“Aaahh!!!” That was the sound of me screaming as I was receiving first and second-degree burns to my buttocks, hamstrings, and private regions. 

I was doing sit-to-stands at a standing frame in order to practice my standing balance so that I could walk again.  However, I had a fresh, steaming hot 22-ounce bottle of tea with a lid on it sitting on my wheelchair, and when I went to sit, I sat on the stay hot water bottle—which spilled—and I sat in it.  I started screaming so loud in pain that it felt like someone had stabbed me with a knife.  The tea was so hot that it felt cold.  All of the sudden I started screaming “Get me up!”

 

 

I couldn’t stand up on my own, because I am learning how to stand, and I was just stuck sitting in this scolding hot liquid that was causing first-degree burns on me. 

Having said that, personal trainer Ed came over and picked me up, and then he helped me get out of the chair and into a standing position to get me out of the tea. He asked if I wanted him to call an ambulance, and I said yes.

I was in so much pain that I was screaming—I didn’t know if there was any way out of it.

When I was standing up at the stand frame, my mother pulled my pants down and took my clothes off, and Cathleen, who is an occupational therapist, across the room had extra clothes.  I ended up being naked, and my mom just threw a towel on my lap when the firemen entered the room.  The firemen sanitized me, cleaned me up, put me on a gurney, and took me out to the ambulance while I was screaming at the top of my lungs.

 

 

When we got in the ambulance, the firemen gave me morphine, which took the edge off but I was still in a ton of pain.  When I entered the hospital, they brought me straight into the burn unit and that is when I discovered that I had first-degree burns, and then I had second-degree burns on other parts my body as well.  I had second-degree burns on my private regions, and first-degree burns from my buttocks, all the way down to my knees on both sides.

After I got settled in the hospital, the nurses gave me Dilaudid and Ketamine. They said that they would give me more if I needed it, but that I should hang out with them for a little bit. We hung out for about an hour, and then the nurse came in and told me that the burn unit from upstairs was going to come down to visit me.

The burn unit came from upstairs to visit me and the person in charge was named Minnie.  Minnie came in with her assistant, who began scrubbing down my legs and every place where there’s a burn mark to remove all of the dead skin. She said that bacteria love dead skin, so they were removing all of it so that my skin could heal without infections.

 

 

What I Learned:

Sometimes when you’re making progress toward a goal, you’ll take three steps forward and two steps back.  The amount of time it takes to reach a goal doesn’t matter because the journey is the destination, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes as long as you never quit trying.

Life is made up of the moments and memories that we make.  Some experiences are difficult to endure in that specific time, however, once the moment passes, we will never get that time back but we will always have the memory.

On that note, I want to leave you with a lyric and song about letting time pass and remembering the moments. 

The song “Remember” this by the group, Home Free says:

“Memories are made up of moments like this

The choices we make and the chances we miss

One day the memories are all that there is

So how do you wanna remember this?”