My Hands Gave Way.......14 Minutes To A & E

[willows]

I'm writing this with one finger ....................

On Thursday at exactly 5 minutes to 1 pm , clever woman here was trying to make a roast dinner for us all . I had managed most things even though I had had to go back to bed that morning with extreme pain and tiredness and it just didn't register with me that having dropped a number of items since then and walked into things that I was a bit unsteady ..................how I wish it had.

The last thing I had to do was take the cabbage off the boil and strain it ...............yep, this is where it all went wrong.

As I took the lid of the pan and placed a tea towel on each of the side handles to lift it up with ( I'd turned the gas off but the water was still bubbling), I felt a slight click in my right wrist , but by then I had lifted the pan some 4 inches of the stove...................my right hand/wrist gave way and as the pan tipped downwards boiling hot water poured over the back of my right hand from : the line of my wrist joint.....over the whole of the back of my hand......from the little finger to the underside of my thumb .....including thumb, 1st, 2nd and ring fingers to the middle joints.

As the boiling water hit this hand in an attempt to stop the rest falling off the stove onto the floor onto my bare feet I grabbed the handle with my now scalded hand and over tipped the rest off the water onto my left hand including : little finger, 3rd finger front and back and the edge of the hand ..........all this took place in about 10 seconds

My husband has never heard me scream before and came rushing into the kitchen only to walk onto the boiling water on the floor and lots of very hot cabbage .

Seeing me tears streaming down my face trying to turn on the cold taps somehow sent him into some sort of 'Ami survival mode' !!!!!!!!

He took both of my hands ( the right hands skin was now coming off the back of my hand )and turned the cold taps on full , then filled the sink with cold water and salt plunged them into this ...............shouting at mike to find car keys, coats , shoes they dressed me at the sink still with my hands in the water , Mark then placed two clean tea towels in the water , wrung them out and wrapping them around my hands half dragged me to the car .

We live about 15 miles from the hospital and all I can say is I just hope there wasn't any speed traps about because we logged into A & E at 14 minutes past 1 'O'clock !!!!!!!!!!!!

I was seen straight away and given 30 mg of morphine + other drugs as the pain was unbearable .

The out come of it is :

My right hand is an utter mess and bandaged from finger tips to past my wrist ( all except little finger ) and my left hand is bandaged : little and next finger and across the palm .I was seen by an A & E doctor, then a burns doctor, then a plastic surgeon as the skin across my knuckles is now tight and swollen and they are afaid it may tear if I try to bend my hand ( OMG sick or what :( )..............I'm not going to bend it mate !!!!!!

I had the dressings changed today by our local nurse , OMG my right hand looks like its been par -boiled as what's left of the skin is now white /grey and as you would expect very painful , my left hand is blistered and sore but about 10 % of the right hands injuries.

When I got home a message was on the answer phone from the plastic surgeon telling me to come in on Monday afternoon to see them again, so the nurse must have called them.

I cannot drive, shower myself , use a knife and fork and do all the things you take for granted , so now I know how Mark feels .

I have to walk about with my hands up on my shoulders ( not hanging by my sides ) because having them above the heart means I dont get to much pain and if I sit down I have to hold them upright . They think the left hand will be OK by middle of next week but ............my right hand may take two. three or four weeks depending if I have to go in for surgery on it , I'll keep you up to date.

So what is the lesson learnt from all this : ????

IF YOU HAVE A BAD MORNING AND FEEL SHAKY , WEAK , STIFF OR JUST PLAIN UNSTEADY DO NOT LIFT BOILING WATER ................... :wub:

Ami and her white furry digits ...............

[Chaos]

Oh dear! Burns have to be one of the most painful things anyone ever has to experience, and on your hands too!! OUCH! I'm SO sorry to hear about your misfortune. You are certainly in my thoughts and prayers. Hugs to you!!! Good luck with the plastics guy on Monday.

[Notgivinup]

Willows, I'm so sorry for your pain. Thank God for morphine. I'm sure your hand will be ok in time.

Let this be a lesson for us all, like you said. When we don't feel well accidents are so much more likely.

I wish you a speedy recovery.

[iheartcats]

I wish you well - that had to be so painful and scary. I'm glad your family was able to get you to the ER.

Please take it easy and 'wet wipes' are your friend. Or even baby wipes! They've been lifesavers for me sometimes (they make them for your face, too!).

[erickamcc0523]

Oh Ami, I can't really imagine your pain right now. I will be praying for your quick and complete recovery from these wounds.

Once, I had 2nd and 3rd degree burns down my back and arm from a hot cup of coffee fresh from the percolator (so it was right at the boiling point... I was seven years old, and I bumped into the same arm my mom was holding her cup of coffee with and she couldn't hold on to it)... The only comfort I can give is that so many years later I don't remember the pain. Within a few months actually (after it healed up), I had forgotten the pain. I know it hurt, but I can't remember how much. I hope that sooner, rather than later, this will be the case for you.

[potsgirl]

Ami~

I once knocked over a bowl of boiling soup onto my lap/upper thighs, and I completely commiserate with you and that kind of pain. I'm so sorry you're having to suffer through this, and possible plastic surgery to boot! Take it easy, and let others do the heavy lifting, especially when there's boiling water involved. I've given up on trying to deal with hot, steaming water in pots and pans. Not worth the risk...Now, you take it easy and let those men of yours take over the cooking until you're healed.

Positive thoughts and prayers your way~

Jana

[jenwic]

What a horrific experience! You are in my prayers. Hope your recovery is very fast.

[willows]

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers.

Today I've been very tired again and had some nasty spikes of pain in my right hand, which is also very stiff .

Mark gave me a bath which made us both laugh somewhat !!! other tan this all I've done is watch Tv with my hands above my head , didn't want to eat or drink much or do anything as I felt rather horrible , this time I took my own advice and kept upstairs.

Thanks again all Ami xxxxxxxxx

[juliegee]

((((((((Ami)))))))))))

I'm so sorry. Rest and heal.

Gentle Hugs-

Julie

[flop]

Oh Ami, hugs!!!!

I hope that your hands heal up quickly. Quite often plastics want too see wounds themselves or have a plastics nurse dress them so that they can be sure that nothing needs doing (district nurses are fab but don't often see these sort of wounds so don't have anything to compare them with).

I have been unable to lift hot pans for a long time now (my wrists just won't take the weight). Here's a trick I invented - buy a metal chip frying basket and put the raw veggies or pasta in the basket then put the whole lot into the pan of boiling water. When the veggies are cooked, lift the basket and let the water drain into the pan. You can let the pan go cold then move it with both hands and a better grip without needing a cloth or risking scalds. Sorry it is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted :-(

Flop

[willows]

Flop............Mark will be buying up chip basket nets like mad this week , thank you so much for such a brilliant idea.

I had a bad night last night first of all Mike redressed my hands , it takes ages as each finger has to be dresses individually , any way having done a good job I carried on doing very small things around the house. At about 7:30 pm the niddle fingers dressing was slowly slipping down my finger , so without thinking I just pushed it back on........................ OMG ouch was not the word that left my lips............so grabbing all the dressing stiff I went downstairs to mark to get him to undress the hand and see what I'd done ................Oh....dear !

I'd pushed the dressing back in place .............along with the skin that was attached to my finger , this was now flapping in the wind !

I'd managed to push the section of skin from knuckle down to where the joint of the finger meets the hand , quiet a long strip and all I have left is a red raw finger which resembles a slice of uncooked beef!!!!! Never mind I'm off to see what the hospital say this afternoon with some luck I wont get my knuckles wrapped for doing it ..........in fact I haven't any knuckles that haven't been burned in one way or another so they cant wrap me over the knuckles if they wanted to !!!!!!

Ami and her shadow Harley .

( wrapping ones knuckles means to hit them with say a wooden ruler or a small stick , teachers often did this to students who did not pay attention in class or who did something stupid)

[Maxine]

Willows------------I'm sorry this happened!

I hope you heal quickly!

BIG HUGS

Maxine :0)

[janiedelite]

Oh! You poor thing!!! I can't imagine what you're going through, with the pain and not being able to do anything for yourself. Sending prayers that you will heal quickly and not have any more accidents!!!

[lieze]

Ami,

I am so sorry that this happened.

lieze

[lifesaver]

Ami,

Hope you are on the mend and the pain is not as bad. So very, very sorry that happened. Take care of yourself and get better.

HUGS,

Becky

[willows]

Hello all ......the one handed woman is back again

Today I have to go back for yet another dressing on my right hand.

My left hand is almost healed now and its just very brown and the skin is tight , so hope to shed the skin rather like a snake does very soon.

But my right hand is not doing well , I am supposed to go on Wednesday for a dressing but the smell that's coming from the hand is awful its not the outside dressing as hubby has been changing this every day and the special 'gel' dressing is changed every other day by the nurse in sterile conditions.

But hubby thinks the skin that is left on the back of the hand is sort of rotting as the smell is OMG so bad .

What's left of the skin , the last time I saw it on Friday with the nurse had started to come away , but not all nice brown and crispy , its slimy and underneath is raw weeping flesh :(

Hubby thinks I will have to go back to the hospital to have this all removed before I get a massive infection from it , but if they do this my hand will be just an open wound of around 4 inches across the back of the hand by5 inches up to the first joint of my middle finger ( 10mm X 13mm) which is quite a large area to have no skin on at all.

I'll let you know as soon as I can what the doctors/hospital intend to do to me .

Never mind Sunday was a wonderful day for Mike, Harley and myself .

Ami xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx