Update On My Arm

I thought I’d update you all on the status of my arm. Thursday morning the burn on my elbow started blistering, as you saw in the photos in my previous post. By Friday morning the blister was the size of a half dollar, at least. Sometime during work on Friday it popped on its own, thankfully covered in gauze. Friday evening while Ashley and I walked around the mall, my arm started to ache and any time I put my hand down by my side, my fingers started to swell. I knew this wasn’t good, so Saturday morning I went to our local Urgent Care clinic to get checked out. They weren’t alarmed but did say to be on watch for infection, because apparently burns are some of the most-easily infected wounds you can get. They gave me a tetanus shot because I couldn’t remember having one in the past 10 years. They also gave me a prescription for 2 different antibiotics and Silvadeen cream to spread on the burns. Then they had me go to the ER for a more immediate tetanus shot.

I proceeded to the ER immediately and proceeded to sit there for 2 hours before a doctor ever came to see me. The nurse mentioned that she didn’t think I needed the extra shot. The doctor finally got around to talking to me and he said the same thing. Since I’d just had a tetanus show at the clinic, another one wouldn’t really speed things up. And he said if I were going to get tetanus, I’d have already started showing signs. When he said, I can give you the shot if you want, I simply said, I don’t want it if I don’t need it, I just don’t want to pay for an ER visit when all I did was sit here on the bed for 2 hours. He said that he and the nurse had already decided to do it as a no charge visit. Hooray! I didn’t even have to pay a co-pay. Just wasted a couple of hours of my morning, but at least it was free. I made sure to thank them for letting me sit on their bed for 2 hours as well. LOL

I’ve had to keep my arm slathered in cream and wrapped in gauze all of the time. It’s quite a nuisance because it gets itchy and twisted and within a few hours, the gauze has become a mess and I look like an unraveling mummy or something. But I suppose if it helps heal the burn quicker and cleaner, it’s worth it.

I noticed this afternoon that parts of the burned areas are already starting to itch, so that’s a good sign I guess.

Thanks to everyone for you good thoughts and prayers during this time. I’m happy to report that other than the area where skin got torn off with a band-aid, none of the burn is painful as of yet, except for that first night. God really protected me and Sarah. I’m grateful to Him for all He’s done.