stuff is cool

Tonight I am in bed with my leg covered in prescription cream, wrapped in gauze that has mysteriously begun to turn black. I have 2nd degree burns running from my hip to below my knee.

All I wanted was some mac and cheese.

Last night around 11 I tried to make some Easy Mac. Protected by oven mitts, I reached above my head into the microwave to retrieve the bowl of noodles cooking in boiling water. Next thing I know, I am standing in the middle of the kitchen, there are noodles everywhere, and I am frantically swatting at my leg and screaming. Then somehow I was on my bed (I guess Danny guided me there.) I was SCREAMING. Danny immediately went into First Aid Mode but I screamed and cried for a good hour. I was delirious. My muscles were jerking all over my body. (Later I came to find out that I had probably been in shock.) I had some prescription lidocaine jelly on hand (for something else awhile ago) and Danny gently smeared it all over the deeply scalded skin. Mercifully that helped. But I have never cried so hard or actually begged to die. And last night I did, and I pleaded to God at the top of my voice to please, please help me. I have been through quite a share of painful experiences, but this topped everything. My voice is still hoarse.

I don’t remember falling asleep, but God must have heard my prayers. The two superpotent vicodin I took must have helped, too. I woke up today with pink, peeling skin covering my thigh and knee. I had to dress a little innapropriately for work because all I ever wear is jeans and there was no way I was putting denim on that burn. So I wore a very busty, very short sundress in order to leave most of the burn area bare.

I made it to work (late) and put in a call to the doctor, leaving a message with his nurse, casually saying “yeah, I kinda spilled boiling water all over my leg and it really hurts, what should I do?” She called back a few hours later and said “You need to come to the office NOW.” I said “Uhhh, work is busy, can I come Monday?” And she said “No, honey, things are going to get a lot worse for you before they get better and you need to get here as soon as possible.” I grabbed my keys and left.

They rushed me to the first available doctor, someone I had never seen before, who actually told me to call her Debbie “because it’s nicer.” (My new favorite doctor.) She took one look at me and said “Yep, second degree burns” and several nurses came in to click their tongues and say “Oh you poor baby.” Debbie asked me how I got to the office and was shocked I had driven myself. She prepared to give me a shot of pain meds but I started crying and opted for the pain of the burn over the pain of a shot (I am terrified of shots.) She cleaned the burn for what felt like 20 minutes and then covered it in a cool cream and wrapped it in gauze. She sent me home with 3 prescriptions and actually suggested I come back to the office to see her tomorrow because she wanted to check on the progress of the healing. I might.

Guys, that was the purest pain I have ever felt. Jaw surgery, inflamed spine, kidney infection . . nothing compares to that hour that poor Danny had to hear me absolutely lose my mind to the pain.

I am now terrified of boiling water and I am not sure if I can go near a stove or microwave again for a long while.

I am not exagerrating anything. Ohhhhhh my gosh that was so so so bad. Thank God Danny was here to take care of me or I would have been calling 911 incoherently.

Now I have to change my dressing but I am too afraid to do it myself so hopefully maybe Shannon (my friend who happens to be a nurse) will do it when she comes over in a bit.

I fear what I will see under the bandage.

UPDATE Sunday July 1 2007

Shannon was a huge help the other night. I owe her big.

Cleaning and redressing the burn is a major hassle. It’s a delicate and painful process and one that I do not savor having to face right when I wake up each morning. I have not mastered the bandaging ritual, and throughout the day the wrapping slips and some of the burn becomes exposed, which is then really hard to fix.

1 roll of gauze is 5 dollars and I use 2 rolls a day. This is proving to be a very expensive injury on top of being owie.

So far I have just been washing my hair by leaning over the edge of the tub and otherwise sponge bathing. It may be weeks before I build up the courage to take a real shower again.

Last night I had spaghetti for dinner but Danny made it for me so I could avoid the stove alotgether

The doctor said it would be bad for about a week. Almost 3 full days down! I should really see improvement by the 4th, I hope. I am not supposed to be very active (doctor said to stay in bed with my leg propped up) but I wanna celebrate the 4th, so hopefully I’ll be in good enough shape. I’ll skip the vicodin that day so I can have some few beers That oughta kill the pain.