Burned

10-11-10




There really is nothing to prepare you to see 2nd degree burns all over your 4 year old son’s hand.



I was in the kitchen, working on dinner. I had fired up the BBQ and water was boiling in the house for the corn. Bobby and Dax were outside, playing as they had been all afternoon.



Bobby came in sobbing. He has slipped on the wall when he was climbing down from it and got a small scrape on his hand. I was tending to this when I heard the scream.



Dax somehow managed to place his right hand on the outside of the piping hot BBQ. It looks as though he probably was coming up the porch and slipped and ended up putting his hand on it for balance.



I felt bad, but I had to toss Bobby to the side. Ken came running in asking what happened and all I could manage to get out over all the chaos and crying from both boys was “bad burn!” Ken promptly grabbed Dax and shoved him under the sink.



Ken told Dax it was going to hurt. Dax was not happy. The cold water went over his hand and you could see the damage. Dax kept yelling, “Ow! Ow! Ow!” over and over. As bad as this sounds, it was almost comical being that he no longer just screamed, but screamed words. I almost wish he knew to scream, “FUCK!”



We got a wet cloth on his hand while Ken phoned the doctor. We were not sure if it would be better to get over to the ER or Urgent Care. During this time, I held onto Dax, trying to calm him as best as possible. He was flailing in pain and anger from the pain. I almost expected him to go into shock. He was spitting and biting his hand just to ease what he was going through. I held on to him and tried with all my might to help him through this.



Bobby luckily understood that he now needed to be the brave boy. He was great. He set aside his own pain, which obviously was way less, but for a kid, it was impressive that he managed.



We rushed over to Urgent Care in Long Beach and luckily because we called ahead, they let us right in. They got him a shot of something to calm him down and to ease the pain. You could see that between his massive energy output from kicking and screaming and the pain med shot into his butt, he finally calmed down. He was laying down, hand in a bucket of ice water.



He was cold after a while, which made sense. He was all sweaty and his hand was in cold water, so not only did Bobby loan him his blanket, we covered him in doctor’s blankets. One of the nurses even microwaved one of them for him. We had him bundled up, hand in water, and he rested.



He was asleep, but still talking from time to time. We had to check on him to make sure his pulse rate was ok with the meds. It was interesting talking to him all drugged out. He was shockingly clear when I asked him questions. After a little bit of talking, he would then tell me he wanted to sleep some more, and he would proceed to doze off. It was sweet.



The doctor had the nurses bandage him up. They first smeared this burn cream on his hand. It looked like frosting. Then the wrapped up each finger individually, and then finally his whole hand topped with a sock like gauze.



He was also prescribed with Vicodin in a liquid form. This was going to be a painful injury for a while. We gave him a dose before bed and he slept. He even slept in. When I got up on Sunday morning to go to the bathroom, Bobby came out of the playroom and was super sweet. He tells me that Dax is still sleeping so he went into the playroom to let him rest. Good brother!!



Dax was actually pretty good all day. He got up around 8 and said he felt better. They had some breakfast and played most of the morning outside. They also played with the box of Mr Potato Heads I found. He didn’t complain once.



I spent the morning cleaning house. Ken had a birthday party so I hung with the kids and managed to uber clean the playroom and their bedroom. I was busy.



When Ken got home, we headed back to Urgent Care. They had told us to come back so they could change the dressing. We hung out in the waiting room much longer this time. It wasn’t super crowded, which was good.



I know that burns look awful. But honestly, you kind of trick your mind into forgetting what you know. On Saturday night, when I did look at his hand, I didn’t think that it would be as bad as I expected. I also wasn’t paying attention to that so much as helping to keep Dax calm. So when they removed the bandage to reveal the giant blisters on his hand, it took my whole being to not burst out in tears.



I didn’t want to spook him, so I kept it all inside. Ken knew I was taken aback. But he said I did good in not freaking out.



Dax was amazing. He was so calm. He asked what the blister was and if he could touch it. He didn’t cry, and he also managed to move his hand a bit for the doctor, which was a good thing.



The doctor said that it looked “good”. There was no signs of infection and his movement of the hand was a good sign. He had the nurse bandage him back up and instructed us to go to our actual doctor today.



The nurse was awesome. Both the boys liked her and she did a good job getting him all set. It was cute that while she put on the cream, she asked Dax if she missed a spot, and Dax pointed to where he wanted more. She made it fun, and both Dax and Bobby told me after that she was nice. She also loaded them up with stickers, which I am sure helped their opinion.



Ken is going to take Dax to the doctor this morning at 10:15, which does mean he will have to leave class early. That kind of sucks since Dax loves his class, but I have a feeling class will be frustrating because this burn is on his right hand. Although, perhaps this will allow Dax to practice using his left hand and maybe he can be ambidextrous.



My weekend was supposed to be more relaxing than all of this. Especially since Friday night I flaked on Stephanie since I was feeling icky. I had several sneezing fits, and was crazy congested. Saturday morning I was still yucky, but at least my head had finally stopped throbbing.



We did manage to get over to the So Fresh Market to get a pineapple for Bobby. He has been jonezing for one for about a week now. We also hooked the boys up with smoothies from Jamba Juice, which they loved.



Bobby’s soccer game was fun. He was a little spacey, but he had a good time. The team as a whole seems to be doing much better.



I got my gloves for my costume and my nightgown is being made. I should have it this week. We also ordered Bobby’s costume. Halloween will be good.



I really want to be there at Dax’s appt this morning. When Dax first went to Urgent Care on Saturday, the original plan was that Ken was taking him while I stayed home with Bobby. I am glad I insisted on going. Bobby was great, sitting in the corner playing games on iTty, and I was able to possibly help Dax and Ken. This morning won’t be as eventful, but this is where treatment information will be issued, so to some degree I would like to be there in case any questions come up. But since I need to take some time off next Friday, I will just be good and wait for Ken’s report.



I pulled some books from the boys’ library and donated them to Bobby’s class. I had some duplicates and “girl” books that would be good for the class. I had Bobby approve them before I gave them away.



The plan had also been to give the box of Potato Heads and accessories to Dax’s class, but the boys have been having so much fun with them I might hold off for now. Besides, there really isn’t enough there to donate to the class since I really should donate way more so that every kid could play at the same time.