It Burns
So summer is moving right along. It seems that at this rate, December will be here in no time (as will graduation). I can hardly wait!
In the meantime I'm trying to keep myself busy. Summer classes are doing a good job at that, but I'm also trying to do what I usually do in spring cleaning, but never got around to this year. I had big plans for today, but I did something stupid that has kinda hampered that.
My sister Elizabeth is over sealing our deck for us today. So around 1 I started to make lunch for her, Matt, and myself. I made Matt a little frozen pizza first, and as I was getting ready to put Elizabeth's pizza in the oven, I grabbed the handles of the hot stone (just used to cook matt's) with my bare hands. I don't know why, I just wasnt really thinking... I guess I figured that since the pizza was frozen, the stone wouldn't be hot either... not thinking.
So after realizing that the pan was hot, I dropped it and immediately ran to the sink and put both my hands under cold water (I was even smart enough to take off my wedding rings since I could tell the the area right around them had been burned and I knew that if I waited for a blister to appear I'd never be able to take them off... funny how much I was thinking at this point). Matt got me an ice pack and I was holding on to it for dear life. All I kept seeing in my head was what my burns had looked like the last time I did something like this (in which I ended up with three HUGE blisters and a trip to the ER). So I held onto the ice, with both hands, for about an hour (meanwhile matt ran a bunch of errands, including picking up some burn cream). As of now I have a blister in between my ring finger and pinky finger on my left hand, and a bunch of sensitive, near blisters all over both hands. I like to think that I prevented blisters from occuring in those parts by holding on to a ball of ice for dear life. I keep checking though, because the last time something like this happened, the blisters didnt swell up until about an hour after the burn incident, and I'm really afraid of that happening again. In case you dont know this about me, I tend to overreact in emergencies.
I have 3 incidents to prove this...
#1: we had JUST moved to virginia. We'd only been living in our house for about a month. My brother (typical for most boys at this age I'm sure), had a fascination for all things fire-related. Anyway, he was up in the room lighting sparklers and dangling them out the window when one of them dropped and lit the bushes next the house on fire. Now the fire itself wasn't too bad... a bunch of our neighbors saw it and came running with fire extiguishers (welcome to the neighborhood!), but unfortunately the location of the bushes happened to be right next to one of the air vents for the house. So the smoke got into the air vents and started filling the entire house. Of course most of us in the house didnt really know what was going on, but all of a sudden this black smoke started coming out of the air conditioning vents. So my mom told us to go outside, while she called the fire department. I, of course, was running around trying to make sure my sisters knew to get out and to see what the heck was causing the smoke. At least I think that's what I was doing... though I remember after everything my mom telling me that I was just running around like an idiot.
#2: This is my previous burn incident. I was working at Starbucks and I left my hand under the hot water (used for making the espresso) a little too long. I knew at the time that I had a little burn, but since burns were fairly common there, I didnt think too much of it and after putting on some burn cream and a bandade I went back to work. When my shift ended I went home and decided to change the bandade, and when I took the old one off... I think I screamed. Anyway, my mom came running into the bathroom to see what was wrong and all I managed to say was "I think I need to go to the emergency room." The top layer of skin between my knuckles and the first joint of my fingers on my right hand had swollen up like grapes. It took everything in my not to pass out at the thought of how big the blisters were. So I just covered my hand with a towel and let my mom take me to the ER. A few hours, a tetanus shot, and a bandage that covered my entire hand and wrist later, and I was fine. So long as I didn't look at the actually burn marks at least.
#3: I used to have a mole under my left ear. Everyone wanted me to have it removed, but after my first mole removing experience (I still have a nice scar that pulls whenever I stretch my back), I wasn't really in any kind of mood to have that happen again. But after matt and I got married and I was able to go to civilian doctors (yes, it makes a difference), I decided to go through with it. The actual experience wasn't too bad (considering how much I hate needles and doctor-related things). But when I was sleeping later that night, I could feel the spot on my neck burning. Finally I woke up (as in opened my eyes) to see what was wrong and when I looked down at my pillow it was covered with blood, as was the shirt I was wearing. So I screamed (maybe it wasn't quite scream volume, but it was definitely panic volume) for Matt to wake up because my neck was bleeding. I'm sure the last thing you want to see when your spouse wakes you up suddenly in the middle of the night is their neck and pillow covered in blood. And I'm sure that if Matt and I were in the reverse situation, I would have passed out on the spot (instead of helping him clean it up, like he did for me). And I did nearly pass out anyway, but Matt was able to help keep me calm.
So all in all, I think I handled this better. At least this time around I had enough sense to know that I overreact to these kind of things, so I was able to control myself a little better (or at least repress my natural urge to panic). And now my hands are even starting to feel better, so maybe I can get back to some of that cleaning after all.
In the meantime I'm trying to keep myself busy. Summer classes are doing a good job at that, but I'm also trying to do what I usually do in spring cleaning, but never got around to this year. I had big plans for today, but I did something stupid that has kinda hampered that.
My sister Elizabeth is over sealing our deck for us today. So around 1 I started to make lunch for her, Matt, and myself. I made Matt a little frozen pizza first, and as I was getting ready to put Elizabeth's pizza in the oven, I grabbed the handles of the hot stone (just used to cook matt's) with my bare hands. I don't know why, I just wasnt really thinking... I guess I figured that since the pizza was frozen, the stone wouldn't be hot either... not thinking.
So after realizing that the pan was hot, I dropped it and immediately ran to the sink and put both my hands under cold water (I was even smart enough to take off my wedding rings since I could tell the the area right around them had been burned and I knew that if I waited for a blister to appear I'd never be able to take them off... funny how much I was thinking at this point). Matt got me an ice pack and I was holding on to it for dear life. All I kept seeing in my head was what my burns had looked like the last time I did something like this (in which I ended up with three HUGE blisters and a trip to the ER). So I held onto the ice, with both hands, for about an hour (meanwhile matt ran a bunch of errands, including picking up some burn cream). As of now I have a blister in between my ring finger and pinky finger on my left hand, and a bunch of sensitive, near blisters all over both hands. I like to think that I prevented blisters from occuring in those parts by holding on to a ball of ice for dear life. I keep checking though, because the last time something like this happened, the blisters didnt swell up until about an hour after the burn incident, and I'm really afraid of that happening again. In case you dont know this about me, I tend to overreact in emergencies.
I have 3 incidents to prove this...
#1: we had JUST moved to virginia. We'd only been living in our house for about a month. My brother (typical for most boys at this age I'm sure), had a fascination for all things fire-related. Anyway, he was up in the room lighting sparklers and dangling them out the window when one of them dropped and lit the bushes next the house on fire. Now the fire itself wasn't too bad... a bunch of our neighbors saw it and came running with fire extiguishers (welcome to the neighborhood!), but unfortunately the location of the bushes happened to be right next to one of the air vents for the house. So the smoke got into the air vents and started filling the entire house. Of course most of us in the house didnt really know what was going on, but all of a sudden this black smoke started coming out of the air conditioning vents. So my mom told us to go outside, while she called the fire department. I, of course, was running around trying to make sure my sisters knew to get out and to see what the heck was causing the smoke. At least I think that's what I was doing... though I remember after everything my mom telling me that I was just running around like an idiot.
#2: This is my previous burn incident. I was working at Starbucks and I left my hand under the hot water (used for making the espresso) a little too long. I knew at the time that I had a little burn, but since burns were fairly common there, I didnt think too much of it and after putting on some burn cream and a bandade I went back to work. When my shift ended I went home and decided to change the bandade, and when I took the old one off... I think I screamed. Anyway, my mom came running into the bathroom to see what was wrong and all I managed to say was "I think I need to go to the emergency room." The top layer of skin between my knuckles and the first joint of my fingers on my right hand had swollen up like grapes. It took everything in my not to pass out at the thought of how big the blisters were. So I just covered my hand with a towel and let my mom take me to the ER. A few hours, a tetanus shot, and a bandage that covered my entire hand and wrist later, and I was fine. So long as I didn't look at the actually burn marks at least.
#3: I used to have a mole under my left ear. Everyone wanted me to have it removed, but after my first mole removing experience (I still have a nice scar that pulls whenever I stretch my back), I wasn't really in any kind of mood to have that happen again. But after matt and I got married and I was able to go to civilian doctors (yes, it makes a difference), I decided to go through with it. The actual experience wasn't too bad (considering how much I hate needles and doctor-related things). But when I was sleeping later that night, I could feel the spot on my neck burning. Finally I woke up (as in opened my eyes) to see what was wrong and when I looked down at my pillow it was covered with blood, as was the shirt I was wearing. So I screamed (maybe it wasn't quite scream volume, but it was definitely panic volume) for Matt to wake up because my neck was bleeding. I'm sure the last thing you want to see when your spouse wakes you up suddenly in the middle of the night is their neck and pillow covered in blood. And I'm sure that if Matt and I were in the reverse situation, I would have passed out on the spot (instead of helping him clean it up, like he did for me). And I did nearly pass out anyway, but Matt was able to help keep me calm.
So all in all, I think I handled this better. At least this time around I had enough sense to know that I overreact to these kind of things, so I was able to control myself a little better (or at least repress my natural urge to panic). And now my hands are even starting to feel better, so maybe I can get back to some of that cleaning after all.
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