OUCH!

On Monday, April 26th I was out at my parents place and I decided to mow the back lawn under my dad's radar. My dad works so hard all day, every day. He does hard, manual type labor... at work and at home. So, I thought I'd help out a little, but to do this you have to sneak it in. He doesn't like being helped. Anyway, half way through the job I realized I needed to raise the wheels to get through some thicker and longer grass. Basically, I set my hand on the exhaust manifold of the lawnmower. You know, that part with the bright yellow sticker with the picture of the hand getting burned? Anyhoo, it didn't hurt too bad at first and a little cold water seemed to help. Fast forward about 90 minutes. The kids and I made it home and the kids are in bed and I'm at the sink with my hand under cold running water and I'm sobbing and crying. This is how Bret found me. Seriously hurt more than anything I have ever felt. I decided I needed medical attention and after discovering most urgent cares ARE NOT 24 hr I headed to the ER. They gave me some good meds and wrapped my hand up.

2nd degree burns on my fingertips and where my fingers bend on the 3 middle fingers. I came home (had to get a ride from Becca) with hard core pain meds and a referral to the burn center up at the UofU hospital. The first day was rough. If I didn't take the meds every 4 hours I was howling in pain. The second day wasn't too bad except that my appointment with the burn unti was that afternoon and I was told they were going to scrub the wounds to get rid of the dead skin and expose the healthy stuff underneath. This scared me to the point of almost having a panic attack. Then we get to tha appointment and they open up the dressing and clean and it doesn't look too bad. I was examined by the main dr and the physical therapist at the burn clinic and they agreed that everything looks great. I CANNOT begin to express in a blog post how relieved I was. I almost wanted to faint from relief. The dr wants to leave the hand open to the air so that the dead skin can begin to dry out and slough off. They sent me home the the paraphenalia to dress any blisters that open up and I have to wear a glove to deal with any germ (ie- housecleaning, diaper changing, and any and all hair services). The physical therapist gave me some exercises so my skin doesn't heal and tighten wrong where my fingers bend.

THANK YOU TO ALL who sent amazing prayers on my behalf and especially to those that helped with the kids during all this. An extra special thanks to Bret. He took the first day off of work to take care of me, the kids, and the house.

The ER didn't HAVE to wrap it this intensely, but they did once they heard I had 4 small children. I started referring to it as my boxing glove.

Freshly cleaned and looking 10 times better than it did the night it happened. The burn unit hadn't seen a burn this fantastic in weeks.