Colton's accident...

Hi all - well, it's Saturday night, December 26th. We headed to Bismarck a bit early for Christmas (Tuesday afternoon) and Tuesday night proved to be a scary one. My niece (4), Ty (4) and Colton, were all playing downstairs and we heard Colton start screaming - the 2 others came running up the stairs saying 'Colton's in the treadmill!' - I took off running down there and immediately saw him basically caught at the end of it on the ground screaming with his arm pinned underneath being pulled in the direction the treadmill was running. I started screaming for help and kind of had one of those superhuman experiences you hear of people having in accident situations (which is definitely the case being I am looking VERY pregnant!)...I should have shut it off 1st thing but I immediately tried to pull him out with both hands and all my strength and couldn't get him out and his shirt was also getting sucked into it and I knew it was going to choke him (it all happened so fast) so I grabbed him with 1 arm around his mid-section and lifted the treadmill up in the air with my other hand...again, this all happened so quickly. It's under debate how long it was he was screaming before I got to him, Corey thinks it wasn't more than 5-10 seconds and the time I was down there alone with him was also probably not more than 10 seconds. My brother-in-law, dad and Corey all got down there after my screams and John pulled the cord to shut it off and it took all of us to get him out as there is a stopper bar in the back underside that is what he was caught in, so we pulled his arm and his shirt out of it and it's kind of all a blur after that. Thank god Shelly and John have been around to 'doctor' him all the days and unfortunately they were supposed to fly out to Orlando Friday, and then again on Saturday, but due to bad weather their flights were canceled and the trip didn't pan out - but fortunately for me and my sanity, that means they have been there to give a ton of medical advice and assistance with the supplies we have needed and know how to dress all the wounds and burns. He has 2nd degree burns over the left side of his face, couple spots on the side of his head, cuts on the back of his ear, a pretty deep wound over his wrist as well as the back upper part of his arm (both will probably require seeing a wound nurse this week in Fargo), more burns on his upper bicep, as well as covering a large portion of his back. The poor kid has endured so much since Tuesday - lots of pain, being bandaged like a mummy, very uncomfortable daily changing of his bandages as well as baths for Shelly to clean his wounds. 3 of my favorite things this week have been motrin, tylenol and antibiotics...oh and a big shout out to an almost 2 year old that still has a pacifier - love the pacifiers. Ugh, I'll be uploading pictures when we are back in Fargo. What a terrible deal. I'm obviously a little, or some would argue, a lot, emotional due to being pregnant, but this whole deal has done me in. So horrible and scary and awful and any other word you can think of. I will for sure be keeping him home this week from daycare and on his meds to both prevent any possible infection, but also for the fact he has been living in zip up pjs for ease of bandage changes and his own comfort and also until we can get him into his pediatrician who we love and more than likely she'll refer us for secondary follow-up with a wound nurse for care and follow-up. I've done quite a bit of research on this and this is all too common and of course could have been horribly worse. I remember being so scared when I lifted the treadmill, as I honestly thought there would be blood everywhere or he would be missing 'something' - when I realized that wasn't the case, I was SURE he had a broken arm, but he has been moving around perfectly, with exception to anything that will cause pain by touching his burns of course.

Thank god it happened so quick and thank god we were all right there and thank god it wasn't something even worse. That has been the sticking point for me this week, I can cry at the drop of the hat at even thinking about every second from the time I heard the screams, to running down the stairs to the kids saying he was in the treadmill to seeing him to wondering how to get him out...it was all just so bad and I keep thinking about his shirt and how it was starting to choke him to the point he even had small marks on his neck from the tightness. Horrible. I know I have to stop thinking about the what ifs, but it's hard and it puts some painful and real reality into how lucky he (I)...we...are...that it wasn't worse and how easily the outcome could have been different - whether that be losing a finger or hand or ...worse. He's doing so well and I have to stop thinking all these things and just be happy, so I'm just happy for every day that passes at this point to get it 1 more day closer to healing and 1 day farther away from that night and 1 day under my belt to let it all settle and stop thinking about it so much. I haven't been able to talk about this to anyone except a couple people right away and at this point don't yet want to have any conversations about it...which is partially why I'm making this post...to let you all know what happened, let you know he's doing very well (and I'll update more after his dr visits this week) and to get the word out to be SO careful with home workout equipment.

This stuff all has the warnings, and I am a crazy, overly cautious mom - but accidents do happen and hopefully the teach a very good lesson to all of you reading this. Keep your workout equipment away from your kids if possible, continuously preach to them about safety and at the very least, keep the electrical stuff unplugged and away from the little ones.

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Shelly and John think he'll heal really well from all the burns and will definitely need follow-up on the wrist and back arm wounds, but it looks like all will turn out well. From what I've read he will need major sunscreen coverage for at least a year on all areas of the burns, which will mean sunscreen, sun hat and long sleeve sun shirt for sure this next summer and he'll probably heal for the most part over a couple of months. He should look fabulous for his 2nd birthday pictures in a few weeks, but we'll always have a story to tell from the pictures and a major lesson learned. I wish Colton didn't always have to be teaching us lessons though! What do they call it? 2nd child syndrome?! Yes, that's it. Most people I know are hoping our 3rd ends up being a girl - not as much cannonballing off things, serious injuries and nerve-racking anxiety for mommy;)

PS: sorry if there are mis-spellings or grammar issues above, like I said, I don't like discussing this or thinking about it more than I have to and quite honestly, I don't even want to re-read what I just wrote...

Thanks all - please send your good thoughts Colt's way:) Hope you had a Merry Christmas and here's to hoping 2010 is a fabulous and healthy year for us all!

Kelly