Damn I feel stupid. All of my family is on vacation in Florida for the next two weeks, and I've got a long road to recovery.

Monday evening I tried my hand at making pork broth. In my attempts to put results in the fridge, I accidentally dumped it all over myself. I had a friend drive me to the emergency room at 2200 Monday, where they initially sent me home with pain medicine, a bunch of silvadene ointment and gauze bandage rolls.

The final tally: a healthy mix of first and second degree burns spanning a quarter size chunk of my left palm at the base of the thumb, my right forearm, both inner thighs, my groin and the space below my belly button.

The ER doctor told me to follow up in 2-3 days to make sure everything is healing properly and there's no sign of infection, and this is where the story goes a little sideways.

I drove myself to a walk in clinic on Wednesday morning, where they were great but informed me that I should have been sent to wound care at minimum, and tried to call and get me into one. They ended up sending me to the Med (now Regional One), the #1 trauma hospital in the area, where they ended up keeping me overnight.

Got released yesterday after a dressing change, with a wound care appointment for Monday.

As an aside, I'm beyond frustrated with my employment situation. I'm working through a temp agency, and my contact has been pressuring me for a concrete day to come back to work. I had to tell him that while I certainly hope to know more Monday, if it comes down to a choice between my employment and my health I'll find another job.

That sucks!

Hope you heal up ASAP

Owwww! Damn that hurts.

Sucks, indeed! Heal up soon!

Ouch! Burns are not good. Hope you heal well.

Your temp gig -- years ago I did software development, contracting through these outfits.

They were all, with one exception, leeches. Disgusting.

The one exception was a very Christian guy who actually practiced what he preached. Very honest, straightforward. I joked with him about Jews and Christians getting along, he had no sense of humor but he told me, "If it weren't for you Jews, there would be no Christians, so we have a special place of honor for you."

I feel your pain. I had some 2nd degree burns across my upper back and left arm while in the fire academy many years ago and it was not a fun ordeal. It took a while for the pain and burns to heal but the silvadene helps a lot. Burns on the hands take a little longer to heal as it is a body part that we take for granted and use all of the time. It is frustrating and hope everything works out for you.

Did they ever apply Silvadene ointment to the burns??? I got 2nd degree burns on the bottom of my feet from extremely hot sand (barefooted in a volleyball pit). Went to the ER and they trimmed away all the dead/boiled tissue, applied Silvadene, and wrapped my feet. Was on crutches for about 5 days before putting on shoes again, but that stuff worked GREAT on that raw skin. Healed back to 100% with zero scarring.

Thanks for the well wishes.

The one on the hand is actually the only one that's about 90% healed. The blister never broke, and they prioritized the stuff on my thighs and arm, so they left it alone. It's all leathery and has slightly decreased sensation now.

VTail, that's about what I expected going in. I suspect I'll be out at least another week (which I'm going to assume they're not going to like), though I guess I'll find out at wound care on Monday. (Hell, I don't like it either. I had to push back a nerve study to figure out why my leg hurts so much.)

erj, they did slather me in Silvadene at the first ER visit and give me a prescription for more. In fact, they kept me an extra 2 hours because they had to have it shipped from another hospital. Hospital #2 gave me different instructions, and given their status as a highly ranked trauma center, I prioritized their way over the other guys.

Just wanted to give a quick update.

Life is mostly back to normal. Been back at work for about 3 weeks and even had a trip to Alaska last weekend.

I've been instructed to either wear long sleeves or sunscreen whenever I'm in or think I could end up in the sun. Was told 6 months minimum on that.

I'm one visit away from being released from wound care. The concern is that scar tissue could form and limit movement. So far so good on that front; I doubt I'll have an issue.

quote:

I've been instructed to either wear long sleeves or sunscreen whenever I'm in or think I could end up in the sun. Was told 6 months minimum on that.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That is very important for the long term. Make it a part of your daily routine. Even a little sun is bad for healing burns.

good to hear you're healing up

Yup, I'm taking that and the moisturizer routine they gave me super seriously. I carry sunscreen in my bag now, and I have to wear long sleeves at work anyway.

All in all I'm happy to be here. If I'd been just a little bit closer to the fridge when it fell, it could have gotten me in the face and I'd have a whole different set of problems.

Thanks for the update, and good luck with putting this behind you fully.

I feel your pain. Spent 5 weeks in a burn unit as a patient. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Keep ointment and dressings applied. Keep skin soft and moving. Sucks pretty bad when it stiffens up. Good advice is to keep some of this around https://www.amazon.com/Water-J...-Burns/dp/B0001KFXCO. Great for minor burns and sun burn. Also comes pre applied to several size dressings. We carry it on our EMS unit. Also keep stretching areas. Stretching your legs and hands. That will keep the skin from tightening. Was about 2 years before I could spend any amount of time in the sun. Mine was mostly grafted.

Hot food is like guns and knives. Let it fall!



Hope you heal up fast.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
Hot food is like guns and knives. Let it fall!



Hope you heal up fast.

-Rob

I did. That was the problem. I, for some inexplicable reason, thought it would be a good idea to put the pot on top of the fridge because I was worried about accidentally knocking it over or stepping in it if I put it on the floor.

I'm going to chalk it up to sleep deprivation and piss poor timing and make sure it doesn't happen again.

“Oh JESUS”!

Was my out loud reaction as I read the OP.

Sorry this happened to you.