Josie's Accident

I thought I would take a moment to share with everyone what happened with Josie this weekend. I know many of you may know a lot of this story from Facebook, and prayer requests, but I wanted to write it all out in one location so everyone can get the whole story.

Sunday morning we were all getting ready to go to church. Josh had to run the sound that morning, and Josie likes to go early with him so she can help Grandma Joyce in the kitchen with setting out snacks for the downstairs service.

Josie was helping daddy get out the door on time, and one of the things she likes to do is make the coffee.  We were very generously blessed with a gift of a Keurig coffee maker a few years ago (if you don't know what that is, it is the kind where you just push a button and it brews you one cup at a time). Josie just made daddy his cup, and was putting the lid on the cup when the whole cup tipped on her, burning her right side.

I want to take a moment right now to say that this could have happened to anyone of us. She is a very capable 9 year old girl, who has been making our coffee for a number of years. She has always wanted to open up her own coffee shop for as long as I can remember, and even has a special name for it: Cuppa Jo. We let her do a number of things in the kitchen, one being the coffee, because it is her dream. Never in a million years did we know one cup spilled could do so much damage.

Josh was right in the kitchen with her when the coffee spilled. He took her right to the sink and got her clothes off and poured cold water on her. I was upstairs at the time, and heard these blood curdling screams, so I ran down as fast as I could (as a pregnant woman who threw her back out a few days earlier).

That is when I saw her skin just falling of her leg. My poor darling girl was in more pain than I could have ever dreamed of.

As Josh was getting cold water on her, I found his keys and started his car, and yelled for Emma to grab Josie's bathrobe and shoes. Addie was in the dining room with Isaac, just trying to keep him out of the way.

This is where I can only list off how thankful I am, and how much worse things could be!

-I am SO thankful this was on a Sunday, and not on a school day. Josie was wearing a skirt and shirt that was easily removed, and not her uniform pants that would have been impossible.

-I am SO thankful Josh has been trained well in various first aid situations. At the ER, they said that he did the very best things for her: removing her clothing, getting a towel soaking wet with cold water to  put on her burns, etc...

-I am SO thankful that we live one block from the hospital! Josie and Josh were reflecting on many of our dear friends who are missionaries in remote locations around the world. Josie immediately wanted to pray for our friends, the Hatton's, who don't have an emergency room to run to when things get bad.

Josh took Josie, and I stayed home with the rest of the kids. I tried to find someone who could come sit with the kids so I could go too, but everyone was off to church with various commitments, and so I stayed, waiting, for what seemed like an eternity.

I finally heard from Josh. It was bad. 1st and 2nd degree burns on her arm, torso, and thigh. They needed to give her two doses of Morphine, and Tordol just to help her stop screaming. My poor baby! The drugs really helped her pain. I am so glad she got some relief.

She was able to come home after only a few hours there, and I was so glad to see her again. We made a little bed on the couch for her, and tried to make her comfortable. With bandages on a good part of her right side of the body, she can't really wear clothing, or walk a great distance, and we knew that sleeping in the top bunk in the upstairs just wasn't going to work. 

We had a good rest of the day. One of the Pastors at our church, Pastor Rob, came by and visited Josie, and brought some very special treats. That meant so much to her! Our good friends the Mundens came by as well, and helped us figure out some medication stuff for Jo, as well as bring Josh a nice treat. 

Josie is on some heavy doses of narcotics and Ibuprophen, so was feeling better than she really was. I didn't realize how much so, until it was the evening, and time to change the dressings on her burns.

I can't even write this part without crying. She is such a tough, and brave girl, and I was shocked to the core when I saw just how bad the burns were. We used up what was left of the silver sulfadiazine on just her arm and leg, so we would have to wait until the next day to change the dressings on her torso. Josie and Josh spent the night on the couches. It was a very long night with needing drugs every few hours. I wasn't able to sleep on the couch because of my back, so Josh took the whole night shift. He is pretty amazing if you guys didn't know that already.

I called at exactly 8am to her doctor the next morning, and they were able to see her within the hour. Josh took her to the appointment because it was too close to my chiropractor appointment to risk them overlapping. While there, the doctor was able to look at her burns. She thinks that there is the possibility of 3rd degree burn on her upper thigh. She prescribed more silver magic, and referred us to the burn clinic in town. We have an appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Josie has been such a trooper through all of this, but she is feeling very discouraged. She loves school, and loves her teacher, Ms. Campbell. She is very sad to have to miss the big field trip to Art Prize this week in Grand Rapids. She is also nauseous, has no appetite, and cries a lot. I think a lot of that has to do with the drugs she is on right now.

We can't thank you enough for all the prayers you have said for Josie. They really are an encouragement to her. To all of us really. What a scary thing to go through, and to know it could have been so much worse. We are so thankful to the Lord for His protection of our sweet little girl.

Please keep praying for our little Jo Jo, as this will be a long tough time of recovery for her.

She may be hurting, but she is still smiling! The drugs do help!