Trigger Warning: Raw Scar Images (Right Hand)

One thing I've had in the back of my mind since I started this blog has been to share some images of how my scars have progressed. My dad and my sister were very good about taking progress pictures, at my request, when the nurses removed the bandages to clean the wounds. Just skip past anything with a trigger warning if you'd rather not see graphic/raw/sometimes bloody pictures.

The initial injury happened 9/7/20, and we were rescued two days later, 9/9/20. I don't have pictures quite that early because I was totally out of it and hadn't requested for my family to take pictures yet. The hospital staff took pictures, which I requested, but the CD of medical records they sent me doesn't work on my computer. Oh well. So I don't know what my hands looked like before surgery. I have had many surgeries, especially in those first 7 weeks at the hospital, but the first week was a real blur in my mind.

I do have one memory of my raw hands before being rescued. All I remember is that they were so, so, so swollen. I stood there on the bank of the river in a daze and looked down at my hands, and thought that my ring finger was probably going to fall off where the ring squeezed it tight. Everywhere all around the ring was twice as big as it ought to be, fingers so fat and swollen. Jacob and I discussed it as we stood there by the river, noting that we should have pulled our rings off right after the fire when we still could. But that had been the last things on our mind.

Anyway, here is a picture of my hand and arm now. Scroll no further unless you'd like to see raw images.

11/09/22

9/16/20

They did skin grafts on my back and chest before I was even aware where I was. My arms and hands they also got to pretty quick, but by then I was more cognizant. This picture was taken on my 27th birthday, before my skin graft. I know that, because I was scheduled for surgery that day, but my nurse told the doctors absolutely not. "You can't take her down for surgery on her birthday!" she insisted. I am grateful. My surgery was rescheduled for two days later. I expected to wake up with skin grafts on both hands and both arms, but instead woke up with only one hand grafted, because they'd also had to do the hysterectomy. It was a horrible night. I reacted poorly to one of the anesthesiologist's pain med choices and had unpleasant hallucinations all night and through most of the next day, too. 

But on my birthday I had a pleasant day. My nurse even made cake and blended it with whipped cream on her own time in her own kitchen to bring for me. The staff and even other patients colored pictures for me. My family put up lights in my room and all sorts of nice things. And in this picture of my arm and hand on my birthday, I was still wearing the cadaver skin from my initial surgery. The body will ultimately reject skin from a different body, including cadaver skin, but it is used as a temporary fix to hold a burn patient over until the actual grafting can be done.

And this image is after they'd finished re-bandaging it.

9/24/20

They used staples to hold the skin grafts on. As it healed, they removed the staples bit by bit during daily wound care.

9/30/20

Stretching was an important part of my daily activity. It was the only way for the skin grafts to heal properly, since they tend to shrink and become tight.

10/6/20

10/11/20

10/15/20

As the wounds slowly healed, I needed less and less of the xeroform (yellow bandages) on them.

10/30/20

This is after being discharged from the hospital, getting to hold my niece for the first time.

11/15/20

This is one of the many splints my occupational therapist made for me to stretch my fingers. They wouldn't bend at all at first, but slowly over time with LOTS of hard work, they got back to functional level bending. Though they will never be perfect. My pointer finger had a pin in it for a long time, so it will never bend super well, but the others do pretty well! My occupational therapist told me that when she first saw my hands, she thought I would end up with multiple amputated fingers... so it's pretty great to still have all of them and have them work decently well!

7/5/21

By July my hands were looking pretty good.

7/09/21

But they never looked too great right after the many laser surgeries to soften the scars.

9/19/21

4/3/22

And there were also the surgical release surgeries to help gain more motion in the thumb webspace.

Overall, my hands have been through a lot. But they've also had a lot of help - surgeons, nurses, occupational therapist, family, friends who are like family, and of course Jacob. At first others drove us to our surgeries, but once we were back on our feet we started scheduling our surgeries on a staggered schedule, so we could take turns taking care of each other.

In the midst of hardships, there is always a lot to be thankful for. Having good relatively functional skin and fingers is pretty high up there on the list! ;)