I think that the reality of my son's ooowwwie has sunk in with all of us now. It is a very tough thing to look at the damage that was done with just a splash of hot water that was in the microwave for all of 2 minutes and 50 seconds. I have gone to such great pains to make sure that all kids are out of the way when walking across the kitchen with spaghetti noodles to drain or hot coffee or hot cocoa but it only takes one instant and things in life can change so drastically.
When we left the doc on Saturday I was told to clean and redress the burn once a day. That isn't really a feasible reality when the child is constantly moving his arm and shoulders so I have had to do it twice a day. The first time I removed the bandage I almost cried because of how it looked. My little guy didn't even flinch. I have to dab it with anti bacterial soap and then take a dry gauze to dab that off and then put on a topical antibiotic and then a vaseline coated bandage topped off with a wrap around his shoulders. As I dabbed on his medication, the little turd started giggling saying that it tickled. I was confused thinking that he was doing this to ease the pain. Nope, I was tickling him and he continued to giggle.
Well, since the dressing that the nurse put on didn't stay on to well, I had to redo his first bandage because his wounds were exposed. With my first attempt I came up with the bright idea of perhaps a smaller less intrusive wrap and taped it to his skin. Yes, sometimes I just am not thinking about what will be in the end. The next day when I went to do his wraps again, my boy cried harder when I had to remove that tape than the initial burn. I felt horrible!!! And he had marks all over from where the tape was. Man, nothing like feeling like I added to the poor kids pain ten fold.
So ultimately, I have been changing his dressings twice a day with the same routine each time. We returned to the doctor today. Of course my son was feeling more pain today than before and he was really scared to go to the doctor and have to go through the entire process all over again of getting it cleaned and re-wrapped. In fact this is the first day that he has showed any sign of being in a lot of pain since Saturday which shocks both Pat and myself because these burns look so angry.
We got to the doctor and they removed his bandage and were very pleased and surprised at how quickly he is healing. The doc was amazed at how good it looked and of course decided that he should remove the dead skin. My son got all giddy and excited and asked Pat and myself if he could see the dead skin. YUK!!!! Then he asked us, "I have dead skin?????" Which led to the whole conversation of how we all have it and it comes off in our mattress' and then the bed bugs eat it, etc. Quite a disgusting conversation but our son found it very amusing and funny. In the end, not a peep out of him as the doc clipped off the dead skin and the nurse proceeded to bandage him, horribly I might add since I'm an old pro now.
We have to return in a week from today. We were told that he will probably be in pain for at least 7 days which will come and go and the unexposed burns will open up and probably hurt for a time but the good news is is that he may not scar too badly from this. The doctor said that we may not see anything once it heals itself. Of course my son was a little disappointed because he may not have any 'battle scars' but I am relieved.
I have to say, I have grown quite accustomed to all the whining and emotional break-downs of having three older daughters. They experience pain in such different ways and deal with it so much more vocally. Having a son is like having a baby for the first time all over. I am amazed at his strength and that 'tough boy' act when he does get hurt knowing full well that it is killing him inside to be tough. When he gets hurt my first response is to tell him to cry and let it out but he looks at me each and every time and says, 'I'm ok mom' and gives me that sparkling smile and runs off to get into more trouble.
Thank you all for your concern and caring comments. Our son is back to himself, throwing his weight around telling us he can't do certain things because 'he has a hurt arm' and he has more than earned that! Although he is more than capable of playing his hockey game on the playstation!
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