd want to keep chatting and talking all day - but as the big sisters and official blog writers, we are asking that everybody keep in mind her need to rest if visiting. And I'll be taking my own advice when I drive down to see her tomorrow! I'm hoping she'll let me snap a couple of pictures while I'm there, since I know it will be comforting for everybody to see her face! Stephanie or I will post more tomorrow evening, and will continue to keep you all up to date on her recovery. Thank you to all of you for your concern for Mary!!

Sunday

Mary hasn't had a great day today, but I imagine that there are bound to be many highs and lows throughout her recovery. Her pain has been pretty bad, and she has been very uncomfortable. Much worse than yesterday. They increased her pain meds to compensate, and so she has slept much more than normal today. But the good news of today was that the doctors unwrapped her legs and the skin grafts are looking good - normal for this stage. The next dressing change will be on Tuesday, so again we will know more then. But it is looking promising. She had to receive a couple more units of blood today, so she is still losing a lot of blood from the donor sites. It's just awful to think about, I know! The doctors have told us that if all continues to go well, and if she continues to heal at the expected rate, then she could be released from the hospital in as early as two weeks. At that time she will return home to Eagle, and continue her outpatient care here. We are all hoping and praying that this will happen, and that she will be well enough to come home that soon. Our family would like to especially thank the Eagle 6th ward for holding a special fast on Mary's behalf today. We know that the prayers for Mary's recovery are being heard, and that the Lord has and will continue to bless her throughout this ordeal.

Saturday

Well here we are to Saturday already. Last night was a little rough, Mary didn't sleep much. Today, however, seemed to go really well! Mary is awake a lot more than we all thought she'd be. She seems to be in really good spirits and is sounding a lot like her old self! My mom said Mary is arguing and being annoyed with my mom so she knows it's the same old Mary! :) Last night, however, they decided to change the pad underneath Mary and so called in 6 nurses to help turn her and replace the pad. During the move one of the nurses accidentally bumped Mary's foot and my mom said she'd never heard a more painful scream and crying from poor Mary. :( It took a while to get her calmed down from that. In fact, we're told the only thing that pulled her out of hysterics was talking about her boyfriend Kyle..... She did need two units of blood today. The doctors and nurses have mentioned several times that it's such a good thing she is young and healthy (and we added, in love)......just seems to be bouncing right back! They also moved her to a new room that has an outside window which has been great for seeing some sunshine!
Hang in there Mary!

Friday

Sorry that it has taken so long today to get this blog updated. We knew that it was going to be a rough night for our mom, so we just hated to call her today in case she was sleeping (which she wasn't). Anyway, here is what we have just found out about Mary's night last night and day today. As we guessed, it was a very rough night for her. She was able to sleep pretty soundly from about 10:00-2:00, but at 2:00 she woke up and was very agitated. She kept trying to pull her tubes out, she was very uncomfortable and very disoriented. She was still halucinating and saying things that didn't make any sense, and she was awake and in this state from 2:00am-7:00am. Finally she fell asleep at 7:00, and when she woke up things started to go better. One minor hiccup was that her feeding tube became clogged and so she was not receiving any nutrition for a few hours. And since the doctors had continuously stressed the importance of good nutrition to her healing, the first course of action was to replace the feeding tube. But since Mary was already in such a great deal of pain, she and my mom convinced the doctors to let her try eating instead. The doctors told Mary that if she could eat 2000 calories a day then they would not need to insert another feeding tube. And you know how Mary likes a challenge! So she ate a good lunch and a huge dinner. She had a really good afternoon, and was awake and pretty coherant between 4:00pm-6:00pm. She was talking and even laughed a few times, and acting very much like Mary. What a huge relief!! My mom is really hopeful and optimistic that she will have a much better night tonight. We've both been surprised at how awake she has been during the past 24 hours of recovery. We had really thought that she would be so heavily sedated that she would practically be comatose. But that has not been the case. The pain is really horrific, but the medication they are giving her seems to really be helping her to cope. As I've mentioned earlier, she is not allowed to move or be moved for three days. She is lifting little four pound weights with her arms, as the only part of her physical therapy that she is able to do right now. As for how the she is healing, and how successful the surgery was, we won't know that until Sunday. On Sunday we will really find out a lot. They will put her under one more time and unwrap her legs and donor sites. If she were awake during the unwrapping, the pain would be unberarable. So they will put her under and unwrap everything, and see how her legs have accepted the skin grafts. We'll know a lot more then. But for now her legs are securely wrapped in ace bandages, and all of the donor sites are covered with some type of dressing. My mom thinks that the worst part of this healing and not being able to move is the oozing and seeping from all the donor sites. She can't move, be cleaned, or have the dressing changed. The oozing is perfectly normal, and good even, but extremely disgusting. And she'll be hanging in it until Sunday! So that is all I know! Possibly too much detail for some, but I know that others are wanting to know every little thing. I personally feel a huge sense of relief tonight, knowing that she had such a good afternoon. I hope we all sleep a lot better tonight! Thanks for checking in on Mary! It means so much to her, and to all of us, to know of all the love and concern that has been shown to Mary and our family. Thank you!!!

Out of surgery!

Mary is out of surgery. We have been on pins and needles all afternoon, waiting for an update. Here is what we know so far. The surgery was over 5 hours long. They took strips of skin from her shoulder blades all the way down, a patch of skin from her stomach, and the two remaining patches of skin from her thighs. So she has several donor sites rather than one, which is not great, but I guess they needed all of that to cover her legs. The skin was put into a machine and stretched and made into some sort of a mesh, which was then used to cover the burned portions of her legs. They used glue and staples to hold it in place. That's all I know about the actual procedure. As for how she's doing now - she is semi-awake, in a lot of pain, is very loopy and halucinating, and is needing constant watching. She has about a million tubes coming out of her - a feeding tube, oxygen, IVs - and she keeps trying to rip them out. She also keeps forgetting to breathe. During the time that I talked to my mom, my mom had to tell her to breath 5 times. So my mom will not be leaving her side all night, I'm sure. Nor will she be coming home this weekend. Mary's blood pressure and heart rate are all over the place, and she is obviously in a bit of distress. The doctors have explained the situation like this: she has burns on 30% of her body, donor sites on 20% of her body, so 50% of her body has endured major trauma. When put like that, it's easy to see why her body is in distress! But we feel confident that she will continue to fight and endure, and hopefully heal as quickly as possible. Through the night and tomorrow she wil be very heavily sedated, but on Friday night they will taper off on the really heavy meds. Unfortunately the pain will be far from over. She will not be able to move or be moved for three days, not even to change the dressing. She will not be allowed visitors, except for very immediate family members, for 5 days. I'm sure that you all feel very helpless, as we do, but I know that the best thing we can all do for her now is to continue to pray for her. We will update again tomorrow after we hear how her night went.

Mary's address

We had a request for Mary's address down in Salt Lake so that she could receive letters or cards. So for anyone interested, here it is:

University Health Care
Burn Center
C/O Mary Thompson
50 North Medical Dr.
Salt Lake City, UT 84132

Mary should be in surgery within the hour. She has been very nervous today, as are all of us. The fact that she was able to walk yesterday really boosted her spirits, and it seemed to wake her body and mind up as well. She was awake for several hours in the late afternoon/evening yesterday, which has not been common. But that fact that she has had to wait all day today, with no food or drink, for an afternoon surgery, just allowed her more time to feel nervous. The surgery should last about 3 hours. We are all thinking of you, Mary!!

Wednesday

Mary walked today!!  After a slow morning where she apparently had passed out while trying to sit up, she must have gained some strength and was able to walk around quite a bit.  This is very exciting news! As far as we know, surgery is still scheduled for tomorrow.  I'm sure both Mary and my mom are both very nervous and anxious tonight.  We will be really praying tonight and tomorrow that things go well and Mary is able to come through it like a champ!

Tuesday

Mary's surgery has been scheduled! She will be having her surgery on Thursday, and contrary to what I posted earlier, the doctors are hoping that this one surgery will go well enough that she will not need any additional surgeries.  Again the doctor warned her (and all of us) that the few days after the surgery will be excruciating.  They will need to use most of the skin from her back in order to reconstruct her legs.  And of course she has to lie on her back! They have some burn pads that she will sleep on, and they will need to be changed every 2 hours.  It is going to be rough, and she won't be able to move or even have visitors for 3-5 days.  But at least she can start the healing process.  They attempted to have her stand and put weight on her legs again today, and she was able to stand for 1 minute and 35 seconds.  Not a real long time, but compared to yesterday we were thrilled.  She is also eating and drinking now - had a turkey sandwich with soup for lunch - so the doctors will now be able to have her start on a different and better kind of pain medication.  Our mom was able to get a few things from home delivered to her today - some clothes, make up, and medicine - and she was certainly happy about that.  Again, she is wants us to thank all of you for the kind words and offers to help.  She wishes she could talk to each of you personally, and thank you herself and give updates herself, but it just isn't possible.  So please accept our thanks on her behalf! 

News from the home front

Many of you have been concerned for Masen, wondering if there is anything you can do to help.  Well, as luck would have it (or lack thereof), Kacee - that's me - and her kids are arriving Tuesday evening for their annual trip to grandma's house from Texas.  So we will be staying at the house, hopefully keeping Masen occupied and happy with nieces and nephews to play with.  We'll make sure he is fed and taken care of, and we've all promised our mom that we will continue to have fun without her - although it will never be the same! But for the kid's sake we will carry on and enjoy our time with Masen and cousins as much as we can.  Our brother Blake and his family will be arriving next week, along with our grandma and aunt next weekend, and we are excited for all of them to come.  If you have any questions or would like to talk to either me or Stephanie (who will practically be moving in) you can call one of our cell numbers.  It's hard for our mom to take many calls at the hospital. Thanks again for your offers to help and for your concern!

Kacee - (210) 445-8669
Stephanie - (208) 371-2375

Links to news reports about the accident

There have been several news stories and articles about the accident Saturday night, but those of you outside of Utah may not have seen them.  Here are a few of the links that will give you a better idea of what happened.  

Here is a link to the most thorough article I've seen, although it's tough to say how accurate it is and how Mary and her friends fit into the mix:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52208070-78/shaft-cannon-mine-gasoline.html.csp

Two news reports from KSL News:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=16420746

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=960&sid=16443121

It's hard to imagine, knowing the tragic results, how they could have possibly thought this was a good idea.  But be honest - who hasn't done something careless or risky, that just didn't turn out so badly? Maybe not with fire, but we have all pushed the limits and have gotten lucky.  So there's no sense in our vilifying the people in this case either.  It just does no good, and certainly won't help Mary's recovery. We definitely hope that this "activity" that is popular among college students will end before somebody else is hurt.  Of those that were injured in Saturday night's accident, Mary was the most severely injured.  But Kyle, Mary's boyfriend, was also burned quite badly on his hands.  A few other friends and students were released from the hospital on Monday from their injuries, while one or two remain in the burn unit.  We wish them all a quick recovery as well.

Monday

We were happy to hear that Mary's feet were getting enough blood flow and did not require that her legs were cut. There hasn't been a lot of good news so far, so we were happy with this. The nurses need to change the dressing on her legs twice a day, and it is very painful. They tell her to hold her breath as long as she can, but eventually the tears just come. It is very hard for our mom to see. Not only seeing Mary in such pain, but seeing the state of her legs. They have no skin on them. With the exception of two small patches of skin on the front of her thighs, the rest of her skin is gone. It will require skin grafts to cover the rest. The doctor came in today to talk to Mary about what will be required in order to help her heal. He basically informed her that this is only the beginning, and the worst pain is yet to come - evidently at the sites where skin is removed for the skin grafts. Mary started the day with a fever, and the doctors are concerned that her legs might be getting infected. So we will pray that doesn't happen. Also today they attempted to have her try to stand up and put weight on her legs. It did not work. She passed out both times they tried. So they will try again another day. She still spends most of her day sleeping, heavily sedated, but had periods where she was awake and coherent. A counselor came to talk to her about the importance of keeping a positive attitude and the likelihood of depression. Mary was pretty loopy for this visit, but we were assured there would be many more such visits. We also heard today that the possibility of doing surgery within the next few days was likely. So although we know it will be painful and difficult for Mary, we think it's better to just get it done and get her recovering. Our mom wants to thank everybody for the thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. She has felt very supported and comforted through all of this, and is so grateful to all of you.

Sunday

On Sunday night Mary was in fairly good spirits despite getting some pretty bad news from the doctors. They had removed her bandages earlier in the day, and we were very hopeful that the news would be good. Unfortunately the burns were worse than they had originally thought. Where they originally thought that she had third degree burns just below the knees, it was now apparent that she had third degree burns on about 30% of her body - from thighs to ankles. Anybody who has read anything about burns knows that she is in for a long road of recovery. She will likely be in the burn unit in Salt Lake for over a month, and it will be filled with many surgeries and a lot of pain. And of course, a lifetime of rehabilitation and adjusting to her "new normal." Aside from all this, we are all grateful that she is alive and that the burns were localized to her legs. Her face and vital organs were spared. As Sunday night drew to a close, the doctors were concerned that her feet (which were not burned) were not getting enough blood flow to them. We were informed that they would check them through the night, and if there were signs that they were not getting enough circulation then they would need to make long incisions in her legs - on the outside and inside of both legs, from thigh to ankle. So that night we all focused our prayers on her feet, and her legs not needing to be cut. Through it all, Mary's mom was there at her side, as well as Kyle and his family. She was asleep most of the time, heavily drugged on pain meds, but when she was awake she was in fairly good spirits. She was not able to eat or drink, and had some vomiting, due to getting pain medication every hour. That was the way we ended the day on Sunday.

Terrible Accident

Please keep our sweet sister Mary in your thoughts and prayers. Late last Saturday evening Mary and some friends were at a mine shaft near Provo. There were a couple different groups of people there "firebombing." A container of gasoline spilled and a fire broke out. Several of the people there were injured and burned. Mary was transported to the burn center at the University of Utah hospital. Mary's legs sustained the worst of the burns. She is heavily medicated and still in a tremendous amount of pain. My mom is there with her. We will post more information about her condition and information from the doctors about where to go from here.

Mary, we know how strong you are and know that your stubborn attitude will be a great asset for your recovery! :) Please know how many people are thinking of you and praying for you and for the doctors that are treating you. We love you Mary!