There's nothing worse for a parent than waking up to the sound of their child in pain. It happened to me this morning. Rhiannon has been making herself oatmeal (something she's done may times before both in Australia and here) and managed to slip on some of the dogs mucus (the poor thing is recovering from pneumonia still) and poured hot water on herself.

Straight into a bath of cool water (which stung no end) while we rang 911.

They arrived in amazingly good time, wrapped her up and rushed her off to Harborview Medical Center (where she still is, with Storm, at the moment)

The doctors are all quite confident she'll do well with little or no scaring - and of course as with her other hospital trips she's being a real trooper (I'm so proud of her!). In her usual fashion (proving that she does have the stomach for her chosen profession of vet) she quite happily watched as they pulled and cut away the dead skin from around the burn, laughed as the blisters bust and refused fall asleep (despite the medical staff giving her enough narcotic and mood leveler to stun a mule) until after the job was finished.

Typically for a child of this generation, she had the presence of mind to remind me to take photos...

So after Bryns trip to Aerowood, my little visit to Overlake and now this... let's hope our medical emergency quote is over for a while.

Update Sunday: Just got back from spending a day with the girls in hospital. Rhiannon is feeling the effects a bit more now as it all sets in. She was great with her first bandage change and although it hurts has been doing well on her physio. They're not letting her out today as it was quite a big burn on her leg and over her knee so they want to make sure it's healing nicely, no infection and she's got full movement before they let her out. Hopefully Monday or Tuesday at this point. Storm is staying over again and I've come home to tend to the dog.

Update Tuesday: Well, not looking so good. As the dead skin sloughs (or is pulled off) off it's getting a bit more painful. The physio is hurting a bit (but as usual she's doing her best) though there's a medication free technique being trialed in the ward (partly funded by Microsoft founder and philanthropist Paul Allen) that has some amazing results. Because the knee still isn't showing any sign of healthy skins they're starting to wonder how deep the burn is. Looks like she'll be in over the weekend at the least. The graft word has been mentioned but not as a certainty yet. Apart from the VR therapy Rhiannon’s highlight today was Sarah and Ruby paying a visit and art class. She says "Hi" and "Thanks" to everyone who's wished her well - and got me to tke some smily photos as well!

Rhiannon - all wrapped up in the Burns ward
Rhiannon - Bandages and smiles

Update (Monday): I spent Saturday night in hospital with Rhiannon to give Storm a break. It was good to spend time with Rhiannon but I think she looked after me more than I helped her! Sadly she's not healed enough be released but she's on the mend and looking much better. It's horrid for her at the moment because around day 7 to 10 are the most painful as the skin and nerves are reforming and very tender. I hate seeing her in pain after her bandage changes and even harder is the regular exercise she has to take to get the leg straight and bending properly again. Hopefully she'll be able to work through the pain and stretches and get to a point where the doctors are happy to let her go home (but not until she's fit and well). It's tough (emotionally) on us grown-ups but I wish sometimes I could take the physical ouch and discomfort for her.

Update (Tuesday): Well, we discovered today that Ativan is not something Rhiannon should have. There's something ironic (but not amusing when it's your child) in having medication that's supposed to reduce anxiety having her raging and emotionally out of control. The good news is that the healing is progressing nicely and the amount of cream and bandages is slowly diminishing. Before the drugs caused their reaction she had her best wondcare and physio yesterday - Storm says she had a nice straight leg and heel... just hope it keeps up once she's back on an even keel.

Update (Thursday): The girl is home :) Much to the delight of the dog we're all back at home, sleeping in our own beds again. Actually, the dogs not too happy with that as he's back in his basket not sharing the bed with me! We've got another few weeks of pain meds, stretching and taking it very easy (interspersed wth clinic visits and maybe still a skin graft) but... things are heading in the right direction.

Update (Day 15): Two weeks after the accident her arm is looking really good and the leg is starting to come together nicely. We still won't know for a couple of weeks if the healing will be sufficient and the doctors won't recommend a graft but for now here it is in all its g(l)ory

Rhiannon Healing Leg - Closeup Rhiannon Healing Leg