Canning Burn Update.

A few weeks ago you might remember, i sustained a pretty good burn while canning apple sauce in a water bath.  i accidently poured scalding water down my arm.  i was wearing a tight fitting sweater, and literally dumped the water down my sleeve.  So the boiling water pooled right above my elbow, and it took a few extra second to get the sweater off which was sticking to me, and get my arm under cold water. 

 

Originally, the burn appeared to be mostly first degree, with obvious second degree at the bottom where the water had pooled.  i took this picture immediately after getting burned and within an hour, the blister had doubled in size and  was at least 1" thick.

 

 Within a couple of days the burn really began to present itself.  What i had thought was a very minor first degree burn, turned into a second degree burn.  The upper part of the skin that was a light pink, i was expecting to just fade.  Instead it began to darken eventually blistering and seeping like the lower part of my arm :(   This is when i actually began to feel pain from the burn. Rather than feeling a pain on the burned skin, i felt a deep throbbing ache similar to tendentious. i kept the burn covered with sterile pads and loose gauze, but as the blisters popped and the burn seeped it constantly stuck to the bandages. My skin was literally falling off where the worst of the burn had been.  Although it didn't appear infected, i was feeling a little depressed about the severity of it.  i've never really had a serious injury of any kind and i definitely didn't expect it to get worse before it got better. 

i had several folks recommend Silvadene (Silver sulfadiazine) but i could only find it as a prescription drug, and being that we are uninsured, i did not want to go to the doctor unless it was totally necessary.  My friend Kathy had recommend gel cooling pads, and so i headed over to CVS to see if they had any in stock. i was able to find anti-microbial Silver gel and Moist hydrogel pads.

Oh my goodness, what a difference that made!!  Within days i could see/feel a difference on my arm.

 

Less than 3 weeks after getting burned, my arm is almost back to normal and there is very little scarring.  The majority of my arm looks good as new. At the base of the burn, where it was the worst is just slightly pink. It's barely noticeable enough to even consider it a scar, and i wouldn't be surprised if it fades even more!  So we will definitely be keeping both the silver gel and the cooling gel pads in our first aid kit!  The difference they made within just a day of using them was incredible!  i am really glad that my burn healed as well as it did and i didn't have any complications. i'm really amazed that the scarring isn't worse and i definitely learned that i need to be more careful when canning!