What If You Were Faced With a Serious Burns Accident Involving a Loved One?

 

A sunny Saturday afternoon, you're dozing in front of the TV, the wife is reading the latest Home & Garden Magazine and Gary, your teenage son, is out back with a friend, John, doing some work on 'The Bomb'. What could be nicer? Mmmm! 'Whooomp', a muffled explosion, at once with a loud, frantic 'No!', and I hit the floor running for the back door. And there, I froze for an instant, taking in the horrific scene, alongside his burning car was Gary, flames from his waist licking up at his face, John desperately beating at the flames with his bare hands. I shouted at John to move himself and Gary away from the car.

Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The garden hose reel was just a few feet away, alongside the tap. I turned the tap on, and ran the hose over to the boys, laid Gary on the ground, playing the water over his body, telling John to also put his hands into the stream from the hose. online marriage counselling As calmly as possible, I told my wife to call the Emergency Services Number, which was printed close to the phone. So far, everything was done correctly, but there would be a few months of intensive hospital care for Gary, and a couple of weeks for John's hands. It would be a time when everyone's emotions would be raw, recriminations too, possibly. But for the sake of the best possible outcome for both boys, all adverse thoughts, feelings, and actions have to be suppressed.

There will be a lot of pain for both boys, Gary will be faced with immediate, extensive, skin grafting. John, who was bravely trying to beat out the flames with his bare hands, suffered shallow 'Partial Thickness' burns to both hands, the most painful of all burns, but certainly would recover without grafting, and show very little scarring. Psychotherapy Gary, on the other hand will have a few years of skin grafting to relieve scar contractures, and probably have to wear Pressure Garments to minimise scarring. But will always show scarring to some degree, and will need to be watched closely for signs of Depression, and/or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. OK! There's the picture, not pretty! Imagined, Yes, but could easily happen to any household. We never know for sure just how we would react to these 'Imagined' situations, but it certainly is worth the time to consider just what we would do.