A Healing Journey

The story of how I burned my feet and the process of healing

I have been spending most of the time in bed with my furry friends for companionship, reading, watching Netflix, coloring and playing games on my phone.

The fire pit that I burned my feet on at Fish Lake Campground

The accident:

It all started while camping at Fish Lake Campground with my son Elijah and his friend on the weekend of October 21st. I had placed my feet on the edge of the fire pit and was leaning back in my wheelchair staying warm, I checked my feet a few times to make sure they were not getting hot. Unfortunately, the side of the iron fire pit heated up which I wasn't aware of and my feet were burned badly with 3rd degree burns. I don't know if most people know, but with the level of my spine and back injury, I can't feel sensation from my knees on down, so I didn't feel my feet burning.

I didn't notice that I had burns on my feet until the next morning while changing my socks, that is when I saw the huge blisters! My heart sank and I felt super faint because I knew at that very moment that it was bad and my life was not going to be the same. I have had small burns on my feet before, but nothing like this. I immediately covered the blisters very gently with gauze and tape so that they would not burst. I knew that the longer they stay blistered, the better chance of preventing infection as they needed to stay clean and heal. As soon as I got home, I called my doctor and asked her to please send a referral to the Mad River Wound Clinic and let them know it was urgent. They got me in within 4 days, but told me to go to an emergency quickly if the blisters popped or started to look infected.

U.C. Davies Firefighters Burn Institute Regional Burn Center:

When I got to my appointment with Dr. Taylor, the blisters on both feet had popped open and he was able to see the severity of the burns. He got quite upset about how deep the burns were on the bottoms of my feet and informed me that there is no way he can treat me there at the Clinic and there is no where else in Humboldt County that does treatments for burns this bad. He said I would need to be flown to either U.C.S.F or UC Davis Burn Hospital for skin graphs. I felt the blood drain from my face and became weak with fear and discouragement. I asked him to please send me to UC Davis and not UCSF for I am terrified of that hospital because of past experiences there with my son Daniel and I am not comfortable in the bay area. I am familiar with UC Davis because that is where I was sent after the explosion accident. Also I have lots of friends and family in the Sacramento area that could be there for me if needed help. For he had informed me that it could be a month or so that I would be hospitalized. He said that I would have to go wherever there was a bed for me. I just hoped and prayed that the bed would be available at UC Davis.

He then sent me to the emergency room to wait for the ambulance that would take me to the airport to be flown out of Humboldt. I had anxiety so bad and thoughts were running through my head like crazy...I fought back the tears..I didn't want to go away, I had my two jobs, my Gypsy kitty at home and I felt I was in a good place in my life. Dang it...no! this cant be happening to me! I panicked as I realized I didn't have my wheelchair with me because I used my little scooter to go into town. It could not be taken in the airplane with me. The technician in the ER told me I had about a half hour befroe the ambulance would be taking me to the airport....thank god Daniel answered his phone when I called and I asked him to please bring me my wheelchair and some items from home that I would need. My wheelchair is my legs, I would be totally devasted and helpless without it. I thought to myself that the hospital would provide one of the big metal clunkers if I didn't have my wheelchair but I wanted my own because those chairs are so tough to get around in and If I was going to be down there for about a month, that would be a long time to not have my chair aka legs. And also Dr Taylor had mentioned that I might have to do outpatient care down there also, so that was causing me intense anxiety...of course someone could eventually bring my chair down to me, but with gas prices and poor running vehicles , it was not feasible. Daniel arrived and had my chair and stuff as they were transferring me from the ER bed onto the ambulance stretcher. He was my hero that day! As they were pushing me out to the ambulance me and Daniel glanced at each other with a look of sadness for we both were thinking how many times I had to watch him get loaded up into an ambulance to be flown out to hospitals out of town for dangerous blood clots in his body. I felt the tears well up in my eyes, but I was being brave and holding it together, as always. We arrived at the Arcata Airport and I was loaded into the Cal-Ore Life Flight plane.

The flight went quickly and we arrived at McCellan Air Force base where another ambulance was waiting to transport me to UC Davis Hospital. They loaded me up into the ambulance and drove me to UC Davis. I was all settled in my room on the 12th floor by 8pm that evening.

I was on the 12th floor in a huge hospital!

The views from my room.

Surgery and the healing journey

The next morning the surgeon came in to see me and decided that I would definitely need skin graphs. She scheduled the surgery for the following Wednesday on November 2nd. I asked to have the donor site be my calf instead of my thigh since I dont have sensation on my calves but do on my thighs. She agreed that this was a good idea, but unfortunately I discovered that I do have some sensation on my calves and have been dealing with intense nerve pain since the surgery. I am hoping that the pain eventually subsides. The surgeon had to take a big layer from my calf to graph the burns since they were really deep as is obvious as shown in the pictures above.

Surgery went well and the surgeon was pleased with the results. Now the difficult part was ahead of me. I was not able to put any weight bearing on my feet at all, which is super difficult for me because I use my feet as pivots when I do my transfers to the toilet and to get in and out of my wheelchair. I had to learn to transfer keeping my feet from touching the ground and use my arm strength to hold myself up to transfer. But I figured it out quickly. I wanted to add that it felt kind of like deja vu being there at UC Davis hospital because this is where I was brought after the explosion for surgery and rehabilitation. I was feeling helpless and vulnerable, for I lost so much independence in both these situations.

The wound vac that I had to keep on, it helps pull fluid from the wound and promotes healing

Me right after surgery after they gave me some pain medication...feeling quite ok.

The donor site

Going Home:

I was in the hospital for 2 weeks and was asked if someone was going to come get me. I knew that this was not a good possibility so they arranged transportation for me in an ambulance.I got to ride home in an ambulance and what a trip that was! It was quite the experience. The emergency technicians were fun and they played party music all the way. We showed up at my house in the evening and Daniel helped to get me settled in my bed with Luna and Gypsy as my cuddle buddies. It was wonderful to be home in my own bed.

The view on the trip home.

Bed rest and keeping legs elevated

It was good to come home. I have been getting plenty of rest and am healing well. Mad River Home Health nurses come out twice a week to bring supplies and re-wrap the burns. I have a physical therapist come out once a week to help me with stretches and massages. Friends have been gracious and have brought food and groceries and have helped out financially since I have not been able to work and do not have much of an income other than the small SSDI check I receive each month. My IHHS workers have been super helpful and are appreciated. It has been 11 weeks since the accident and I am almost back to normal as far as my energy and ability to be completely independent and the wounds are looking great, although they are going to leave some knarly scars. The donor site healed up well, but I have had some blisters show up and break so I have to treat it again, but it will be ok. We don't know why this is happening other than the new skin growth got irritated and is very sensitive...

Here are the latest photos of the wounds, they look much better than before and are healing up but still have a ways to go.

Future:

I did meet a wonderful new friend while at the hospital, her name is Claudia aka Thelma. We shared a room together until we were both wheeled into surgery. She and I connected immediately and felt like we had known each other for ever. We had fun and had the best of times in such a short span. The nurses said that our room was the happiest room on the floor, they loved coming into our room to just hang out. We call ourselves Thelma and Louise and hope to take a wild road trip someday. We are in contact daily and pray and encourage each other. I know that this was a divine encounter and this had to happen so that we could meet. Alot of other wonderful blessings have come out of this horrible situation, I could go on and on about all the blessings, it is overwhelming. I have had time to rethink my future life goals and will cut back on working for it was getting super hard on my body mind and spirit. I want to focus on my health and well-being and write my book, cook and bake, garden, crochet, hang out with my grand kids, work at Big Lagoon school Library part time (for this is my passion and I worked so hard to become a librarian) and color in my coloring books...lol

“Life keeps throwing me stones. And I keep finding the diamonds.” – Ana Claudia Antunes