SC - Re: nasty steam/hot water burns

[Laura C. Minnick]

RichSCA at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Sieggy,
> 
> I understood what you meant.  I served as a medical corpsman during the
> Vietnam War.  I lasted just a few weeks in a burn ward before I requested to
> be transferred to the paraplegic ward.

A not-so-pretty story- 
	Several years ago (7 or 8) my kids and I were on our way to an event in
the foothills of Mt. Rainier, about halfway up (really nice park) We
were on I-5, fully loaded, near Castle Rock, when a heater hose that ran
through the passenger compartment just in front of the front passenger
seat (my old van) blew with no warning. Annie (Rotrude) was in the front
seat. The water peeled the skin off of her arm and back as she turned
and tried to get out of her seat- she couldn't get the belt catch to
release. I can go the rest of my life without hearing screams like that.
I was in the left lane and had a hard time getting over through traffic,
but I pulled over and shut off the motor (which stopped the water) and
hustled her out of the van. She was covered in radiator water, chunks of
skin and ooze. The coolers were full of fresh ice- no ice water. I
couldn't remember if you're supposed to take clothes off of a burn
victim or leave them on, so I draped a clean blanket around her to keep
the dust and gravel from passing traffic off of her. But then what to
do? We were in the middle of Downtown Nowhere. But about a half mile up
the road was a pickup and trailer pulled over. I SPRINTED. They had a
cell phone and the Advanced Life Support was there in just a few
minutes. She was in shock but they filled her full of morphine and by
the time I got to the hospital she was hilarious. 
	Second degree burns over 30%, another 10-15% first degree. They gave us
drugs and Silvadene cream and sent us home. I spent the next few weeks
soaking her in ther bathtub, debriding, and re-wrapping. We warned the
neighbors there would be screams and why. It was not a picnic, but what
else was there to do? She's my kid.
	She's almost sixteen now, AND NO SCARS. Skin on one arm has a slightly
different pigment. Her back and the side of her face didn't scar at all.
Our car insurance paid the bills (it was a freak accident- nothing like
that in the files anywhere) And I ran up and day-tripped the event (sans
kids) the next day as I had to be at a meeting. But I'll tell ya,
dealing with burns is not something I ever want to do again...

'Lainie