So last night, I was scrubbing my floor. I have a 4' square hearth, and I keep the ash can and a cast iron dutch oven on one side, and the metal tinderbox and fireplace tools on the other. Because my stove is so narrow, there's a good 18" between it and the floor. My three year old daughter has always been very good about knowing the stove is hot and all and we've never even had a close call.
But- I was cleaning so all the stuff I normally have in the way? Was not in the way. Turned my back for a second and she had fallen and touched the side of the stove. All four pads of her fingers plus most of her thumb were burned. Fortunately, none on her palm.
I immediately swooped her up and sat her by the sink and ran cold water over it. I had my husband fill a bowl with about three cups of water, and six drops of lavender essential oil and three drops of clove oil. Lavender oil is cooling and helps with cellular growth and helps pull the heat out. Clove oil is a very effective numbing agent- it has the same active component as lidocaine. She definitely felt relief keeping her hand in the water and actually put enough weight on it that she popped the big blister on her thumb, apparently without it hurting very much. Keeping it soaked in water instead of just running water over it helps the skin over the blister supple so it doesn't cause as much pain.
I ended up taking her to the ER because I wasn't sure how best to dress her wound, and her blisters were growing larger by the minute despite the cold water. I soaked cheesecloth and gauze in the water-oil and wrapped her hand up nice and tight (she seemed to instinctually want to clutch her hand, so I soaked some cotton balls and put those on her palm so she'd have something soft to squeeze). They pretty much did what I would have done- popped the blisters, cut away the dead skin, and wrapped them individually in emulsion dressings and gauze with silver sulfadiazene and then more gauze all around her hand, and some of that self-adhering elastic wrap stuff. She was SUCH a trooper the whole time. She even thanked the nurses for making her hand feel better.
Today it doesn't seem to be bothering her- she'll crawl around and grab stuff and put her weight on it when she's getting in the car and stuff. We're going into the burn clinic tomorrow to have it re-dressed and then hopefully I can take care of the rest at home.
I make a burn salve that I keep around. It's equal parts pure aloe vera gel, raw unprocessed honey, and cold-pressed wheat germ oil. Aloe is of course wonderful for burns, and raw honey is a marvelous antimicrobial and the glucose helps give the skin cells energy to grow back. Wheat germ oil is the purest source of Vitamin E, which helps with blistering, scarring, or the skin adhering in places it should (especially important when a burn is over a joint). Calendula oil is very good for burns as well. I keep mine in the fridge and it will keep for about six months- it also feels HEAVENLY on sunburns. I slather it on pretty thick and then cover it with gauze. The honey will make it sticky, so I soak it in cold water when I change the dressing.
Opinions are rather split on the idea of popping blisters and removing dead skin. From the research I did, early removal of dead skin leads to faster skin growth, but is more painful. On hands and feet it's better to get it off as soon as you can and then bandage it very well. On the back of your hand or arm or such, it's usually okay to just leave it alone unless the blister is particularly painful.
Anyway, just thought I would share this since I know there are a lot of other members with little kids.
~Rose
But- I was cleaning so all the stuff I normally have in the way? Was not in the way. Turned my back for a second and she had fallen and touched the side of the stove. All four pads of her fingers plus most of her thumb were burned. Fortunately, none on her palm.
I immediately swooped her up and sat her by the sink and ran cold water over it. I had my husband fill a bowl with about three cups of water, and six drops of lavender essential oil and three drops of clove oil. Lavender oil is cooling and helps with cellular growth and helps pull the heat out. Clove oil is a very effective numbing agent- it has the same active component as lidocaine. She definitely felt relief keeping her hand in the water and actually put enough weight on it that she popped the big blister on her thumb, apparently without it hurting very much. Keeping it soaked in water instead of just running water over it helps the skin over the blister supple so it doesn't cause as much pain.
I ended up taking her to the ER because I wasn't sure how best to dress her wound, and her blisters were growing larger by the minute despite the cold water. I soaked cheesecloth and gauze in the water-oil and wrapped her hand up nice and tight (she seemed to instinctually want to clutch her hand, so I soaked some cotton balls and put those on her palm so she'd have something soft to squeeze). They pretty much did what I would have done- popped the blisters, cut away the dead skin, and wrapped them individually in emulsion dressings and gauze with silver sulfadiazene and then more gauze all around her hand, and some of that self-adhering elastic wrap stuff. She was SUCH a trooper the whole time. She even thanked the nurses for making her hand feel better.
Today it doesn't seem to be bothering her- she'll crawl around and grab stuff and put her weight on it when she's getting in the car and stuff. We're going into the burn clinic tomorrow to have it re-dressed and then hopefully I can take care of the rest at home.
I make a burn salve that I keep around. It's equal parts pure aloe vera gel, raw unprocessed honey, and cold-pressed wheat germ oil. Aloe is of course wonderful for burns, and raw honey is a marvelous antimicrobial and the glucose helps give the skin cells energy to grow back. Wheat germ oil is the purest source of Vitamin E, which helps with blistering, scarring, or the skin adhering in places it should (especially important when a burn is over a joint). Calendula oil is very good for burns as well. I keep mine in the fridge and it will keep for about six months- it also feels HEAVENLY on sunburns. I slather it on pretty thick and then cover it with gauze. The honey will make it sticky, so I soak it in cold water when I change the dressing.
Opinions are rather split on the idea of popping blisters and removing dead skin. From the research I did, early removal of dead skin leads to faster skin growth, but is more painful. On hands and feet it's better to get it off as soon as you can and then bandage it very well. On the back of your hand or arm or such, it's usually okay to just leave it alone unless the blister is particularly painful.
Anyway, just thought I would share this since I know there are a lot of other members with little kids.
~Rose
) Physicians like to cut and rip; even working on burn units we never did that to intact burns, we let the body do its thing and keep the area comfortable. 
!
