Well, okay... maybe it isn't quite the run around, but it feels close to it. We are trying to follow up on Pumpkin's injury like suggested (as if we wouldn't do that anyway.... ) The doctor recommends she see a dentist or oral surgeon. The dentist we called said they are booked solid and couldn't see her until the end of next month. Yeah... like that would do us a whole lot of good....

So we called two other places and so far, no calls back. While waiting, Honey called the doctor's office and was able to get to the on call nurse, who just so happens to have a good relationship with Pumpkin. They just have a fun relationship and so when he heard what was going on, as well as our concerns, the nurse said to bring her right in!!!!

It was fortunate that Pumpkin's regular doctor just happened to be working in the ER on Saturday and although he didn't treat her exactly, he was asked for a second opinion and he did see her and gave input as to her care. The doctor we saw at first didn't even realize that the skin/membrane from her lip to gums had separated. He didn't request her mouth be rinsed out or anything.... When she saw her regular doctor, that's when things really started happening. Thank you, thank you Divine that it was the right weekend for him to be there to see to Pumpkin's care.

It's a little nerve-wracking because her doctor isn't in today, so she has to see someone that she's never seen before. I wish, wish so much it could her her own. He was there, he saw first hand and can compare then to now... However, Honey and I have both seen this other doctor for various ailments and he's always been pretty good. And hopefully, if it is still recommended that she see a dentist or oral surgeon, THEY will be able to help us get in to see someone in an appropriate time frame.

And so now MY waiting game begins.

Pumpkin herself is actually doing pretty good. Tylenol is all she needs for pain. She wasn't too stiff and what not from the fall. Rightly so, she is being super careful with her chin area. I do fear that she is being so careful that she isn't swishing the water that she needs to way down in the lower part of her chin because it will hurt. We stand right next to her and do it with her, but well, hopefully it is just a mother's fear for her child poking through.

Poor sweetie. She wants so much to go out and play. She wants to ride her bike and go run in the grass. Until we hear that she has no restrictions, I just can't do that. She was crying a little yesterday when we told her sisters to go use up some of their energy as they were like little jumping beans!! It's so, so hard.

She looks so weird though. (shame, shame on me for saying that!) From her jaw line, under her nose and down, she is swollen. It makes her chin which is the most swollen, really stick out. Unfortunately, we noticed today that her gums look extremely red and so we are nervous about infection setting in. On Saturday, you could pull her lip out (which didn't really hurt strange enough) and look right down and see the fat cells in her chin. Really bizarre, yes??? The past two days, when you pull it out, you can see the top layers but not so far down. I don't know if it is the swelling that prevents you from seeing so much now or if her mouth is trying to heal quickly. The mouth does heal amazingly quick. I'm just scared that if it is healing wrong they may have to.... undo what has healed in order to make sure that things heal properly. Maybe that right now is the greatest fear.

We are actually glad that the dentist was not available. We were really afraid that he would not be as sensitive to her needs as he could be. It seems like you either like a dentist or you don't. There's little room for in between. If he had to really get down in there, even a novacaine shot really hurts at first. If she needs to see someone, Honey is hoping he can convince the doctor to try and get her into an oral surgeon out of Bangor. They know our name through Mom C and Papa's agency. They have helped some of the people who live in the agency's group home and the surgeon's care was excellent. If needs be, hopefully that is the route that we will be able to follow....

Waiting is going to drive me nuts. I think I'm going to go scrub down walls or something.... I just can't sit any longer.

Take care! ~MacKenzie

What an insane day this has been!!! Amazing how one little thing just tilts your world off its axis.

So there I am, taking Pumpkin to her horse back riding lesson, which is something I rarely do, but Mom C and I just decided to switch roles today. So Pumpkin's teacher and I are talking, Pumpkin is sitting on the horse, leading the horse around a sort of obstacle course, when suddenly, the horse trips over a log, goes down to her knees and then in the momentum of trying to become upright, Pumpkin is thrown off.

Her teacher gets to her first and Pumpkin is dazed, confused and then these big huge tears form in her eyes. In the next few seconds that I reach her, she looks at me and starts bawling. THEN, blood just starts pouring out of her mouth. And Pumpkin gets really intimidated by blood. She does not appreciate that at all.

So we sit in the dirt for a long time just letting her get her bearings. Slowly, I try to get her to take a breath and just focus for a little bit. Do her toes hurt? (gotta start with something easy...) how about her knees, legs, arms.... She feels as if she really has to throw up. Okay, if she does, she does, don't be afraid, Pumpkin... everything is fine. We encourage her to keep spitting anyway because she's still spitting out a lot of blood. Finally we manage to get her in the car and then up to the instructor's house.

Pumpkin is calmer now, but still, something is not right. So, light bulbs start going off in my head. "Insurance card, Honey and Hospital..." Breathe deep. Focus. I can't believe that Honey has her insurance card from two weeks ago when she had a follow up with the allergist. DAMN!!!!

Driving down the road towards home, I'm repeating my now inner mantra. Card, Honey, Hospital. Nope, can't go 75. MacKenzie, you must NOT go 75. Focus on keeping her safe awake and just get home.

7.... yes SEVEN hours later we leave the emergency room. Poor Pumpkin. She has an injury that no one in the ER has ever seen before!!!

Okay.... now, try this.... Pull out your bottom lip with your fingers and with your tongue, move it along the outside of your teeth. If you push your tongue all the way out, you will feel the sort of bottom part of where your lip and bottom of your gums meet. Now... Imagine that RIPPING!!!!! Oh my heavens!!!!

When she fell, she fell head first and the whole left side of her face is scraped, her jaw is swollen (probably because of the rip) and of course, the rip.... She still has dirt all through the rip, but it hurts her so much to try and swish it out with water. The nurse was as gentle as she could be and tried to swab it out, but some of the dirt is still there. That's part of our "homework" over the weekend....

The ER doctor tried to call a dentist that specializes in ... unusual circumstances. Nope, no call back. They called an oral surgeon in Ellsworth and then Bangor. Nope... couldn't reach them. Finally, the doctor called the on call trama person in Bangor (EMMC for other Mainers...) Sounds like she needs a dentist was the reply. Meanwhile keep it clean and don't injure it further.

So, we have to just keep her resting for tomorrow and Monday morning we will have to get ahold of the dentist that was recommended to us. Hopefully he can take her in Monday or Tuesday. If not, we are going to call the ER doctor we saw and ask if he will contact this dentist and get her in. She can't have any hard foods or do anything that will irritate the area.

Tonight, we have to wake her up every two hours and just make sure that she is okay, seeing as there is the possibility of a head injury.

Only now is the mind starting to really process what just happened. Only now is it showing flashes of her riding along no problem, then the horse going down, the clicking of hooves, seeing her on the ground. Watching her grow cold and white and start to sweat, too. Watching her spit out blood. Had she gone over the horse's head, she would have been stepped on. Thank the Divine that she was able to hang on and somehow instead of falling down with the horse, she fell backwards towards the horse's rump and then fell off towards the side. Had she gone forward, everyone agrees that the horse would have stepped on her.

I have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to pray for, too. It could have been so much worse... SO VERY much worse!!!! You participate in a sport, and the risk of injury is there. I am so very thankful that worse case scenarioes were not seen today. And yet, no one wants to see their kids in pain. Please, please, let me take on the pain, not my child.... yet, it just doesn't work that way. I hope so much that the recovery is an easy one, a tolerable one, at least. Surely that is something that you can't stitch up..? I'm going to be very nervous until I hear some definite course of action or some good reasoning that she is really going to be okay.

This is certainly going to change my plans for the next few days.

Man, what a FRICKIN' day!!!!

I really do believe that we have the answers to all our questions somewhere deep down inside of ourselves. Sometimes we need to learn lessons to get to the answer, sometimes it just takes patience and understanding and wisdom to be able to peel away layers to the answers. Sometimes the answers we find aren't even the ones we are really looking for. Sometimes, it just takes time and endurance and faith to discover what we are supposed to.

Recently, in study and reflection, the thought of embracing the unknown, fear and all, and just BEING came into my thoughts. There's the one theory that whatever is going to happen is going to happen whether we influence it or not, and there's the other thought that we are truly in control of our own destiny and WE choose what will happen. To me, that is two very conflicting theories. But if I look through one theory into parts of my life, I will see that that theory seems true. Yet, I can do the same with the other.

So then I wondered if perhaps there just has to be some balance between the two. And believe me, I haven't figured it all out.

If certain things are meant to happen, perhaps then the theories reflect that it's our choice on how we are going to handle it, although it is going to be through our past experience, feelings and life lessons that influence our reaction. Maybe we have to choose between what our past experience tells us and what the CURRENT experience tells us. Maybe we just have to go with the flow in our life and let the mystery that is engulfing us, just do its thing. Maybe it is a matter of trust and of faith that has to get us though.....

~MacKenzie

You Are 68% Peaceful

You are a very peaceful person. All is good in your world, no matter what's going on. Occasionally you let your problems get to you, but you generally remain upbeat. Your inner strength is inspirational - much more so than you may realize.

Yes, I think this one, for me anyway, is just about right. Things are calming down and I am taking deep breaths and just having a bit of faith that whatever is going on is supposed to happen and I will have my answers when I need them.....


Cheers! ~MacKenzie

Wow!!! At 9:30 this morning, the temperature in the shade read 80. The temp in the house right now is 78. Methinks it is going to be WAY too hot today to do anything!!!!!



And of all the days for Honey to take the van to work... so now we can't go to the beach or get ice cream..... Isn't that bad timing!!!!





Ah well, whatcha gonna do but sit back and enjoy....