Ferrell Clan: September

September was a very challenging month for us. It started out pretty good- the boys and I were able to spend a day together at the park and painting at Potter's Haven. The boys were on floats for Homecoming, Tristan for flag football, and Jordon for soccer. Tristan came home from the parade with a high fever and ended up having strep throat. I took my car into the shop for routine maintenance, and found out that it needed at least $1500 in repairs, so for a 2003 Toyota Corolla, we decided not to invest that much in it, and got a new car, a 2017 Toyota Camry. We had been feeling for a while that the church we'd been attending was not a good fit for us, so we started taking classes to learn more about Our Savior Lutheran Church. That night that we got the new car, on 9/12/16, we had dropped Jordon off at his friend's house so he could stay with them during our church class. We were there less than 10 minutes, and got a call that Jordon had been in a go-kart accident and they thought his arm was broken. So we left to pick him up. It was pretty bad with a large wound on his right shoulder and he couldn't move his arm, so I thought we needed to take him downtown to Children's Mercy. It was a tough ride for him cause every bump hurt his arm. On the way there, we started getting texts coming across in the car that my sister-in-law Whitney was in labor. My old car did not have any bells and whistles, so all these new electronic features were new to us, that texts would come in and the car would give us the message verbally. So we got to hear all about how dilated Whitney was on the way to the hospital for Jordon. Tristan was also sick at this time with a bad cough. They initially thought in the ER that they could just set his arm and send him home. They did confirm it was fractured. But when they sedated him for debridement, they discovered that he had a compound fracture, as the humerus had come through the skin in several places on the inside of his arm. So this changed everything. They admitted him for surgery and 48 hrs of IV antibiotics. Don stayed with him the first night, and I took Tristan home. I took him in the next day to see the pediatrician who felt he had pneumonia, so she ordered antibiotics and inhaled steroids for him. The next few days, Don and I alternated staying with Jordon at Children's Mercy. It was incredibly exhausting having both kids sick and needing so much help at the same time. Jordon was a real trooper, did well and was anxious to get home. I tried to talk one of the physicians into sending him home early to let me do the antibiotics and wound care at home, but they didn't go for it! They did have a cool circus show at the hospital that he got to watch on the last day he was there. So he finally got to go home on 9/15. The principal at his elementary school came by and brought lots of cards the kids had made for him, which really cheered him up. The Longs came by and brought all kinds of goodies for the boys, and supper. Several family members and friends also came to see him at the hospital or sent cards or candy, or brought dinner by for us. Pastor Stelter came by a few days later to catch us up on the lesson we missed and to pray for Jordon's healing. We are so blessed to live in a small community and have such caring friends and family. On 9/17, I turned 40 and Don had a surprise birthday party for me with family and friends. Even people from work came! It was a nice surprise and I have to give him a lot of credit for pulling it off, especially with everything being so crazy for us during that time.