I Know Two Things about Burns, or A Tale of Two Burns

Before I write the actual post, let me again express my contempt for holidays: any day that we close the library is not a good day in my book. Seeing as my computer is out of order (have I mentioned that I'm long-term computerless?), the lack of a library means that I'm sitting here, tapping out this entry on my iPod Touch. Also it means I can't pick up the book I have on hold.

The following is a true story. Set your face to not quite bored.

Saturday night I was closing at work. I was mentally putting together a blog post that I was planning to begin getting onto paper that night. It had been a crazy day, but we were almost out the door, albeit 15 minutes late.

One of my coworkers was rinsing the coffee urns. Full of 200 degree water, they sat on the sink draining. One was sitting a bit too close to the edge. As the water drained, the weight shifted. Suddenly, I see the urn begin to tip.

I know what happens if the urn hits the ground. I don't want us to be down one urn, so I lunge, catching it by one of the handles on top. The urn stops falling, but inertia seeks revenge: water covers my hands, as well as one sleeve of my shirt. I quickly run to the back and cover my hands in cold water while taking my shirt off.

My coworker blames herself, but it's not her fault at all. In an attempt to make her stop crying, I ignore my burns. There was really nothing more I could do at the sink anyway. Wearing my undershirt instead of my now drenched long sleeve shirt, I attempt to console her as we apply burn cream. We bandage it up and all go home.

The next day my wrist is sore, swollen, and very red. If you're looking for it you can definitely tell that I've been burned. However, there is very very little blistering, and I have general use of my hand. I am sure people are wondering, as I bandaged my wrist after work, but this is just to keep it clean in order to reduce the risk of infection. Staving off infection is now the primary goal, as it does hurt, but it's otherwise certainly going to be ok.

It took me back to a few years ago, whn I got a similar but much worse burn in a kitchen in Guatemala. On this occasion, in God's grace I was treated by an ER nurse with several years of burn ward experience.having her on that trip with us was such an amazing blessing She told me several days later that as she bandaged me she was praying I'd have very few third degree burns scattered among second degree burns, when in actuality I had very few second degree burns in a terra of first degree burns.

My general experience with burns has taught me two things. Firstly, I don't like burns. If I have to get hurt, I hope it's a laceration, as I can usually see the severity, healing, and so on. Secondly, when we say that God's grace is sufficient, we don't realize quite how much we need it nor how amazing grace really is.

Before I write the actual post, let me again express my contempt for holidays: any day that we close the library is not a good day in my book. Seeing as my computer is out of order (have I mentioned that I'm long-term computerless?), the lack of a library means that I'm sitting here, tapping out this entry on my iPod Touch. Also it means I can't pick up the book I have on hold.

The following is a true story. Set your face to not quite bored.

Saturday night I was closing at work. I was mentally putting together a blog post that I was planning to begin getting onto paper that night. It had been a crazy day, but we were almost out the door, albeit 15 minutes late.

One of my coworkers was rinsing the coffee urns. Full of 200 degree water, they sat on the sink draining. One was sitting a bit too close to the edge. As the water drained, the weight shifted. Suddenly, I see the urn begin to tip.

I know what happens if the urn hits the ground. I don't want us to be down one urn, so I lunge, catching it by one of the handles on top. The urn stops falling, but inertia seeks revenge: water covers my hands, as well as one sleeve of my shirt. I quickly run to the back and cover my hands in cold water while taking my shirt off.

My coworker blames herself, but it's not her fault at all. In an attempt to make her stop crying, I ignore my burns. There was really nothing more I could do at the sink anyway. Wearing my undershirt instead of my now drenched long sleeve shirt, I attempt to console her as we apply burn cream. We bandage it up and all go home.

The next day my wrist is sore, swollen, and very red. If you're looking for it you can definitely tell that I've been burned. However, there is very very little blistering, and I have general use of my hand. I am sure people are wondering, as I bandaged my wrist after work, but this is just to keep it clean in order to reduce the risk of infection. Staving off infection is now the primary goal, as it does hurt, but it's otherwise certainly going to be ok.

It took me back to a few years ago, whn I got a similar but much worse burn in a kitchen in Guatemala. On this occasion, in God's grace I was treated by an ER nurse with several years of burn ward experience.having her on that trip with us was such an amazing blessing She told me several days later that as she bandaged me she was praying I'd have very few third degree burns scattered among second degree burns, when in actuality I had very few second degree burns in a terra of first degree burns.

My general experience with burns has taught me two things. Firstly, I don't like burns. If I have to get hurt, I hope it's a laceration, as I can usually see the severity, healing, and so on. Secondly, when we say that God's grace is sufficient, we don't realize quite how much we need it nor how amazing grace really is.

I Know Two Things about Burns, or A Tale of Two Burns