Goodbye Turban

Abigail Update: We have some positive milestones to cover in this update and some disappointments as well.

The morning started at 5:00 am with a doctor visit, a needle to draw labs and the removal of her turban bandage - the poor girl looked like a wounded soldier out of a WWII movie with that thing on her head. So it was nice to have it taken off ... until it was actually taken off. Once the turban was removed we could see the stitching across the top of her head which really looks aweful. We could also see her bald head (they shaved her hair .... sniff...) and all of the swelling that had otherwise been hidden. So we had another "oh, poor Abigail!" moment, but have also gotten used to such things and we moved on. We understand that Abigail's appearance is going to change almost daily over the next several weeks and have come to accept that.

It was difficult for Mary to wake up this morning and find that now both of Abigail's eyes were swollen shut so that she coudn't see at all. Granted, it was hard for Abigail to come to that conclusion as well and she had several moments of panic while she tried to figure out what was going on. One positive spin on this is that since she can't see anything, she spends more time sleeping, or at least resting.

She was going to be moved out of ICU today, but since there is a shortage of beds on the surgical floor of the hospital, she is staying put for now. She may be moved tomorrow.

Mary Update: Mary is loving every minute of this visit. Let's see: she doesn't sleep at night because the nurses come in every hour to check on Abigail, she's emotionally drained to see her daughter going through this, she has to eat hospital food, she sleeps on a couch, she misses Jaron and she doesn't get any time to herself because there is a constant flow of doctors, nurses, housekeeping and other staff in and out of the room. So, yeah, she's having a great time.

Jaron Update: His fingers are doing OK and he goes to the doctor tomorrow evening to have them looked at. They don't really seem to bother him unless the bandage is off. Otherwise, he is having a terrific time with his grandparents. They brought him to visit the hospital today and he and Mary were both very pleased to see each other. Mary's mom is coming into town tomorrow to take over for Jeremy's parents.

Jeremy Update: Back to work. Unfortunately time off is limited and the Riggall's would like to take a family vacation some time this year ... and not to a hospital, which is where all of the vacation time has been going thus far. It's just a bit harder to jump into work when there are so many other concerns to be concerned about, but work is getting done nonetheless.

Thanks for staying tuned. We would like to post some pictures of Abigail within the next few days so check in later.