Slippers....

A little shot of all my boys and their new toasty footwear. A local "Santa" supplied these ones and they just love them!!!!! The boys are also wearing the sweaters and sweatshirts they received. They loved them!! We opened our gifts on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. I really liked the gifts I bought myself! I got just what I wanted! CDs! I got the new Chris Tomlin (Hello Love), Third Day (Revelation), Passion(The Best So Far...with lots of Christ Tomlin, David Crowder Band(I love David Crowder Band!!!!), and Matt Redman....), and Tenth Avenue North(Over and Underneath...SO good!!!!).

We all had a lovely Christmas Day here and went to Chatham to have turkey and open stockings. And everyone fell asleep in the car on the way home. Happy, content, and oh...so full. I got a 500pc puzzle which I put together on Boxing Day. So relaxing.

Almost all our snow is gone. Neat how all of Canada had a white Christmas. We got quite a bit on Christmas Eve but it promptly rained away. Everyone in the neighbourhood was helping one another shovel out on that morning. Our boys went across the street to help one neighbour shovel a big load the snowplow dumped on the end of his driveway, it was too deep and wet for his snowblower and our 3 boys and another neighbour had it cleared away in about 20 minutes. And now....we can see the grass again. It was 10 degrees last night and Joe cleaned the windows at church in his t shirt, well actually he was just wearing jeans and showing off his stellar torso since his shirt got wet!! The park below our house is covered with water!!!... well it's only the park when it is dry, when the snow melts it is the flood plain. The teeter totters are totally submerged...and the geese are having a hey day. It feels like the water is REALLY close to the road when you drive by. So far so good......

My foot is doing really well. I think I can almost post a picture here and not offend even the most sensitive viewers. It is looking really good. There is skin growing on the entire area and now the biggest challenge is to keep the new skin hydrated. It is very brittle when it dries out. I am still keeping it wrapped with gauze bandage since tape doesn't adhere to the no stick pads. Go figure! This type of pad also doesn't absorb ALL the moisturizer. In the near future we can just switch to gauze squares to protect against rubbing. I have graduated to wearing socks which has greatly reduced the amount of sympathy I get, and I can wear my slides. They have a closed toe and look like shoes when I wear long pants. People really notice my progress and it is so neat how excited and celebratory they are along with me. I am back to doing all my regular work and am amazed that we've been able to clean up after all the holiday bookings!! I didn't think I would have healed so quickly. Even though it felt like it went so slow in the first week.

Kevin went away for a week to visit with a friend. A family wanted to see how their family dynamic would change with the introduction of a Korean boy. They have hosted a Korean girl before so they're not new to the Keystone concept. It is rather quiet here and low key. Low key is really good!!! We don't have an evening service tonight and are staying in to watch a movie.

Moving Right Along.....

I'm so excited to inform you that my progress is ....well....progressing! I had my dressing changed this morning and everyone was very pleased. When I say everyone, I mean...EVERYONE!!! All the doctors at the office from the regular doctor, to the residents, the nurse, AND the medical student have played a role in seeing me through the healing of my burn, except my own doctor who is on holidays. This morning they all came in to see how it was looking, after the nurse took the dressing off. It looks very clean, healthy, pink, and I am growing new epithelials!! So then a discussion arose regarding dressing changes and the holiday schedule and it was decided that I would do a trial run this weekend at home. The nurse made up this nice little package with all the things I will need, and on Tuesday they'll see how I have fared. Tape, bactigras, sterile wound wash, bandage and tape(that sticks!!) All in a neat little DYI wound care package for home. Almost as good as a treat bag, well, it's a treat for me anyway.

For the past two days I have been on the mend and I think things are improving quite a bit. Must be all that good food that people have been bringing. Think... comfort food. I have ditched my crutches and am untethered and free. Although two nights ago I was in agony, stranded in the hallway, 15 feet away from my crutches which were by the patio door, and I was very discouraged. The difference a day can make..... the sun DOES shine again, and that's a good reminder.

Yesterday I attended the Christmas program with Ray's mom, and in the evening Ray took Craig and the boys to school for the second showing. It was such a nice program and the music was great. Joe sang with his usual amount of gusto, through a slit sized opening between his lips. And Kevin sang his little heart out, although he was a little bit self conscious with Ray sitting mere feet away from him. Kevin and the other 5th grade students performed a light show in the darkened gym while the senior choir sang, "Go Light Your World" by Chris Rice. The entire program was accompanied by a CD track, which can be really tricky because there was a lot of reading and that all had to be timed and qued. It was lovely.

Ray's Mom also took me out to lunch at Timmy's...such a treat. We were running a little late and miraculously there was hardly anyone at Timmy's. Everyone must be out shopping before the big storm hits!! I guess there is some snow on the way?!? I should check out the weather channel. I think I better set up a handsome wage schedule for the men folk in this house, since I can't go out there and do my share of the shoveling at this time. Things are definitely improving but I'm not ready for footwear yet. An open shoe....maybe...but nothing tied or binding....basically all I can do is be on stand-by with the hot chocolate in my hot pink crocs.

So there ya have it. Tomorrow is the last day of school and then the holidays will be upon us. Our candlelight service is Sunday night and we look forward to that...and on Christmas Day we will be going to Chatham. It is fun to hear of all your Christmas preparations too. We hope you all have a blessed Christmas and savour the time spent with your families. Love you!

A Brief Update

Well....I finished Ben-Hur. Talk about drama. I have some time now and think it might be the season to get the movie from the library, all 210 minutes of it. I have about that much laundry to fold so...it would be a good mix.

I spend part of the morning downstairs so I can correspond, do laundry and look around my studio. But I prefer not to go and down too much, that's hard with crutches. I use one crutch most of the time but do shuffle around without at times. Depends on the pain.


!!!!Warning: Graphic description of wound may be disturbing for sensitive readers..accompanying image may be disturbing for the fashion sensitive !!!! Just wanted you to know that I decided to tone down the garish display that would have been my winter foot wear. So I'm trying to down play the extent of my fashion faux pas for those of you who would be concerned about such things..... :)

I don't have too much pain and try to move my ankle to different positions so the skin doesn't seize... Speaking of skin. There is less of me today than there was yesterday. This morning's visit to have my dressings changed and have the doctor see me, ended up with the burn being debrided. Which means they took the old folded skin away. It lifted clean away without pulling and was relatively painless. They have special tweezers and scissors for that.... Wow a tool for every job....just like in scrapbooking and cardmaking. So...the last blister came off too and now it is all open. This is quite uncomfortable and they poured a lovely cleansing solution over it before the new dressings were put on. This really stung and added to the discomfort. But...it is getting better all the time. Someone brought bon-bons and that really, really helps. Very medicinal. I was supposed to see a resident but one of the regular doctor's was there, got down right on the floor and got busy with the scissors. Then the resident was called to come in and have a look and make some commentary and learn. I'm a good patient and they didn't need the extra man power to restrain me. I'm all for teaching and all that, but today.....I was happy to be in experienced hands.

I have to go back tomorrow to have the dressing changed and then they will leave it on for 72 hours. Monday morning is my next appointment.

So that's about it for today. Someone gives me a ride to the doctor's office everyday. Someone is bringing supper everyday. I'm so blessed and well cared for. But...I do hope to be on my feet again soon.

This morning I read, "The Shack". Has anyone else read it? How do you feel about it?