Boxing Gloves

When Kimmie was in the hospital for her surgeries, she of course had IVs. In October she just had one in her right hand, but in November she had IVs in both hands. Kimmie doesn't like being hooked up to anything, especially IVs and blood pressure cuffs.

To keep Kimmie from pulling the IVs out, the nurses put diapers on her hands. They stuck her hand in the diaper and wrapped it closed around her wrist. When she wanted to, she could pinch through the diaper and get at the other hand, but it slowed her down considerably.

Kimmie has always had trouble straightening her arms all the way. When she is laying down, she usually keeps her hands close to her chin. The diapers looked remarkably like boxing gloves and the way she kept them close to her chin really emphasized the effect. Everyone commented on it.

Kimmie didn't have a lot of fight in her through most of her hospital stays, but we all know she normally does have a fight in her. Especially when it comes to getting her way.

The "boxing gloves" did create one problem. It's kinda hard to sign through a diaper. Most of the time she was too out of it to try to sign, and, amazingly, we were able to understand some of her signing in spite of the diapers.

The diapers were necessary, but a bit counter productive, too. We really wish she could understand the need to tolerate some things, but I don't know if she will ever reach that point.

--Mom

PS. Kimmie still has spots where the IVs were in her hands. She is always showing them to people and telling them how she cried at the hospital. If you see Kimmie and she starts pointing to her hand, she's trying to tell you all about it.