On The Road Again…..
So as predicted, I haven’t been very consistent posting to this blog. I think about it often but time just slips away from me and another day passes. I’ll try to be better but I’m not making any promises.
Sam Update: So much has happened in the last month and a half. Sam had the skin graft on the upper under arm on June 12 and spent a week back in Hotel St. V’s. This visit was very different than the last. First and foremost, it was planned! We knew we were going in and were able to set up our schedule accordingly. Appointments could be rescheduled and not cancelled at the last minute. Second, this was not our first visit to the burn unit so we didn’t have the deer in headlights look. We already knew the nurses and staff. We knew where the kitchen was, the cafeteria and most important, which garage to park in. (That took several days to figure out last time) Third, the treatment for a graft is very different than the initial burn. Burn’s require twice a day debridement and dressing changes. Grafts required ……… NOTHING! They didn’t touch it for five days. The donor site dressing was changed and cared for but they don’t touch the graft site at all. Other than taking his vitals and managing his pain, they left him alone. A totally opposite experience from the first stay. That was good, in most ways, but pretty boring. However, because this was planned, Sam was prepared. He brought his Xbox and filled his days with gaming and his evenings with movies. On Saturday June 17th, Brooke, his nurse, came in and told us she was going to attempt to take off the bandages and take out the staples. I say attempt because sometimes they aren’t ready. They start removing every other staple to see if the grafted skin took to the existing skin. It’s a good thing Sam’s worked because he was already packing his stuff to go home before she even removed the outer bandage.
Since the graft stay a lot has happened. Here is the run down. All of us, including Sam’s girlfriend Taylor, took a trip to see Jeff’s mother who’s health is failing and the rest of the family. Maddie didn’t have much time off from school, so she went before us and left before we got there. We had some fun at the mountain house and then at their regular house in Alpharetta. We went to the aquarium, a winery, the coffee shop my niece and nephew work at, and spent time playing games in the evening and Jeff got to spend some one on one time with his mom and with his dad.
Before we left Sam took his drivers test and got his license back after losing it from driving without insurance. (Cautionary tale to anyone who thinks driving without is ok!) So he is on the road again and looking for an inexpensive reliable car. Also, before we left he was released to go back to work on July 12th. The very night we returned from our trip, he packed up the rest of his things (he moved some before we left) and returned to his house in Bowling Green. He started back to work 2 days later. Before his accident, the landlord had been promising to fix a list of repairs a mile long. The work has started and Sam and his roommates have taken the opportunity to clean house, literally and figuratively. They all agree they are 22 years old and it’s time to start living like it.
This road has been challenging to say the least and as always there are more parts to the story that I will fill you all in on in future post. For now let me just reflect an the most important part a little. God is always at work and HIs ways are not our ways. I mentioned before that our relationship with Sam had been strained. In fact, if this had happened a year ago, or even 6 months ago, I’m not even sure we would have gotten a phone call from him that he was on the way to the hospital. As parent’s that love him unconditionally, it has been hard to watch him struggle. However, the world is full of pain, heartache, death, disease, war, disappointments and suffering. We are not immune. But through all the challenges, I continue to look to Christ. His ways are better than mine. In all things, He is in control and at work.
