Celebrations for the Bub

Mark got his stitches out but I think that's going to be a gnarly scar.

We're supposed to keep some strips on it for a few more days.

We followed up with the maxillofacial surgeon and he said he was looking really good and could resume more normal foods. It's been nearly 2 weeks and Mark was so ready for a hamburger. We are supposed to use pain as a guide. He loved the burger but did comment that it hurt a little to eat. We'll have to take it easy.

Maxine wanted to comfort Mark from afar. She ordered a stuffed animal and it finally arrived. Mark says it's really soft. 

Cute! 

Stop Hurting Your Chins!

Okay, now it's just getting ridiculous. Jack was riding his dirt bike and hit a rock. It went out from under him and he slid on the ground for a while and scraped up his chin.

Luckily his was just a little scraped. He even had a full-face helmet on! So now both of them have scraped up faces. 😲 Seriously, stop it.

Lehman Caves

Over Spring Break, we had loosely planned to drive to Carlsbad Cavern in the RV. Then Mark fractured his jaw and we adjusted our plan. Lehman caves is only 3 1/2 hours away at Great Basin National Park and is cool on a smaller scale.  

You can tell Mark is feeling better but we are being very gentle with him. We blew a tire on the way. Bummer. We were almost there. We tried to get it fixed ourselves but alas, we needed a tow company to come with tools. 

We were still able to go! The caves were cool.

I enjoyed going again!

It was nice to get out of the house. Mark is moving around a lot better. Still just wants a hamburger though.

Healing up Bub

He's looking pretty dead but I promise, he's alive!

We went for a walk because his legs are the only part of him that's unhurt. He was having an okay time but smiling hurts. 

A few days later, we almost got a smile out of him. He's so tired of smoothies. He wanted pizza wagon so I cut it up super small and fed it to him. He was frustrated it took so long to eat because he couldn't chew. 

Going slow but we'll get there.

Busted Face for Spring Break!

Warning: These are gross pictures.

The first day of Spring Break started off with some sadness. Mark was riding bikes with Archer and Talon and wrecked on the road. He was on the big hill by the mailboxes. He was pulling a wheelie at a fast speed and as he landed, the bike went out from under him. I was at the house and Talon came running in saying Mark was hurt. Mark was walking up the street, holding his torso very still. I had ordered pizza and threw my credit card to Jack and said, "Pick up the pizza! I'm taking Mark to get checked out!"

I took Mark to the urgent clinic but they sent me to the E.R. to get him checked out. Oh! He was hurting. 😭 

It was Friday night in the E.R. I really dislike the E.R. We had to wait for 1 1/2 hours to get back. He was just sitting by me and bleeding and crying. 😩 When we finally got back, they gave him some morphine and he was able to calm down. His chin looks bad but he was road rashed all over his upper body. They took xrays of his wrist, elbow, shoulder, chest, and hand. They took a CT of his jaw.

Then he fell asleep because it was around 10 p.m. Poor thing.

I'm glad he could finally rest for a minute. While he was sleeping, the E.R. doc had looked at the CT scan and could see a jaw fracture. He thought he might need his jaw wired shut. 😳 A maxillofacial surgeon still needed to look at the CT and he would say for sure.

Then they woke him up and stitched him up. Three stitches on the inside, ten on the outside. 

The E.R. doc said the maxillofacial surgeon said that it was fractured but not all the way through. He would not need his jaw wired shut but couldn't chew for 3 weeks. 😵 Smoothies, yogurt, ice cream, applesauce, etc.

We got him home and got him to bed. He had pain meds over the next 3 days and needed help eating and moving around. His whole torso hurt.

It was also hard for him to close his mouth. I'm guessing it made the stitches pull. Such a bummer way to start Spring Break. 

I'm glad he didn't break anything else, they took so many xrays! I'm glad he had friends around to go get help. I'm grateful for morphine! We follow up with the maxillofacial surgeon in a few weeks. 

Sometimes I Have No Title 😂

Maxine was at a service project and found a lizard I think? Look at all the citrus fruits in the background! 😍 Miss my girl!

Merril and snow biking 💕