Fireworks Accident!

 We all have those moments in our lives that changes our perspective on certain things, on people, on life etc. Without trying to sound dramatic....this was one of those days for me. It was a day that made me realize how important it is to protect our kids, how fast things can happen, how dangerous fireworks really can be and how blessed we are to live where we can get good health care for our kids. I also learned once again that the human body is an amazing thing, that kids are strong and resilient and that the priesthood is such a powerful blessing in our lives. Enough of that, and on to the story.....

On July 23rd we went to Adam and Heather Huff's house near our old neighborhood to watch fireworks. The Henkes and the Simpers also joined us. We all brought treats and fireworks to share. Powell was at work but was to arrive home that night around 10:30 pm. We spread our chairs and blankets on the grass in front of the Huff's house, facing the road. The neighbors across the street also came out to watch. Heather had a table near the garage with all the fireworks. The older boys (Hunter, Dallin, Weston, Cash, Jake) who are age 9-12 were the ones who wanted to light the fireworks. Heather would help them choose a firework and then show them how to light it. Then they would go out to the road and light the fireworks. Melissa had Heather filled up a bucket of water that we would use after the firework show to put our hot sparklers in.....this did come in handy as you might guess.

We were watching the fireworks and we had some good ones this year. Aerial fireworks are legal in Utah now and they shoot fireballs up in the air. We made sure to get a few of these. Hunter's friend, Cash, lit the aerial firework in the first picture not too long after we started. The fuse was actually on the side. As I was sitting on the grass holding Mckenna, I saw several fireballs shoot right into the crowd sideways. Brinley and Hailey were behind the chairs (closer to the house) playing with some glow sticks. We heard a lot of commotion as people were running and screaming and then someone shouted that there was a fire. Brinley's pajama pants had caught on fire and Adam Huff pounded the fire out. As I got back to Brinley, I heard Melissa yell for someone to grab the bucket of water. I quickly pulled Brinley's pants off (which I shouldn't have done) and we submerged her leg in the bucket of water. I'm so thankful that bucket of water was ready to go!!!! I could see skin hanging from her shin and her foot looked charred. She was wreathing in pain. When I looked in her eyes I could tell the pain was excruciating. I ran carrying her to the car to take her to the ER and Melissa drove. Mckenna and Savannah came along as well. Brinley said on the way to the hospital through tears and moans, "I wish I wasn't me right not". My heart was broken to see her in so much pain. I asked her if I could say a prayer and she said yes. I said the prayer while she held my hand. I told the dads when I left to come to the hospital with some oil.

I was relieved to be at the hospital mostly so they could give her something for pain. They put in an iv and gave her some morphine. Even with the morphine she was still hurting. I was really glad Savannah was there because she was such an amazing big sister. She talked Brinley through the pain, gave her water (Brinley said it felt good to bite on the straw), helped her think of other things, had Brinley squeeze her hand and kept reminding her that she was going to be ok. Savannah was calm and Brinley was amazingly strong. The doctor cleaned and cut the dead skin off of her but didn't seem to think the foot was really burned. I think he thought it was just soot or something. Brinley kept complaining about her foot so he wrapped the shin and the foot as well. We were given lortab, dressings and silvidene cream for her to use. We chose to follow up in two days with Dr. Larsen and thank goodness we did. He recognized how bad her foot was and cut all the dead skin off, opening up another bad burn. The foot actually looked worse than the shin and he referred us to the burn center at the U.

I was so grateful that Brinley was able to go to the burn center at the U. We were able to go three times over the past 6 weeks. Luckily they have a foam with silver in it that they use now to put over the burn. You don't have to soak and scrub the wound every day if you use the foam. The foam stays on for a week. This meant we had to keep her clean and dry and give her sponge baths. This was such a blessing because the first few days when we were soaking and cleaning the burn it was extremely painful for Brin. After a few weeks, Brinley moved into wearing a compression sock until the new skin could get a little thicker. After 6 weeks she is now wearing regular clothes, can bathe normally and just uses eucerin cream on it. We are now watching for scar tissue to form so she doesn't lose some movement in her foot around her ankle. She has some exercises the physical therapist gave us to do with her.

So what exactly happened anyway? There was even one stray fireball that went across the street at the neighbors as well that night. Was it possible that the boys put the fuse on the top and lit it the wrong way? Did it tip over? Was it faulty? I guess we will never know the answer. I do know this.....we will never buy aerial fireworks or maybe even any fireworks again. I think we will just watch the big firework shows from a distance.

This was what the burn initially looked like when we got to the hospital.

Brinley all wrapped up and ready to go home. She is sleepy from the morphine.

Since Tom was visiting with Kelsi, we had him change the first dressing. He had learned how to do it recently in medical school.

This is a few days later, after Dr. Dave trimmed all of the dead skin off of the foot. He was concerned about the really white area because if there isn't blood flow sometimes you have to have skin grafts. Luckily we didn't have to do that.

The pajama pants still smell like charred fireworks.

Here is the miracle today! It looks amazing. We are hoping that she won't have too much scarring. The burn center said we can come back anytime if scar tissue starts to build up. We have to keep sunscreen on it so her skin doesn't get too much pigment. If that happens, it will turn brown.