Tuesday, June 9, 2009

~Welcome Home Anthony!~

Welcome Home Anthony!!!!!!!
First of all, I'd like to apologize for not updating sooner but it's definitely not as easy to Blog with 4 kids to take care of! I am just in shock, still, with Anthony's progress! He is so much stronger than I could have ever imagined.
While we were in the hospital waiting for Anthony to be able to pass off his last 2 goals of tolerating eating and drinking liquids, Anthony's motivation to get the hell out of that hospital kicked into over drive! Wednesday night Anthony ate 2 little meals and when the doctors came in Thursday morning for their morning check up, they said they were extremely happy with Anthony's progress and that he looked like a totally different kid and the were discharging him! Yayyy!!!!!!
We were thinking he'd be able to be discharged if everything went well, by Saturday, so we were really shocked that we were being discharged on Thursday. I think it was Thursday anyways, it's all kind of been a blur since the accident so I'm not sure of the actual day, but when Anthony was discharged he was sent home with a prescription of liquid Lortab. They also told me to use over the counter Motrin and Tylenol too. I decided not to tell Beto or the kids because I thought that would be a great surprise. Yeah, not so great. We walked in the front door and that stupid DCFS lady was sitting on my couch. Ugh! She looked around and talked to Anthony and Beto for a little bit and said she was closing the case.
I have to admit, I was a little scared to come home. I wasn't sure I'd be able to take care of Anthony right. The lovely nurses at Primary's showed me how to change the pads to Anthony's neck brace and also told me how to shower him so his cast would not get wet. Well, the first shower was a disaster but we all lived. Lol! He has to shower with his neck brace on and have his pads changed after, so I tried to wrap his arm up so no water could get through but it still got through. I dried him off and laid him on my bed flat to change his pads and EVERYTHING and EVERYONE got soaked between the dripping wet neck brace and the dripping wet arm cast. Oh well, the second time went much better.
Anthony has been doing really good since coming home. His eating could be better, but he is no longer taking the liquid Lortab, and is only taking the Tylenol and Motrin. Even then, he never ask for it or says he's in pain, but I give it to him anyways. He's even been interested in going outside to play but I haven't let him yet. I have let him go over to my neighbors, Jesse and Blakes' house, to play for a half an hour mostly because she is a nurse and I trust her knowledge in his injuries if something were to happen. I have also been having him wear a helmet EVERY TIME we leave the house because of his skull fracture but he doesn't seem to mind it.
Anthony has proven to be the strongest person I have ever known. I just can't believe his progress. Those first couple of days in the hospital when he would not speak to anyone, I worried that I would never have MY Anthony back and I would have to get use to a NEW Anthony, but I am ecstatic to say that I see absolutely no signs of permanent damage! Not yet anyways. We still have a long road ahead though. He still has to have more test done to see if he's had any permanent damage from all of this as well as get his arm casted and get his neck cleared so he can take his neck brace off but I am VERY hopeful that he will make a full recovery!!!!!

~The Thruth Shall Set you Free~


Anthony finally started talking, and I didn't know how long it would last so I started asking alot of questions to see if I was ever going to know what happened. I am absolutely shocked that he can remember ANYTHING, let alone EVERYTHING from that day especially with the extent of his head injuries and not to mention that the medication that he was given to sedate him, usually causes memory loss.

I must admit though, after hearing his story, I wish he didn't remember. Anthony's recollection of the events is a little different than Zanders is but it's still pretty close. Anthony told me that when Beto told him to go to his room with Zander while him and Alyzea napped, he went to his room to play video games. He got curious to see if any of his friends were outside. Anthony pulled the blinds up and opened his bedroom window. Now, when I actually met the realtor to look at this house, when I pulled in the driveway, the first thing I noticed was #1, that window was directly above the driveway and I hoped it wasn't a child's room, and #2, the screen was not installed properly. One corner of the screen was sticking out and I assumed it would've been fixed before we moved in but I assumed wrong and when we moved in kind of got forgotten about because we were so busy. Anyway, Anthony pressed his forehead against the screen and looked left and right, since his room faces the street, to see if he could see any of his friends playing outside, when he slipped right out of the window.

Now, this is the part I wish he didn't remember. He said he tried to catch himself and stop from falling out the window but he was strong enough to hold on and he had to let go. Can you imagine how scared he must have been? It's horrible. I wish I could have been there to catch him. I know I'll probably always partially blame myself for this even though I know it was not my fault. It wasn't anyone's fault, which brings me to my next subject.

While we were at the hospital I was warned that since he suffered injuries that were unwitnessed by his caregiver at the time, DCFS would be contacting me, which I knew already because I work in that field and I didn't mind at all because I know that is the routine. Well, DCFS assigned a lady to my sons case and she came to visit us in the hospital. I must say, that I was prepared for her questioning but I was not prepared for the stupidity that rambled on and on out of her mouth. Can you tell I don't like her? She told me it was irresponsible of my husband to go to sleep and we should hire a babysitter if we want to nap. A babysitter? Are you kidding me? I laughed at her, literally, and I don't care if she got offended. Can you imagine me dropping my 10 yr old, 8 yr old, and 7 yr old off at daycare so I could take a nap? "OK, love you guys, I'll be back in an hour, I'm going to sleep." WTH?

First of all, there is no way in hell me or my husband are irresponsible. We have some very clear set rules in our house when it comes to us napping. First of all, in the 3 yrs I've known Beto, this was the first time he's taken a nap. He's just one of those people that doesn't need a lot of sleep and cannot nap. Well, after moving, being up with Alyzea all night crying, and being exhausted from work, Beto decided to try to get some sleep while the baby napped. Now, I'm usually the only one who naps, and most of the time Beto is home at the time so he is able to watch the kids when I do, but sometimes it's just not possible for one of us to always be awake with the kids. It's not like my kids are babies either. They are old enough to be unsupervised for short periods of times. Even then, it's still a rule in our house that if we're napping with the baby, each kid is in their own room with the door shut, the front and back doors are locked, and they are to under no circumstances, answer the door! I have tested my kids before and they have always done the right thing :) So, tired, YES, irresponsible, NO!