So Mikayla scared the hell out of us Friday night. Karen had gotten home from work, we all had dinner, then Karen, Todd, & their kids went shopping while Emma & I stayed home. I got Emma to bed around 8:30, and Karen & family got home soon after. I had actually fallen asleep when I was awoken around 9:15 by the worst scream of pain I have ever heard in my life. I tease Kayla about being loud and dramatic all the time, but I had never heard a scream like this from her. I rushed out to the kitchen where Karen was holding Kayla's blackened hand under the faucet. Apparently, Kayla decided she wanted to sleep on the couch so she could watch TV. It was also pretty warm that evening, so she took the fan from her room and went to plug it into the wall socket in the dining room. I guess the socket was bad and, when she tried to plug in the fan, it shorted out and a huge spark shot out at her. She retracted her hand immediately, but it wasn't fast enough. She was burnt, and pretty badly too.
Karen & I looked at her hand and immediately called 911. Within 5 minutes there were 2 fire trucks and an ambulance outside our house. (*Sidebar... yea for the Highland Fire Department and their quick response time!). There must have been about a dozen firemen/ EMTs in the kitchen checking her out. They took Kayla's socks off immediately to look for an exit wound in the event she had been electrocuted, but found nothing. Then they took her vitals, put an oxygen mask pn her, wrapped her hand in sterile bandages, and started an IV for a morphine drip.
The EMTs said she had 2nd & 3rd degree burns and had to take her to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, rather than a closer hospital, because it houses the county burn unit. So Kayla got her first ride in an ambulance... although she probably won't remember it after the morphine! Karen rode with her while Todd followed in their car and I kept TJ home with Emma & I. He's such a good little guy ~ just went right to sleep for me.
They kept Kayla in the ER for hours waiting for the burn unit guys who eventually showed up around 4 or 5 in the morning and said that she would be okay, but they wanted to continue to monitor her. They also did an EKG during this time to rule out cardiac problems associated with possible electrocution. So, next came another ambulance ride to get them out to Kaiser in Fontana to be admitted. The MDs at Kaiser disagreed about admitting Kayla though and she was released around 6 am.
By the time everyone was home and exhausted, the little ones were wide awake and raring to go. So wide awake in fact that they had been jumping up and down on my bed since 5:45 on a freaking Saturday morning, yelling/ singing "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it. I like to MOVE IT!" Needless to say, keeping these ones home would not have provided much rest for Karen and Kayla. So I took them out for the morning. We went to meet some of our friends and go blueberry picking... look for pictures in the next post! During this time Tim came to the house and replaced the socket, some circuits, and checked the wiring for us. We are so lucky to have him and his willingness to help us.
Kayla is doing well at this time. Her hand still hurts a lot, obviously. But it is bandaged well, and they say she will make a full recovery. She was also prescribed tylenol with codeine, which should help with the pain. I'm more concerned about the psychological damage at this point. She's currently scared of all things electrical and won't even turn on a light switch. It's only been a day and a half since her accident though, so I'm hoping this lessens over time.
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