Sunday morning started out like any other day. Erik and the boys were playing downstairs, I was upstairs making hot chocolate for us. I came downstairs, set my freshly made steaming mug on the table in a spot that I thought was far enough back from Mason's little bear paw reach. I was horribly wrong.
Mason was across the room from the mug, I turned my back for a second and then Erik and I both turned around just in time to see the steaming hot chocolate spill all over him. The image of the steam rising as the liquid was falling is permanently seared into my brain. The heart wrenching screams coming from Mason's mouth are permanently scarred into my mind.
I thought it was just on his hand. I grabbed him, ran upstairs, and threw his hand under cold water. As I was holding him I realized that my hand was burning in the spot I was holding him across his chest. I tore his clothes off. As his clothes were coming off, his skin was coming off with it. Blisters were already forming, and sloughing off, on his perfect baby skin.
Erik called the nurse line while I put him in the tub to pour cold water on his body. The nurse asked a series of questions, as well as gave us instructions on how to treat the burns. Finally she asked what percent of his body was burned. Apparently you measure that with their palm. 1 palm = 1%. I eyeballed it and said 5. She said to hang up immediately and call 911.
Sirens. A police officer standing in my bathroom. Mason screaming bloody murder. The EMT's. A ride in the ambulance. Me strapped on to the cot with Mason in my arms. He couldn't go in a car seat because the burns were on the entire left side of his torso. As well as his left forearm (his hand that I was initially holding under cold water wasn't even affected). Me, hoping and praying the ambulance didn't get in an accident on the way because my baby wasn't strapped into anything, although there was no way he was getting out of my death grip.
He finally calmed down about half way to the ER. I started singing softly in his ear, the Tylenol kicked in and my inquisitive little bear cub LOVES to watch people. It was enough to make him forget his pain.
3 hours later we left the ER with the knowledge that he was extremely lucky. He ended up with 2nd degree scalding burns on 7% of his body. If it had been 10% we would've been in the helicopter on the way to the nearest burn unit. If his entire forearm had been burned, instead of just the one side that is, we would've been in the helicopter on the way to the nearest burn unit--in fear that his hand would've lost circulation, or worse, due to swelling.
Instead, our little Mason was, and still is, a champ. He didn't cry at all in the ER. In fact he gave everyone big smiles. He slept in my arms, watched Monsters, Inc. and laid there calmly while the nurse dressed his wounds.
He hasn't slowed down even a little bit. You would never know he's wrapped up like a mummy underneath his clothes. He's not a fan of the dressing changes but I think it has less to do with pain and more to do with the fact that he's being held down for a few minutes. He's still getting into everything he shouldn't be (giving us heart attacks at every turn) laughing, wrestling, eating. The only way you can tell something awful happened would be to look at Erik or myself. We each acquired 25 new wrinkles and 500 gray hairs from the incident.
The crazy thing is, Erik tried the hot chocolate that was left in the mug immediately after the spill and it wasn't even that hot. It was drinkable and Erik is super sensitive to hot liquids. That's how incredibly delicate baby skin is. LESSON LEARNED. The hard way.
Kade has been fantastic through all of this too. He entertained Mason in the ER. At home, during dressing changes while Erik is wrestling with Mason and I'm playing nurse, Kade will sing to Mason to try to keep him entertained all the while throwing gauze, tape, etc. at me in order to keep things moving. We're like a well oiled, but extremely dysfunctional, surgical room!
The boys' favorite thing to do--chase Kade around the couch in the living room. This pastime has been put on hold until the wounds on Mason's chest heal. Look at those smiles though!!
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