As most of you know our little Vincenzo had an accident on Valentines Day. He and daddy were burning garbage in the backyard, and he fell face down into the fire pit. Luckily, Vince was right there to get him out, however he had burns to his face. So at 10am Vince called 911 and they rushed him to the Emergency Dept in Marinette. I thought they would give us some cream for his face and send us home. Instead, the Dr. that examined him said that he was going to intubate him (put a breathing tube in) and air-lift him via flight-for-life helicopter to the Milwaukee Children's Hospital. I, being a nurse, didn't realize (or wasn't thinking like a nurse) how severe the injury was. Apparently he inhaled the heat and his airway was swelling... and that was the reason for all of this.
Fortunately, I was able to ride with him in the helicopter, it took exactly one hour. We arrived in Milwaukee at 1:30pm. He was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and started on 2 different IV drips. Morphine for his pain, and Versed to keep him sedated.
Vince left the ER, went home, pack a bag for he and I and drove down with Derek. They got there around 5:30pm.
We couldn't do much, Enzo was sedated...just laying there...all we could do was pray that things were going to be okay. Although I was very confident that he was going to be fine. I understood what was going on, and I trusted everyone that was caring for him. We saw a million different Dr.'s, an opthamologist (which by the way was the scariest time for Vince...but his eye is just fine), an ortho, plastic surgeons, general surgeons, residents, interns, I felt like I was at Seattle Grace in Grey's Anatomy. It was kinda cool.
The plastic's Dr was ultimately in charge of his care. He told us to settle in and plan on being at the hospital a week.
Sunday morning his breathing tube was pulled, he had a rough time with that. He was not breathing well on his own, however slowly he got better and better and by Sunday night he was without the use of oxygen. Next thing on the agenda was dealing with his burns.
Monday he went down for surgery. They debride his wounds on his face, said they weren't any worse than they had thought......great news!! We were then moved out of the PICU to the general surgical floor. Aaron and Kim drove down to visit. Ryan was in Milwaukee for the weekend, so he also came to the hospital and drove home with Aaron and Kim.
Tuesday morning they told us that the best thing for little Enzo was for him to go home. What....he was supposed to be here for a week!! Thank You God! We were so excited. I was concerned about his pain control at home, but they assured us he would be fine with the meds they were prescribing for him. They taught us how to cleanse his face and to apply the cream, and all that good stuff. So off we were!
I got him to smile at me one time...yeah, just once on Sunday (it was probably the pain killers that made him do it). I tried and tried the entire time at the hospital. The drive home, all I did was concentrate on trying to get him to smile...no luck. We walk in the door, Ryan takes one look at him and Enzo busts out laughing! Stinker! It was actually sad when Caleb saw him. Caleb's chin started to quiver and he got very sad...and said..."No Mamma, no mamma, take him back to the doctor." He was scared of how he looked. After a couple minutes and after he realized Enzo was okay he was just fine.
Everyday since we have been home we have been absolutely amazed at how he's been healing. Everyday I can see him improving. God answered all the prayer......Vince and I are simply amazed and cannot believe how well he's doing and how quickly he's healing.
We are going back to Milwaukee for a follow-up appointment on Wednesday of this week. We will let you know how it all goes.
Awww... what a trooper!! How scary but so glad to hear that he is doing so well!! You are still all in my prayers!! {{huggs}}
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