Today was very much the same as the previous six days with one major exception……a tentative release day was mentioned.  Thursday or Friday! So excited and at the same time terrifying.  Dr. Biabak (Plastics) was in today and he is pleased with the progress in the debridement tub.  Yesterday Sam worked on his face so he no longer any kind of dressing on his head.  All that is dressed now are his right arm, torso and shoulder, along with his left leg.  He instructed one of our favorite nurses, Rockstar Holly, to start teaching us to dress the wounds.  Actually, he told her to have all the nurses teach us but Sam said Holly should be the one. So the training and video recording began after he got out.  (We have watched almost every one of his dressing changes but we haven’t done one ourselves.)  Holly also started loading us up with supplies to bring home ahead of time.  Jeff walked out of here tonight looking like Santa Claus.

Here is the bad news.  With a release day coming, they stopped using the IV fentanyl during debridements.  This is good because Sam won’t have an IV at home, but bad because the first time they told him he wouldn’t be getting it was when he was in the tub.  To make matters worse, pain meds got off schedule today because there was miscommunication of when Dr. Biabek would be coming.  They try to give his pain meds to him 30 minutes before treatment when the Dr. calls and tell them he is on his way. They thought he was coming before his 8:30am clinic but he didn’t come until after at 11. That put him 3 hours past his scheduled meds time so he was in quite a lot of pain by the time he got in the tub.  Then SURPRISE, No IV pain meds for you!  He handled it like a champ but was disappointed because if he had known last night they were discontinuing the meds today, he would have worked harder on those spots under his arm and torso that may still need a skin graft.  Without the “extra” pain relief he was less aggressive scrubbing those spots.  Hopefully the 2nd debridement tonight will go well and his new wound dresser, moi, will not hurt him!

Sam and his friend Devon took a stroll down the hall today and stopped at Derrick’s room.  He is the BGSU student that was stabbed on Saturday night.  They stayed for several minutes and got the story of what happened.  Apparently it was a roommate disagreement that was earlier in the evening.  They settled the quarrel and Derrick went out with some buddies thinking all was ok.  The stabber tracked him down, waited until his friends were gone, put his arm around him and stabbed him in the middle of the dance floor.  Sam and Devon came back to the room, looked the guys mug shot up, and both said they have seen him around town.  A while later his mother Sue tracked me down in the kitchen just to tell me how impressed she was with Sam.  She said he was so encouraging and kind to come check on Derrick.  He was trying to get him to eat some food and offered to share what we brought from home.  She was in awe of Sam’s compassion when it’s obvious how bad his wounds are. We compared notes on our two boys and it seems they have both had similar detours in the road.  Then we talked about the stabbers mother and how she was doing.  Even though our boys are hurt, they will recover.  This other boy has made a decision that will, most likely, put him behind bars.  The entire situation weighs heavy on my heart.  I’m praying for Derrick and his family but I’m also praying for the stabber and his mother who received a very different phone call than we did.

Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton!  Not the broadway Hamilton but the old fashioned soda shop kind………..There are not many perks to being in the hospital and even less in the burn unit, but this baby pictured above is one of them.  Our first day here I spotted this beauty even in my dazed and confused fog.  It is a Vintage Hamilton Beach Triple 3-Head Milkshake Malt Mixer.  Burn victims require, at least, double the calories and as much protein as you can force into them.  Because of this we are constantly trying to feed Sam.  Unfortunately, with the meds and the pain he has not had an appetite.  I told him that before he leaves here he had to have a milkshake,  just so I could get my hands on that machine.  Today was the day!  He said he would have one if his Dad had one too.  Jeff, being the good Dad that he is, sacrificed himself.  His girlfriend, Taylor and I, also fell on the sword and took one for the team!  We used the Deitsch’s moose tracks for the guys and Chocolate for the girls.  Sam was even trying to talk Derrick into one.  I’m thinking this needs to go home in our supply back tomorrow.