Wednesday, July 11, 2012

In which Donna shows her belly-button to the world

I was canning tomatoes this morning.  They had to boil for forty-five minutes, which was infringing on my dinner-cooking time.  At 11:20 the timer beeped.  I needed that burner, so I decided to lift the loaded canner over to the kitchen table.

The water in the canner was nearer the top that I realized, and when I picked it up and turned away from the stove, boiling water splashed on my belly.  
Twenty years ago my belly didn't stick out like it does now, and only my feet would have been burned.  
I wasn't going to tell Cliff about it because it was such a stupid mistake, and besides, he worries; but I remembered a conversation my daughter had with him last weekend about burns, and I recalled Cliff saying he had some burn ointment in the shop.  So I went out there and asked him for burn ointment.  He dug around in his toolbox and found it, then said, "OK, where's the burn?"
I lifted up the hippy dress I was wearing and showed him my bright-red belly.  He calmly applied the stuff, and it did ease the pain.  I returned to the house and finished cooking dinner.  After we ate, I took a picture of my tomatoes and posted it to Facebook.  That's how worried I was about my burned belly.   



Cliff returned to the shop, and granddaughter Monica came over to tell me about her experiences at Van's Warped Tour on Monday.  We chatted quite a while.  I peeled and sliced peaches for the freezer while we were talking.  
After Monica left, I went to the Internet to see what approach I should take to get the nasty burns healed.  Oh, and by this time, there were huge blisters, some of them the size of quarters.  


  Ignore the stretch marks please.  After all, I had two babies.  
I came to the conclusion that I had better go to the urgent care clinic, to avoid getting a secondary infection that might put my artificial knee at risk.  Although I never intended to wear my hippie dress away from home, I had to this time, because anything else would have been too painful.    
I now have burn cream and an antibiotic to take for ten days.  The antibiotic will force me to stay out of the sun, so I will be picking tomatoes at 5 A.M.  I'll also be taking my walk early; I suppose Cliff and I will walk separately for a few days.  
It doesn't hurt as much as you might think, as long as I wear my hippy dress and nothing else.  
The thing that irks me most is that seven quarts of canned tomatoes cost me $8 for meds and $10 co-pay at the urgent care center.  I'm supposed to be SAVING money with my canning!





15 comments:

  1. Youch! That is one nasty looking burn. Hope it heals quickly ~

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  2. That's still cheap for the peace of mind though!! And it's WAY less than I would have to pay!

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  3. Though I'm sorry when bad things happen to you and other bloggers, I'm glad you have the nerve to post about it.

    It is always a message to me that says, "Be Careful" and "You can't do everything you used to do." Sooo...you're being helpful when you show your blistered belly. So glad it wasn't worse.

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  4. Ouch! It looks like it hurts. Almost matches the good looking tomatoes.

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  5. I hate getting burns.. it is so painful.

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  6. I think you might be feeling a bit more pain on the morrow -- burns turns to get nastier before they get better. These look pretty serious so I'm really glad you went to urgent care. I'd say be more careful -- but it really wasn't that you were trying to burn yourself -- these things just seem to happen. Soothing thoughts going out to your belly, of course. MGW

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  7. I'm so glad you went to the urgent care center!!! Burns can be so bad if you don't take them seriously. I did a similar thing once with scalding hot water, burning my leg, though, not my belly. After it healed I got some vitamin E gelcaps, broke them open and put the vitamin E on the burns twice a day, and I don't even have a scar now, or not much of one. I hope it heals quickly.

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  8. Dang it, Mother! That looks TERRIBLE! Cut it out, would ya?

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  9. Burns heal so slowly. I know those blisters hurt. Glad you went to the doctor. The cream and antibiotic should help. take care. lay off the canning for a few days.

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  10. Well, this is definitely a first! I've never heard of a burned belly button before. It really is a true fact that most injuries occur at home.
    I'm glad you went to the urgent care clinic and I hope the burn heals quickly!

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  11. Looks very painful to me. Hope it heals up soon with no infection.

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  12. Oh my gosh. that looks very painful. I am glad you went to Urgent care too. Take it easy now for these next 10 days. But, your tomatoes look fantastic :-)

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  13. OH OUCH!!! I'm so glad you went to urgent care. In Mexico, we often had to care for burns that had been let go too long. The treatment then was painful and long term. My prayers go out daily for you and yours. Blessings, Penny

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  14. Ouch! Hope it heals quickly. I had a single blister like that on my tummy when at the end of first grade I thought I needed a cup of coffee before I went to pick up my report card...I spilled it trying to pour it in the cup. I still have a small brown birthmark looking thing from it. Don't know why I thought I needed coffee...maybe I thought I was grown since I had just finished 1st grade...ha. take care, Sheila

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