Kainen's Injury

I'm not quite ready to revisit the story in detail but Kainen had an accident Wednesday afternoon. He ended up behind the riding lawn mower while his Great Grandma was mowing. She was stopped and started backing up not realizing he was there. His right foot got caught under, breaking his tibia right down at his ankle and thrashing his foot.

That evening he had surgery. Cleaning and assessing the wound. They put a pin in his ankle. Pins in his foot to hold the foot bones together so they could work on piecing things back together. He's missing his "ring" and "pinky" toes and has some skin missing on the top of his foot that they will eventually have to do a skin graft for but they aren't going to close anything up until they are sure they got all the dirt and grass completely out. We don't want to risk infection and have it be even worse later on. They also put in a continuous peripheral nerve catheter by his knee (provides a continuous infusion of local anesthesia for pain relief that lasts up to 3 days after your procedures) which seems to be helping. They left the existing 3 toes to be monitored. They check circulation multiple times daily and also sensation and movement. Circulation has seemed good (yay!) but hasn't been able to move or feel his toes which isn't necessarily a bad thing at this point.

Pre-op


Post-op


Aunt Kristin, Uncle Jeff and cousin Matilda sent their love all the way from Hawaii






During his second surgery (on Friday) they did more cleaning which they said wasn't much and that it looked really good (yay!) They moved the pins in his foot to a more secure location and (I think) they stitched up the bottom of his foot. It was very quick but it felt like hours! I think that's been one of the hardest parts, not being with him, not knowing, having to wait. No fun.




Every day has gotten a little better. The first 2 days he wouldn't talk or look at anyone, sleeping most the day and wasn't eating. Yesterday was better. Not a whole lot of talking but a few smiles and some small snacks throughout the day. Played with Lego's and watched movies.







Today was the best! Lot's of talking, smiling, being silly, eating, playing. We were able to get out of the room, got him set up in the wheel chair and went to the play room and built a Lego castle with a garden :) We walked over to a floor to ceiling window and saw a different view of Seattle. Saw the hospital landing pad (we can see the helicopters fly in and take off from our room window) then headed back. He stayed up all day long without a nap. Played with his 4 stuffed animals and conked out watching The Incredibles for the second time. You can see his progress in the pictures.










He was able to open up to me a bit too. He mentioned that the day he hurt his leg was kinda like a nightmare :( He later said that he remembers his crock shoe all cut up in pieces on the grass :( He asked about his toes and I officially showed him which two toes he doesn't have anymore and which three he does. He cried for a bit but was able to move on later. He also told me what happened. He tried to jump on the back of the lawnmower but slipped and then she backed up and his foot got stuck.

I'm glad he opened up today.