Burns and Blessings

Wednesday, September 7th started out like any other day, but ended quite different from the rest.

I was making scones for the first time and I was pretty excited to use the life-hack my friend told me about, which is to use Rhodes dinner roll dough. 

I heated up a lot of oil in my biggest pan so I could chuck all the dough in at the same time. I waited until it got really hot and then I took the lid off. There was a lot of smoke and I got a little nervous. Then, just like that, the whole pan burst into flame. A big flame that reached halfway up the microwave (3ft! I measured). A plume of smoke rose to the ceiling and almost instantly started the smoke alarm.

My mind raced through different options of what I could do as I looked at Lucy's scared, crying face about 4 feet away from the fire. 

Salt? The fire is too big!

Fire extinguisher? It's in the garage (and I need my key to unlock the garage).

I knew that I had to act fast, so I reached for the pan handle. I needed it out of my house. I quickly moved it onto the cement outside, but as I was setting it down oil spilled all over my foot. 

I screamed in pain and panic.

I ran to the bathtub to run cold water on it. 

Lucy crawled after me crying.

I knew we couldn't stay in the house with all of the smoke (and I needed to get to my phone to call 911). I grabbed Lucy and my phone. 

Right then my neighbors stormed inside. They were in their backyard, heard my scream, saw the smoke, heard the alarm going off and they immediately ran over. They were heaven sent. I would've had to wait for an ambulance and then what would I have done with Lucy when it finally came?

Franz ran out to the backyard where the fire was and started to spray my foot with the hose. His wife, Janet took Lucy, and another angel neighbor ran into the backyard. Franz told Betty that I needed to go the the hospital right away. She ran to get her car while I got a bowl of cold water for my foot, turned the stove off, and got my wallet. 

(Good thing I had just learned about burns a few months before this. No ice! And for deeper burns/open wounds no aloe vera or oils. Just water.)

We raced to the hospital and I kept thinking about the absolute miracle it was that Lucy didn't get hurt. I kept crying tears of joy that she was okay and then I would cry whenever I thought about how scared she was and how she was crying.

But she was okay, our home was protected, our backyard didn't catch on fire, and all that got burned was my foot. Yes, it was painful, but it could have been so much worse. The oil stains on my pants showed that I should have had burns on my thighs too, but my thighs were protected. 

While I was getting the help I needed my amazing neighbors took Lucy into their home and aired out our home by opening all of the windows and bringing their fan over. Another neighbor, Julie, came over to gather a bunch of things that Lucy would need and sent me a picture of Lucy peacefully sleeping. That is exactly what I needed.

After that, 3 more neighbors (Brad, Sherry, and Tatianna) texted me to make sure I was okay and to let me know that they were watching our house and everything was under control.

I am so blessed to have such good neighbors.

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." D&C 84:88

It wasn't by chance that my neighbors were outside right at that moment. It wasn't by chance that oil didn't spill in my house. It wasn't by chance that Lucy was further away than usual when this happened. It wasn't by chance that my thighs were protected. None of it was chance. God doesn't stop all accidents from happening, but He can help with them.

It seemed like Lucy and I were alone in the house, but I know that wasn't truly the case.

"Though you may feel alone, angels attend you." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

After my neighbor left the hospital, Zach came. I saw him down the hall and I couldn't hold back the tears. I can always count on him to be there for me and it was such a comfort to see him walking towards me. He just hugged me as I cried. Frightened tears, relieved tears, and understanding tears. I was so glad to have him there to be with me.

There were so many wonderful and kind people at the hospital and the burn center. The lady that put lotion on a rag for me so that I didn't have to keep smelling the burnt oil, the man who gave me cold water to pour on my foot, the EMTs who transferred me so carefully from Henry Mayo to the Grossman Burn Center. 

There was one man that made the biggest impact on me and his name is Ibrihim. He is a custodian at the hospital and saw me alone and in pain in the hallway. He went completely out of his way to comfort me. He brought me tissues when he saw me crying, he changed towels under my foot when they would get soaked with water, he brought me a cup that I could use to pour water on my foot, and then after Zach got there he brought me a teddy bear. 

I'm sure he didn't realize how touching that was to me, but it was so comforting to know that someone cared. And when I was getting wheeled away to the ambulance I looked in a room and saw another lady with a teddy bear.

Ibrihim quietly moves about the hospital blessing others and that was a powerful lesson to me.

People are so good.

So, here we are now, a few days later. Family and friends have helped dress my feet twice a day and I've washed my burns twice a day, and yesterday my friend took me to the burn center where they rubbed my burned skin completely off. But my feet are comfortably wrapped and I get to use our office chair as my wheelchair. 

Zach gave me a priesthood blessing at the burn center and in it was said that this accident, despite the pain, has helped me avoid larger, scarier accidents in the future from happening. I'm so grateful for that. I will be SO careful while cooking, Lucy will ALWAYS be far from the kitchen, and now I know what to do in case something like this happens again.

Let me share my newfound knowledge:

I looked up what to do for an oil/grease fire for the future. 

The first thing you should do is to turn off the stove and put a METAL lid over the fire (a glass one will shatter). You can also cover it with another pot or pan.

Baking soda will put out a grease fire, but only if they're small. It takes a lot of baking soda to do the trick. Also, try salt.

DO NOT PUT WATER ON IT!

Also, it'd be smart to move your fire extinguisher to the kitchen since that's the place you'll most likely have a fire. Fire extinguishers contaminate your kitchen but I'd much rather have a contaminated kitchen than NO kitchen at all!

We have received love and support from so many angels in our lives. Family made sure everything was okay, my sister in law: Katie, brother in law: Michael, and their family came to help, afterwards my mother in law stayed with us and helped with everything, friends brought us food and love, and members of our church have reached out and brought us dinners.

We are so blessed. I don't even realize to what extent we're blessed. Only one of my feet is badly injured, my home is still standing, my family is safe, and God continues to perform miracles.

[If you want to see pictures you can scroll down (but let me warn you...it looks like zombie flesh).]

Ibrihim's gift:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3: (I don't have a picture of when they took the skin off....which is probably a good thing.)

My current view:

Update:

Day 6 (after taking off the weekend bandage). Sorry, the nastiness is real. 

Today the doctor said the burn is borderline 3rd degree. I may need surgery when I go in Thursday if it doesn't heal the way it should. It would include digging out the dead skin and adding a skin graft. 

Let's pray I don't need it, but if so at least it'll only be on one foot!


Another update (Sept. 19th):

No surgery!!!! 😄👏🎉🎉🎉
God is a God of miracles and He listens to and answers prayers.
I'm not walking quite yet, but the doctor said that I can start in a couple of days!

From today (look at all of that new skin!):