Second Update

I have been asked by many close friends, family, acquaintances, and even people I don't know that have heard my sisters story, for continuous updates. So here it is, my niece Addy and brother-in-law Mark are home from the hospital and are still healing. The doctors can't believe how well Mark is doing He has been drinking a ton of Aloe juice, and wearing healing magnets on his burns which seems to be helping. Addy has a visiting nurse come to the house every day to bath her and take all the bad skin off of her. It is called debreeding. This is definitely the worst part of the day for anyone participating in or even witnessing. My sister and Mark have to help pin her down so that the nurse can scrape the skin off of her. She is given some codeine before this ordeal but it does not seem to help. Nobody can tell how much longer this will need to be done. She is looking better everyday but also seems to be bleeding more. They say this is o.k.

She is only 8 months old!! This could be considered a good thing. She will not remember this, or will she? The memory won't be there, but will there be some deep seeded pain left in her sub-conscious?? She is not sleeping at night like she used to. She was a perfectly perfect baby before all this. Now, my sister is up all night with her, standing by her crib with her hand on her tummy singing songs to her. If she stops, Addy starts screaming again. The doctor, when asked if the non-sleeping could be from the codeine, just looked at Mark and said, "how well have you been sleeping?" His response was "not well." Addy does not know why this has happened to her and does not understand why (does anyone?). She wakes to feel comforted by her Mommy and to make sure she is o.k. It will take awhile for her to feel safe and secure again. She will be o.k. and life will go on. It's amazing!! I have never felt so much emotion in my entire life and I am just her Aunt, and life goes on. We can be considered LUCKY, yipee!! But why did this have to happen in the first place??? My sister does not need to learn any lessons. She is a wonderful mother. She is appreciateive, compassionate, etc. It could have been a lot worse, they could have died, they could have been burned even worse, but why, why, why?? We may never know. I assume this is a stage in the healing process, asking the why's. Hopefully, once we get past it we can start looking forward with happiness. However, I think a feeling of grief will somehow always linger within. Will this in some way change little Addy's personality? I know it will change my sister, and her family, hopefully make us all stronger, more greatful and unfortunately MORE cautious.

Thanks to all for your prayers, concern, and compassion.