Mom's and Dad's, your sitting in the ER waiting room despeately wanting word about your child. Doctors are busy, no one has come out to give you an update. You think back on what you coulda ... shoulda ... done. Information was available, but you didn't have time to think about it. You knew enough, ... you thought.

At local ER.  She got burned bad at work. Kettle boil over.  At least we have her stripped but for an hour she had her clothes on and that caused some damage. Its worse than I am willing to tell her. She already lost her skin on her right side from under her breast to her pelvis. Her thigh and arm aren't as bad. Doctor isn't sending her to burn center yet so that's good. But still a possibility. She won't be able to wear clothes for a while. 

NEXT UPDATE
She is calm now. They just gave her 2 more units of morphine. She doesn't like it but she isn't shaking as bad. Burn is as described before but only serious in area from right ribs to just under belt so far. Area on thigh will probably lose skin but not like the area under her shirt and not tonight. 

TRANSFER TO BURN UNIT
They took her skin off! This hospital is good. As soon as she arrived, a trauma team took care of business. Peeled her skin off and dressed her.  I get to change her dressings and peel off what ever gunk grows each time. I will work mostly from home this week to help her stay down. She'll be up in no time. Gonna have scars to remind her.

NEXT UPDATE
She will have scars but she will be sealed up in two weeks. She is oozing clear liquid which is a sign of healing. As long as she doesn't get infected, she should be crusty in a few days and scabbed in two weeks. You can figure what that will be like but also know it will be tolerable. That burn center was eye opening. I was allowed back because of her needs. It allowed me to see how bad these things can be. That is where pain is made. There was a guy in a full mummy getting his dressings changed (2 times a day) and he was crying soooooo hard. He passed out several times and kept waking up to terror. It took over and hour and he kept cracking open. It was rough.

They gave us a cream we have to put on the dressings to keep her moist so she doesn't crack open. She only has it on a small area of her body and hers is only skin deep. There are people that are burned all the way down to the periosteum of their bones. They have blood issues the rest of their life because of it. It puts things into perspective. Count your blessings before looking at the bad things. We have never had it that bad. Nor has anyone we have ever been close to. That hospital was full of patients just like him.

NEXT MORNING
Lots of pain. emotions too. Just changed her dressing. After seeing the guy that had his whole body burned last night, I am able to take hers in perspective but it was still tough. We had to scrub off any skin that was willing to give. That hurt. She has no skin on certain areas and the pH of water is really painful. Try pouring tap water up your nose. It burns. Thats a thin membrane. Imagine no membrane. The pain finally got to her and she fell asleep for about 20 minutes after we changed her dressing. Its exhausting for her but it will get better every day as long as she doesn't get infected. I will take her back to the burn unit in four days and they will give a better idea of timing, scarring and possibly surgery if its necessary.

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More comments. Must keep the clothes, bedding and bathroom all sanitized. Washing machine runs all the time now. Without skin there is the possibility of an infection. Pain meds required before the twice a day changing of the dressing. She lost over a square foot of skin. They both really have trouble imagining just how much pain that man in the full mummy dressing must feel. When the burn goes deeper into the tissue the healing process and the pain continues for so much longer.