Burned (be careful) (nasty pics)

[andrewsmith1]

I just moved into a new house a couple of months ago. I have 5 acres of land in the sticks. I was burning off a small pile of brush in the fire pit last week and found myself on the ground after a fireball erupted from the fire. Apparently the previous homeowners left a gas cyclinder for a blow torch near the pit and it exploded. I have major burns on both legs from my ankles to my knees. I am out of commission for awhile since just going outside risks causing an infection. I couldn't prep my house for a hurricane no matter how hard I tried right now.

Thankfully I am married to a doctor so she is able to take care of me when I am not being treated at the burn center. She removed 75 square inches of burned skin from my legs this morning.

I am including some pictures of my burns. I hope these will convince everyone to be careful around a fire. Do not use gas to start a fire and make sure you know what other flamables are in the area. I will be digging out the whole fire pit to make sure there are no other surprises waiting for me.

[george_r_1961]

OUCH I bet that hurts like HELL

[andrewsmith1]

It does hurt like hell and I hope no one here has to go through this. I don't post here often but I spend a lot of time reading here so I feel like a lot of you are friends. I wanted to post this as a public service announcement so that the members here may prevent this from happening to them.

Andrew

[southerngale]

Oh my gosh, you poor thing! I know how much small burns hurt... I can't even imagine how much that hurts.

Good lesson for others, but unfortunate that this happened to you. I have a brother-in-law who always starts fires with gasoline. I had to put a stop to him doing it at MY house. It looked like a freaking explosion behind my house.

[Miss Mary]

OMG! You have to be in excruitiating pain! I am glad your wife is a doctor. But still, be careful!

My 21 yo daughter skipped sunscreen on one area on her leg over our vacation and consequently got a nasty sunburn. The burn didn't look too bad at first but after a while, it looked so painful. (She's fine now, BTW). I hate to say it, but what she went thru, pales in comparison to how you must be feeling.

Please take care of yourself!

I think we need to round up the S2K Prayer Warriors here, Dennis! Who's with me.....praying already for you!

[andrewsmith1]

Oh my gosh, you poor thing! I know how much small burns hurt... I can't even imagine how much that hurts.

Good lesson for others, but unfortunate that this happened to you. I have a brother-in-law who always starts fires with gasoline. I had to put a stop to him doing it at MY house. It looked like a freaking explosion behind my house.

Tell him to stop. This explosion was not my fault, but I had been mowing the yard and had a 5 gallon can of gas sitting about 30 feet from the fire. If that gas had exploded I probably would have been killed since the explosion tossed me in that direction. I remember seeing red, picking myself up off the ground and smelling lots of burned hair when it happened. My neighbor heard an explosion and thought I was shooting off large fireworks (I don't remember hearing anything other than a large "whoosh.") THe nieghbors found the exploded gas cylinder in their yard almost 200 feet from where it came from. There was a 2X2 foot crater in the fire pit from where the can exploded.

[Squarethecircle]

Well, it's a good thing I always use matches I suppose.

Get well soon.


(What kind of home-seller leaves a freaking gas canister in a fire pit?!)

[CajunMama]

Oh ouch! That must be incredibly painful. Who would have thought to even look to see if there was anything combustible around the firepit. I think most of us wouldn't. I wish you a speedy and uncomplicated recovery.

And yes i did just finish dinner right before reading this....and the pics weren't bad to look at (painful but not bad!).

[gtalum]

All I can say is OUCH! You got off lucky, though,a ll things considered. I hope you heal completely and quickly.

[brunota2003]

The word "OUCH" seems to be incomparable to how bad that must feel. I know "ouch", and that looks about 200x's worse than that.

Feel lucky, though, that that cylinder didn't hurl in your direction or shrapnel out like a grenade, that would of been horrific

Hope you heal quick, and just said a prayer for you.

[TexasStooge]

OUCH!!!!!

Wishing you all the best and a speedy recovery from Texas.

[vbhoutex]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am cringing just thinking about the pain you must be in!! Saying some prayers for a quick and complete recovery and for relief of the pain.

[dizzyfish]

Bless your heart you poor thing! I can't begin to imagine how that must hurt!
Praying for a speedy healing process.

I know about old fire pits. We cleared out an old one when we moved here. I was shocked at some of the stuff we found. Aerosol cans with no label, beer bottles, nails etc. I think they just used the old pit as a dumping ground. Glad we cleaned it out and didn't try to burn what was in it.

But a gas cylinder! Geez what idiots!!!

[Cryomaniac]

The worst burn I've ever had was an acid burn on the back of my hand. That looks f- horrendous.

[DaylilyDawn]

I know what you are going through. My husband was burned in an accident at work before his plant closed. He had 3rd degree burns on the backs of both hands, a large spot on his stomach, and several smaller spots on his groin area and thigh. He had to wear pressure gloves for a year after the burns healed to protect the new tender skin that grew in.. If you do not get pressure garments for your legs the skin will wrinkle pretty badly as the scar tissue forms. After wearing the pressure garments , my husbands hands look normal now. The skin did not scar. So make sure you get some pressure garments for your legs from the burn center.

[andrewsmith1]

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. My main concern is infection. I was diagnosed as a diabetic less than a month ago and that always complicates the healing process. It takes a lot longer to heal. I am keeping my legs elevated, but it feels like my legs are in the fire again when I stand up to walk and the blood rushes to my legs. Another problem is staying hydrated. With the missing skin I lose a lot of fluids so I am constantly drinking water and gatorade to stay hydrated.

Andrew

[DaylilyDawn]

My husband's name is also Andrew. He had a cream that he had to put on his burns before the bandages were put on.It is called Silvadene Cream 1%. The other name is silver sulfadiazine. I have a tub of it left from his care and if you need it, let me know & I can send it to you. It will help kill the feeling that your legs are still on fire. It doesn't have a prescription on it so I guess it could be sent by mail.

[andrewsmith1]

My husband's name is also Andrew. He had a cream that he had to put on his burns before the bandages were put on.It is called Silvadene Cream 1%. The other name is silver sulfadiazine. I have a tub of it left from his care and if you need it, let me know & I can send it to you. It will help kill the feeling that your legs are still on fire. It doesn't have a prescription on it so I guess it could be sent by mail.

That is what we are using. We have gone through a large container of it and my wife has written a script for more. It is good stuff. We just did another bandage change and I am really hurting so I am heading to bed after taking a percocet.

[DaylilyDawn]

Just keep using the cream to keep the wound moist. As it heals it needs to stay moist so that it doesn't get tight as it heals. The pressure garments really help to keep scarring down so do try to see if you can get a pair of your legs.

[andrewsmith1]

Just keep using the cream to keep the wound moist. As it heals it needs to stay moist so that it doesn't get tight as it heals. The pressure garments really help to keep scarring down so do try to see if you can get a pair of your legs.

I go in to see the burn specialist tomorrow and will ask about the pressure garments. The burns are looking pretty good (if a burn could look good) and are not showing any signs of infection. My wife is a doctor and wrote a script for more silvadine cream. Hopefully I get good news from the burn doctor tomorrow. I have 5 acres of yard that need to be mowed and a huge pile of brush that needs to be burned (I am not touching it until I can clean out the pit).