Fire.
Since the days of the caveman, I'm sure man has been using and harnessing fire and its awesome power. Monday was not that day for me.
I am taking a class in which I had to sterilize my equipment and my hands through alcohol. So I do as directed, I spray my hands with the 70% ethanol and dip my razor blade in the 95% ethanol, then using tweezers, proceed to take my blade over to the bunson burner.
As my blade catches fire I remove it from the flame to allow it to burn. I'm watching my flame when I notice that my hand catches fire. I drop my sterilized blade and start waving my hand thinking that maybe the alcohol will just burn off.
It doesn't. And my hand starts to get HOT! I start waving my hand in the air really fast thinking that would put it out. That doesn't work and its getting hotter. I start slapping my pants thinking maybe I can change something by doing this, my pants catch on fire and my hand is getting hotter still. I start slapping my lit hand with my other hand thinking that this would do the trick and because my hand is hot. Well my left hand catches on fire and I've got fireballs for fists.
Finally, the alcohol burns up and I've got a couple burn marks and blisters are starting to form on my hands and knuckles. My professor says get up your done. She directs me to the sink, gets me an ice pad and the next thing I know, I've grabbed my backpack and I'm on my way to the University ER. Closed.
Luckily there's a private place close to campus. My hand is still burning with pain at this point and I can't rotate the ice pack fast enough from the top side to the bottom side to feel comfortable. I go up to the lady, she takes my insurance and I start filling out paperwork with my left hand. She informs me that there's an hour and a half wait. What? I quickly ask for my insurance back and hand her back my unfilled papers. She tries some half-hearted attempt to get me to stay there, but I know I can do better and fix this on my own so I head home.
With my left hand I get out my laptop and look up ways to treat burns. Best recommendation is to run cool water over it for 20 minutes. I just stick it in a bucket of water with a bag of peas in it. I guess I'm hungry so I open the peas and start eating those. Yum. Comfort Food.
After like an hour I realize that this is no quick fix so I head over to Walgreens. Halfway searching through Walgreens my icepack has warmed up to no longer be effective. After another couple minutes of looking for some kind of burn ointment I can't think any longer because of the pain and I go for the instant ice packs. Finally some relief.
I make my purchases, put on the goldbond stuff and it provides the relief I'm seeking. Ahhh... finally a sigh of this doesn't sting so bad that I'm about to chop my hand off.
The next day no pain, just blisters which eventually recede and become brown. All in all a learning experience and some notoriety was gained among my classmates. I don't know if it was worth it. Hopefully I gain the feeling back in my pinky where the burns were the worst. Just a couple second degree burns I decided. Cool. Now I can add those to the long list of fun injuries I've had over the years. So much fun...
Since the days of the caveman, I'm sure man has been using and harnessing fire and its awesome power. Monday was not that day for me.I am taking a class in which I had to sterilize my equipment and my hands through alcohol. So I do as directed, I spray my hands with the 70% ethanol and dip my razor blade in the 95% ethanol, then using tweezers, proceed to take my blade over to the bunson burner.
As my blade catches fire I remove it from the flame to allow it to burn. I'm watching my flame when I notice that my hand catches fire. I drop my sterilized blade and start waving my hand thinking that maybe the alcohol will just burn off.It doesn't. And my hand starts to get HOT! I start waving my hand in the air really fast thinking that would put it out. That doesn't work and its getting hotter. I start slapping my pants thinking maybe I can change something by doing this, my pants catch on fire and my hand is getting hotter still. I start slapping my lit hand with my other hand thinking that this would do the trick and because my hand is hot. Well my left hand catches on fire and I've got fireballs for fists. |
| Notice where my hair is burnt off and the bag of peas I was nom noming on |
Luckily there's a private place close to campus. My hand is still burning with pain at this point and I can't rotate the ice pack fast enough from the top side to the bottom side to feel comfortable. I go up to the lady, she takes my insurance and I start filling out paperwork with my left hand. She informs me that there's an hour and a half wait. What? I quickly ask for my insurance back and hand her back my unfilled papers. She tries some half-hearted attempt to get me to stay there, but I know I can do better and fix this on my own so I head home.
With my left hand I get out my laptop and look up ways to treat burns. Best recommendation is to run cool water over it for 20 minutes. I just stick it in a bucket of water with a bag of peas in it. I guess I'm hungry so I open the peas and start eating those. Yum. Comfort Food.
 |
| A week later, you can see the blisters |
I make my purchases, put on the goldbond stuff and it provides the relief I'm seeking. Ahhh... finally a sigh of this doesn't sting so bad that I'm about to chop my hand off.
The next day no pain, just blisters which eventually recede and become brown. All in all a learning experience and some notoriety was gained among my classmates. I don't know if it was worth it. Hopefully I gain the feeling back in my pinky where the burns were the worst. Just a couple second degree burns I decided. Cool. Now I can add those to the long list of fun injuries I've had over the years. So much fun...
That's terrible that you caught on fire. And yet, in the wee hours of the morning while I'm waiting at the hospital for my friend to give birth, I find myself trying desperately not to burst into laughter and wake everyone up. Glad your injuries didn't spread past your hand(s). But thanks for including the details-it's in the simple things. :)
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