well as many of you know, we had a little emergency last night. i want to forewarn you that the picture at the bottom of this post is graphic.
after everyone got home yesterday we were doing our nightly dinner preparation and opted for a "breakfast for dinner" approach and began making pancakes. we typically put a little step stool up for mason to "help," but make sure that he is kept far away from the griddle so he can watch and feel like he is helping. he was watching us make the pancakes and he caught on really quick. we turned away for a second and next thing we know we hear a loud cry. mason had stretched as far as he could, reached the spoon, put batter on it and was making his own pancake. in the process, his left arm touched the 350-degree griddle. ouch.
we immediately ran it under cold water and put aloe vera on the burn. mason cried for a total of 3 minutes, then went back to his normal happy self. the two words he associated with the event were "hot!" and "bo-bo." both pretty accurate. it looked bad, though, so we decided to take him to urgent care. because of mason's happy demeanor and the fact that the burns were raised, but not showing a big bubbly blister, the doctor thought it might be a third degree burn. the doctor gave us several options: 1) watch it for a couple of days to see how it develops; 2) go see a plastic surgeon the next day to see if skin grafts were necessary; or 3) call the shriner's children's hospital in galveston, whose sole specialty is burns. clearly, we chose option 3.
because of mason's age, the burn center wanted to see us the same night. we ran home, threw the pack n play and a change of clothes in the car, and headed to galveston. we prayed the whole way and arrived at 10:30 and as we walked in the main entrance of the hospital, the security guards asked us before we introduced ourselves, "are you the reece's from the woodlands?" we said yes and they escorted us to where we needed to go. when we arrived to our room the chief of the hospital and a surgeon were waiting for us and the chief immediately started looking at the burn. our inital fear was it was a 3rd degree burn due to it not blistering up and it did not hurt mason when the burns were touched. by now the burns had huge blisters and the doctor's immediately said this is good. it turns out it's a second degree burn (still awful), but it will completely heal.
kammy left to fill-out paperwork while i stayed with mason during the cleaning. the plan was to pop the blisters, scrape the burned skin off, then apply bio-brane, a special membrane that adheres to the wound and serves as artificial skin until it heals. at first mason cried because it hurt, but then he was just mad that we were holding him down and he wanted up, so his cries turned to frustration and not pain. they finished before kammy finished the paperwork.
with bio-brane in place, some gauze, an ace bandage, and a protective wrap to keep him from pulling off the bandage in place, we were finished. the doctor wanted to see us the next morning at 7 am, so they booked us a hotel room and we were all in bed at 1:00 am. we were back up at 5:30 am and at the hospital again at 7:00. the chief made a point to stop in again to check on him. as of now everything looks good and we have to go back again later this week for another 7:00 am follow up.
the kicker of all this is we were prepared to pay whatever it cost to fix our little man, but turns out the shriner's hospital does not charge for any of its services. needless to say, we are officially donors for life because of how AWESOME they are. the other special note is that kammy's grandfather is a shriner and he and his group dressed as clowns to visit the children in the shriner's hospital in galveston several times a year for many, many years. very surreal to be walking those halls now on the receiving end of their services.
God truly answered our prayers. it is a parent's worst nightmare to have their child hurt and we were mortified that this happened to mason. from the care we received at urgent care and the shriner's hospital to the blistering of the burn on the way to galveston, we know Who is responsible for mason's well-being. thank you Lord Jesus. please continue to pray for his total healing and protection.
if you don't want to see the graphic picture, scroll down to the very bottom.
this is a photo from this morning, when they took the bandage off. you can see where the doctors scrubbed the skin and added the bio-brane.
mason checking out his bo-bo.
one tough dude. the "popeye" arm is the result of the velcro fabric sleeve that keeps him from ripping off the ace bandage. we wish we could say he'd just leave it alone, but that's not our kid. better to have popeye arm than risk infection. clearly, it doesn't bother him...
mason and pappy vacuum-sealed fresh peas
such the helper...
grammy found the happy bell pepper fresh from the garden
the boys hit a few golf balls
mason got a private lesson
special k took the monkey for a ride
and mason and daddy fed the fish
a LOT of fish!
it was the coolest pool ever. the whole thing was one, giant kiddie pool.
after a few test runs with daddy, mason couldn't get enough of the slide.
no fear.
whee!!
check out that smile!
this face was quickly followed by "more!!"
mason ditched the watermelon for a cupcake.
finger-lickin' good!
then i took my bathing suit off.
and mommy said, "no, no, no!"
catch me if you can!
jump!
run, run as fast as you can...
can't catch me, i'm the streaking-mason-man!
coming to our driveway soon... 
for some reason i think these are a just a sign of many more school photos to come. no smile, deer-in-headlights-look & the tongue sticking out. they did make me laugh out loud, though!
our poor baby's arm after a mosquito bit it!
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crawfish boil!
with temperatures in the mid-90s, it was hot!
we packed out the front yard...
and the back.
with everyone including ex-ex-pats and their family
and some expert hot-dog-grillers.
tatiana and friends cooled off after the pool got a good scrub
these three peas in a pod took a ride
and parker found some watermelon.
special thanks to these super-helpers (aka my parents)
