So it happened! Jaaten fell off her horse. ;/ Being that I started riding horses when I was pretty young, I knew there was a real possibility and maybe even it was almost inevitable that Jaaten would fall off at some point. I never thought the fall would be what it was this time though. I posted a few weeks ago that Jaaten got a new horse, a bigger one, and named him Journey. Jaaten has rode Journey over at our friend Jimmy's a dozen times. She was doing really great. Journey is gentle and a great horse for Jaaten to learn to ride. He didn't buck or get wild. He just started a little faster than Jaaten expected and she fell off the back.
Jaafe has been taking Jaaten to ride most evenings from 5p-8p or so. Jaafe initially felt good about the way she landed until he saw the laceration on her chin. He scooped her up and headed to the hospital. Jaafe called me at 6:43p. I knew something was wrong when I looked at the clock.
Jaafe: "Shug, I'm going to try to talk to you really calmly."
Me: "She fell off her horse didn't she?"
Jaafe: "Yes, should I take her to Mercy Gilbert or Children's?"
Me: "What's wrong? Is it bad?"
Jaafe: "It's pretty bad. She cut her chin up pretty good."
Me: "Just take her to Mercy since it is right here."
I had just gotten home from work, Brandi had just left, I changed my clothes and sat down to play with Steel when Jaafe called. Hudson was still asleep. I grabbed Hudson, Steel followed, and put a movie on in the car. We were at the ER in 5 minutes. We should have gone straight to Phoenix Children's. Now we know. ;)
They transferred Jaaten in an ambulance at 10:30p that night to PCH. She was in surgery by 11:20p. The surgeon, Dr. Bae, thought the surgery would take about an hour. The nurse came out at 12:35a to let us know the wound was much more severe than he had originally assessed and it would take quite a while longer but she was doing well. Dr. Bae then came out at 2:05a and said he had finished. He explained there was a hole from the bottom of her chin where we saw the laceration all the way up through her mouth under her tongue, her bottom lip was torn from her jaw and he thought many of her teeth were loosened from the impact. He flushed the wound with antibacterial water/fluid for more than 30 minutes and then started stitching her lip back to the jaw, then moved to under the tongue and the little piece of skin holding your upper lip to your gums. After her mouth was stitched he sutured 5 LAYERS of muscle back together to get to her chin where he finely stitched 30+ sutures in place.
I saw Jaaten just a short while after we spoke with Dr. Bae. It was nearly 2:30a though so Jaaten was really tired aside from coming out of anesthesia. She woke up at 5a the next morning and asked to watch a Barbie movie. This is the first picture I took. ;) 9.17.14 I was having these awful images in my head of her waking up the next morning screaming in pain. This little girl did not complain about pain once. ;) Tough girl! She has been so brave all week. Better than me. ;)
Although they had taken CT scans to rule out any broken bones, they left the neck brace on because Jaaten told them her neck still hurt. She popped up in her bed that morning though like no big deal. Scared the crap outa me!
She was in ans out of sleep throughout the whole day Wednesday from the morphine she was getting for the pain.
BUT stayed awake long enough for a popsicle!
Brandi had the boys make these signs for Jaaten. ;)
Later that first day we walked around the hospital at Jaaten's request. ;)
Phoenix Children's Hospital was so nice! They had everything a kid could want and they brought it to her!
The next day we went to the playroom.
The doctor came to get us in the playroom to see if they could take Jaaten's neck brace off and look at her incision for the first time since surgery. Jaaten was scared but she did great.
We went right back to the playroom with no neck brace and no IV drip!!
Meanwhile the boys we home with Brandi being wild! Uncle Joe (Jaafe's brother) stayed with the boys at night. ;)
The doctor told us we could leave Thursday so we just waited to be released. Jaaten cried when I told her we were leaving the hospital. ;) 9.18.14
We told Jaaten we could go to the toy store and pick one toy. She said "What is a toy store?" Ha!! Oops, guess I have never taken her before!! Anyway, she picked the biggest "toy" she could find! Atta girl!
I changed Jaaten's bandage on her chin twice a day when we got home. I took a picture each time I changed it so I would know if it was getting better or worse. This is the first bandage change on 9.18.14.
This is the last bandage change on 9.22.14 before she got her stitches removed later in the day.
We had an appointment to see Dr. Bae Monday 9.23.14 to remove Jaaten's stitches. A couple hours before the appoinemnt Jaafe text me this picture of his eye. He said he was headed to GET stitches becasue he had ran into a street sign....while he was walking. ;/ 9.22.14
The kids were SO interested in Dad's stitches!
We were waiting to see Dr. Bae. Jaaten looked a little nervous. ;)
But she did SO great. Not one tear shed...not a peep out of this little girl while her stitches were taken out!
Grammie and Papa had sent a package to Jaaten and it was waiting at the front door when we got back from the doctor. So happy!
This has been one of the worst experiences yet for me as a parent. I am forever grateful to Dr. Bae for helping this pretty girl though. ;)
