Congratulations to me for making it to 100 posts in so little time! A lot has been going on in my life it seems. Let's not stop here!
Let's finish up with horribly painful story.
Among other things, it was also impossible to handle my contacts, so I ended up wearing glasses for a few days(and there is one of many reasons the people with contacts also have glasses). The process that I had to live with after burning my hand was almost just as bad as when it happened.
There were things like people bumping into me, trying to eat(Ricky had to do a lot for me - opening yogurt lids, bottles of water...), and just coping with the pain that made daily life difficult. After I started going back to class my hand started swelling really bad and made it incredibly hard to handle. I couldn't move my thumb at all. The joints were shot as well, which made me feel a bit like I had a bad case of arthiritis.
Since I'm sure you're curious, I'm giving you a link here to a photo of my wound the day after. You don't have to click the link if you don't want to. Personally, looking at it makes me sick.
http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?image=006uy1.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/my.php?image=007vq2.jpg
The next photos were taken three days after.
http://img515.imageshack.us/my.php?image=008yp8.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/my.php?image=005zl7.jpg
http://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=007oi3.jpg
As you can see, the wound very quickly became a bloody mess. Everytime I took the bandage off to clean the wound and change the wrappings, I felt like I was going to be sick. Not only was it far beyond any pain I've ever been through, it was also the sickest thing I've ever seen/smelled and it was my own body. It became gradually worse as the flesh began to heal. By the last few days I didn't think I could get through changing the bandage. I was really that close to fainting or becoming physically sick. It wasn't the best thing for the hospital to give me an ace bandage. That's more for sprains and the like. This was an open wound that oozed and bled, so the bandage would get stuck to the dried blood and such and made it all the more painful to take off three times a day. I also had to rub a cream all over it with aided to the oozing and the burning pain. I cried a couple of times when I put it on...
The swelling scared me. I didn't know if it should do that or be that painful. The doctor told me to try to keep moving my thumb even though it killed, otherwise the skin would heal tightly and I wouldn't be able to move it at all later. But, with such terrible swelling, I really just couldn't move it at all. I went to the health office on campus (the one that is a million miles from my dorm) after receiving a call from them asking if I could come in. I guess the security office talked to them and they wanted to check up on me. As lame as it might sound, I was glad they were actually looking out for me.
Ricky came down to the office and waited with me. He also filled out the info sheet since I obviously couldn't. Something makes me think that I felt nasueous at the time.
You know, I really hate doctor's offices. The last three or so times that I've been in one I've cried. This was no exception. But this time it was from pure pain. After the nurse took off the bandage it was like an army of tiny little air molecules began to bite my flesh with their tiny blunt teeth. After some encouragement, the nurse left for a long time to do who knows what. Eventually, the doctor came in to look at the spectical and right away started poking at it asking, "Can you feel that?"
She asked about the burn clinic and why I didn't go. Although I had decided I didn't want to go back, she told me I needed to make an appointment. So, she hopped off to go call the hospital. It was at this point I think that Ricky had to leave to make a class. The woman popped back in the door with an expression on her face that could only make me think of my fourth grade teacher when she was annoyed with her students.
"Can you make it to the hospital in half and hour?"
"Um...well, I don't know anyone who could drive me there, and I can't exactly drive mys-"
"YOU HAVE A SIGNIFICANT BURN ON YOUR HAND."
".............okay."
Yes. I realize that. Thank you for reminding me. And yes, she actually turned that sentence into some kind of loud outburst.
I managed to get a hold of Jim, who was actually sleeping at the time (he needed all the sleep he could possibly get at the time because of his job) and he said he would bring me. The doctor had me wait in another room where I could be watched and they could see that I actually went with him. What did they think I was really going to do?
Anyway, Jim eventually got there ten minutes later. So, by this time it had been about twenty minutes since the woman asked if I could be there in half and hour. Jim didn't realize we were on a time crucial mission and ended up walking me partially to my room. When I realized we weren't going to his car I told him to go get it and meet me outside the dorm. By the time we actually got to the burn clinic, I'm sure we were at least fifty minutes late. They took me anyway.
After another hour of waiting around for the doctor to come back to the room, a large woman came in and had to ask me the usual. What happened, when, have you learned your lesson? I'm sure I was asked all that information at the very least 6 times. The woman asked me to take off my new bandage (I got another one from the health office) and said she would be back soon. I took it off and immediately fell into another pit of absolute agony. She didn't come back for another good fourty minutes.
Doctors... please.... don't leave your patients in agony while you take your sweet time doing anything else that's unrelated.
When she got back she brought three other women with her, all of which proceeded to torture me by putting terrible pressure on my hand while trying to clean it and wrapping cotton-like bandages around it. They also put on a cream similar to the one I had which also burned. The woman asked me what the cream was that I was using, and when I said I didn't remember the name she laughed at me and exploded with, "You're a college student and you don't even know the name of the cream you're using?!"
The rest of that week was just more of the same. Changing the bandages several times a day, gradually bleeding more and more (you could see it through the bandages even), and keeping my hand raised to keep the blood flow under control. There were also several people that wanted to see it, but I never showed them because it was just too painful to remove the wraps. In the last few days I'd take it off and blood immediately would start dripping into the sink. It scared me a little at that point.
A week later I went back to the hospital and the doctor (a different one, a dude) had me peel off the remaining dead skin (which was sickening in itself) and wash the rest of it with soap for a while. After all that he just told me to put lotion on all the time so it wouldn't dry out. Most of the wound was covered by this point. It's completely covered now, but there's still a horrible red scar because all of the layers of skin haven't revived yet. I don't know how long it will take for that to heal, or if it will completely. As for pain, there is only mild pain once in a while which is generally just a feeling like when your foot falls asleep and the blood is becoming active again. I have complete mobility in my hand and the joints don't hurt as often.
So...
That's good. I'm glad that's over.
THE END.
In other news...
I recently went to Boston to visit Emily and get a break from this campus. I'm now officially in love with that place. I want to live there.
For the most part, I love travel, and I love trains. Not so much this time though... Ari brought me to the train station where we thought we would be running late, when in fact the train was delayed an hour and a half. Once on the train we were traveling for almost an hour when we stopped in the middle of no where with no cell service for fourty-five minutes. It wasn't until the very end of the mysterious stop that we were told we couldn't move because the police had seized the tracks while they were looking for a couple kids. Delinquets? Children playing? Who knows. Started going again for almost ten minutes and then stopped again for another fourty-five, this time without and explanation.
So, I met Emily at the station around midnight, not 9:30 which was the original time of arrival. It was great and exciting even through my dead-tired state. Her immediate response to seeing me was "You're hair is green!"
We got back to her house where I met Brynn, Reba, and Juicebox and then went to bed.
Boston is so full of great things. That's where I belong, okay? Or at least where I need to vacation all the time.
We started off with some coffee at some delicious cafe where we listened to some guy play guitar for a while. Oh yeah, we also stopped in at Black Ink where I nearly went into a cute-coma.
We went to the science museum the first day where I took a copious amount of photos of minerals and animal skeletons. On the way there I found Pooh's house.
Lunch at the park. Pinocchio's pizza, which is the best pizza I have ever had, and boba slushies.
Afterwards we wandered around Boston Commons for a bit and I bought some super cute shoes. There was also some tall building in the distance and some dead apartment complex.
Sunday we went to Jamaica Plains and had breakfast and wandered around until we came to the Arboritum, a giant parklike place. We basically just layed around in the grass for a long time watching people and thinking. It was such a beautiful day for that.
We then trekked to the christian science center place and had another good dose of lounging about and thinking next to a beautiful reflecting pool.
That is one place I would love to spend a lot of time at.
We did a bit more wandering around in a shopping area until we were both really dead and tired. We ended the day with some more boba...
Emily couldn't hang out much after that because she had to go to work, but I managed fine on my own and actually had a wonderful time doing so. I went to an aquarium and saw a lot of jellyfish...
The last photo is the fountain at Christopher Colombus part. How appropriate, as it was Christopher Colombus day.... It was so peaceful there. Splish splish....
On the way to the Aquarium I saw a guy get on the train that reminded me of Bill. I suddenly really wanted a hug and very seriously has to resist the urge to go hug that guy. That would have been intersting, and I almost wish I did it. It made me realize a little how much I wanted to be able to share what I was feeling with people. The place I was in, the atmosphere...
Before going back to Harvard Square I found Feniual Hall and explored there for a bit. There was a man there performing some kinds of tricks, but mostly just entertaining people by picking people out of the crowd to tease.
http://www.luckyshow.net/
After that I just went back to Harvard Square and loitered outside the coffee place and listened to the guitarist play. There was a man sitting at a table in front of me who paused his conversation with another man to tell me he liked my hair. He said it looked good on me and that if he was younger and brave, he would do something like that.
Eventually Emily came by and sat around with me and we talked about the events of the day. I described to her my love for trains, the screaming child at the aquarium, and my fascination with people in general.
I'm sure that a lot more happened on that trip in plenty more detail, but I can't remember. The point is, I really loved it there and I can't wait to go back.
On another end of things... I didn't get back to school until 1AM because I missed my train by about 5 seconds. I met someone there named Christopher Grant and we sat around and talked about things like school and music for a while. It all started because he saw my shoes and really liked them and felt the need to tell me. He really wanted to keep in touch with me so he wrote down his name and wanted me to look him up on facebook. Unfortunately, Christopher Grant is a very common name, and also unfortunately, this process caused me to be late for the train.
I cried for a while and called my mom so I could be hysterical for a while. I didn't want to go back to the lobby because I didn't want to run into Christopher and have to explain that he made me late. He didn't really. It was my own responsibility to get there on time...
After a while of running around and talking to ticket vendors I managed to buy a ticket for a bus that was going to Syracuse at 5:oopm. With that settled, I had a good 5 hours to spend in the station. I opted to wander around the city a little which turned out to be incredibly painful. I had a lot of very heavy luggage...
I went to Chinatown which was basically just a clump of dirty chinese and korean resturants, jewlers, adult stores, and bakeries. I wanted to wander into one of the bakeries but didn't feel that much ambition with the mixture of heat and weight on me. I did get some bubble tea though, and that kept me alive for the rest of the wait for the bus. I wandered through Chinatown just enough to realize how dirty and smoke filled it was, and turned around and went back to the station where I just got comfortable and listened to music for several hours.
The bus finally came, I got as comfortable as is possible on a bus, and just closed my eyes for the whole trip. I felt terrible. I didn't really sleep at all, but I was so exhausted. My eyelids were screaming about how heavy they felt and how extremely tired I was, but I couldn't really sleep at all.
The bus finally got to the station and I stumbled off, incredibly confused and lightheaded, but I was met by Ari who gave me a big sympathetic hug and we went back to school.
Great trip. Horrible travel experience.
I was originally planning to write about four other topics, but that's far too much to put into one entry, even if it is my hundredth. The writing is becoming a tad dry, so I'll leave you with this for now. Be seeing you soon!
Let's just say that right now there's just nothing that can make me feel completely good. I can feel great, but lately I haven't been able to be completely at ease. We'll see what will become of this.
-Lisa
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