Declaring itself...

The last post deserves some follow-up... This is kinda a FAQ of the questions folks have asked. No picture because I'm too tired to look for the camera. Rest assured, the kid is still cute.

So, this whole thing happened in Alexandria, but the EMTs drove us to Childrens, just in case we needed to be at the pediatric burn center. Better to be there from the start than find out later we needed a transfer. In the end, we were not deemed a serious enough burn to need to be sent upstairs to the burn center. That was wonderful news.

I was stumped though on how they could discharge us. I mean, how do we do pain maintenance? I'd just seen so much pain on my baby's face and I was about to request a morphine pump. They assured me that ibuprofen would be sufficient. I made them repeat that a few times but they didn't seem to be kidding. And they weren't. Since discharge on Saturday, she's gotten one dose of ibuprofen and one of acetaminophen. It's unbelievable, doubly so considering the amount of rambunctious joy that kid can round up.

Upon discharge on Saturday, she was bundled in her dressing. Before dinner, she had the leg dressing off. So we wrapped and taped it back on... and she got it off again. So we wrapped and taped more firmly. And hoped that no pesky germs and bacteria were getting in there to cause infection.

On Monday, we went to the Burn Clinic. We showed up close to opening and hoped they'd see us promptly. Let me say, the Burn Clinic at Childrens is awesome. The most efficient, gentle, competent, inspiring docs I've ever met. The saw us promptly, removed her dressing, assessed her again, and put new dressings on.

1) they really know how to wrap up a toddler. Very clever. So clever, we weren't sure we'd be able to change the diaper.

2) the percentage quoted in the ambulance was way off. There is a joke: There used to be a method for estimating burn coverage called the Rule of Nines. No one uses that method anymore, but they still use the term. Now the Rule of Nines means to take whatever number the EMT gave you and divide by nine. In our case, the 20% estimate was reassessed to be 6%. Only 6%. If we'd started there, I'd think that was a horrifyingly large % of my baby's body to be burned. But coming down from 20%, it feels like a HUGE improvement.

3) we have 3rd degree. So much more burn knowledge than I wanted to have... ok, so burns take time to reveal their nature, to "declare" themselves. I've found myself thinking of this as a blossoming. It can take several days for a burn to "declare" itself. When we left on Saturday, it looked all 2nd degree but by Monday morning, it was obvious that the leg was about half 3rd degree. So far, there is still no talk of skin grafts, but they did upgrade her leg dressing to something that bonds more with the wound.

FAQ:

• How long she will be in wraps? 

The honest answer is we don't know. Three to six weeks, but everyone heals differently. It might take longer if she douses herself in OJ and wrecks the dressings one day. Maybe she is a miracle healer. Either way, we won't likely make it back to the pool with her this season.

• Will she have scars? 

Again, we don't know. Scarring is rather individual, based on a lot of factors. There is a brisk trade of old-wives treatments to ensure no scars.

• Old wives and herbal treatments:

We were told to rub it with toothpaste by a lady at the cafe. Another woman recommended we douse it with some lavender blended oil. Aloe, yogurt, butter, vitamin e oil... some of these are more effective than others but here's the truth: they all pale in comparison to real medical intervention. Aloe and vitamin E might be better than nothing, but we are a far cry from having nothing.

• Will you ever drink coffee/visit that cafe again?
  

Of course and of course. We went back on Monday and the owner came out to talk to us. It was a stupid accident; no fault. And I love coffee, I really do.

• Why on earth was the coffee so hot? Wasn't that a bad idea? 

Cooking is the merger of chemistry and physics. It's probably the MOTHER of all chemistry and physics. In order to brew coffee and extract out the divine flavor and caffeine, you have to heat the water to between 190°F and 205°F. At this temperature, coffee can scald and cause 2nd and 3rd degree burns in a matter of seconds. ALL fresh coffee, everywhere - from your french press to Dunkin Donuts to the infamously hot McDonalds coffee to the fresh refill at the diner - is scalding hot. Well, if it's good, it is. Otherwise, it's weak coffee. And if you like a refill from a fresh pot, then you like scalding hot coffee. This is how coffee is made. So the next time you read about a recall for some toy that harmed a single child, just think about how often your child is THIS close to serious injury from coffee or car trips. To paraphrase Freakanomics: Humans are lousy at assessing risk. If we were any good at it, we'd ban starbucks and ford.

• How is WeeC doing? How is BigE? 

They are fine. Really. WeeC gets touchy when we futz too much with her wrappings but so long as it's all on there, she is fine. I had a long talk with BigE about the weekend and she is sad her sister got hurt, but she's not angry or scared or traumatized. She told everyone at the pool and I was impressed with her accuracy. Both kids are smart cookies.

• How are mom and dad?

I can't speak for dad, but I'm a lil jumpy. And clingy. But WeeC is not the cuddly type. Plus she's been pent-up and a holy terror, hitting her sister almost constantly. So I'm disciplining sternly and sneaking in a cuddle as I haul her off to time-out.

And I'll be frank: I know we are lucky. Our neighbors lost their child recently and as I was in the ambulance, still unsure of the outcome, I kept thinking, "at least I'm not worried she'll die. This is not life and death. We can handle all the rest." It's possible I'd be more emotional, blowing this up more, if it were not for the painfully acute knowledge that this is NOTHING compared to what could have been. This is just a burn, maybe a cool scar, something to brag about when my bruiser girl is on the roller derby team. This is not a tragedy; this is a life experience.