Mrs. Woody Update

It dawns on me that, like many a bad writer before me, I've been leaving huge chunks of plot threads largely unresolved. I am primarily guilty of failing to provide an online update on Mrs. Woody's condition as she recovers from her horrific infection that had her hospitalized for twelve days after our vacation.

Mrs. Woody is doing extremely well considering what she's had to overcome. The infection is pretty much gone and the only thing left is the healing of the actual abcess. The trick there is to have the pocket left behind by the infection heal up at or around the same time as the opening. We have become stockholders in whatever companies make Iodoform. Also rubber gloves, ABD pads, and a number of other medical supplies that we had hitherto ignored. We also have become evangelists for Duo-Derm, which has saved Mrs. Woody's skin, quite literally. We use the Duo-Derm as a patch surrounding the wound, and the dressings are anchored to the patch, rather than to Mrs. Woody.

Woody sits second chair when it comes to wound care. We've had home-care nurses come out — every day for a few weeks, but now only twice a week — to do the irrigation and repacking. Volunteers from our ward take the off days. These sweet sisters are all trained nurses, but only one of them is a working nurse right now. However, all three of them have been more than willing to use their skills on Mrs. Woody's behalf and have huge rewards awaiting them in higher places. The upshot for Woody is that I become the work site foreman. Since we have so many different people (we've had at least 9 different home-care nurses so far!) come to repack and dress Mrs. Woody's "second belly button," we have to reiterate the instructions over and over and over. One physician's assistant that saw Mrs. Woody on a follow-up was quite pleased that we were able between us to give her everything she needed to know when she was seeing the wound for the first time. One learns a lot when one is subjected to modern medical care.

Naturally the Relief Society has been providing meals a couple times a week. Woody is not quite the miracle worker that Mrs. Woody sometimes portrays him to be, and my domestic skills are somewhat toddler-like in their execution. I can cook. I can clean. I can spend time with the Woodyettes. I have a miserable time doing all three things at once, along with putting in my eight hours (or more) a day for the office. Thank goodness I can telecommute!

So Mrs. Woody is home, healing up nicely, and raring to be back on her feet for good. We're in the first week of our school year, and Mrs. Woody hasn't been able to so much as boot up her computer to prepare her lessons for the Woodyettes. We're going to work on that today. Also, we're kind of hoping to catch Harry Potter 5 before it disappears completely from the theaters. We're back to Church now, but only for Sacrament and a portion of Sunday School. Endurance is another thing on Mrs. Woody's To Do list.

Meanwhile, the Woodyettes have enjoyed a far longer summer vacation than we had intended this year. Not only has Mrs. Woody not been able to start school up yet, but our friends from the ward keep inviting the girls over for play days and swimming parties. Tonight we do start-of-school-year father's blessings which is how they know we're serious about getting school started. I think they're actually looking forward to it.

So are we.

#160 - How to Effect Miraculous Healing in Children - UPDATED

Jelly slept on the couch last night. She's been fighting nasty allergies since Saturday, and began running a fever around about bed time last night. So we let her sleep on the couch. This way she can be relatively close to Mommy and Daddy without actually invading Mom and Dad's turf.

I was actually up until nearly dawn myself because I'm under another nasty deadline. I'm always under some nasty deadline or other; a condition exacerbated by the fact that my team of five programmers has over the past 18 months been whittled down to two. The other programmer is just as busy as I am and she's about to go on a short medical leave next month. If that works she'll be out on maternity leave by the end of the year. Whee.

So I watched my daughter sleeping restlessly while her fevers broke, returned, and broke again. Finally she appeared to be winning her battle. I had my own victory in the form of a delivery to my customer at around 4:00 this morning, so I went in to bed.

Jelly has all the earmarks of allergies turned to flu or cold. She's been listless all day, dozing on and off on the same couch and grimacing appropriately whenever Daddy presents her with the nasty orange-flavored (loosely speaking) medicine. She has also been upset because our plan was to take the girls to Toys-R-Us tonight and let them cash in their Christmas gift cards from Grandma and Grandpa Z.

After Jelly's somewhat longer afternoon nap, I decided she was probably feeling enough better that a little motivation might be in order. Mommy led off. "Well, Daddy, what do you think?"

"Oh, I think we probably ought to go."

Like a shot, Jelly catapulted from her sick bed and began dancing around the house. She bounded into her clothes, threw on some socks and shoes, and wondered why, oh why was no one ready to leave?? Like, NOW?? The rest of us grumbled about needing potty time and (for Mommy and Daddy) a chance to stretch our stiffened musculature.

It's by no means a complete victory. Jelly is still pretty shnuffly. She's just much happier right now.

The miracle of modern medicine.

UPDATE: Mrs. Woody reminded me that the story is not entirely accurate; or, at least, that I left out one critical element of the story. Jelly did not obtain what she was looking for last night. We went to Toys-R-Us, then Target (right next door), then ultimately had to order the item online. I'll be stopping by the Walton Family Empire on my way home from work today to see if they have one.

The point is, she remained bubbly - if somewhat disappointed - for the remainder of the evening. Especially when Doodle let her big sister help play with her new toys.

My kids are terrific.