Need to make sure I am not over reacting here....

[Wishfullmama]

Ok for starters I have a very very pale child, like ghost pale.....
well his grandpa took him out last saturday mushroom hunting without putting sunscreen on Blake, which created one MASSIVE sunburn on Blakes arms...
this sunburn has been bothering him all week but finally about an hour ago, his whole shoulderblade has now blistered open, the other one looking like it is on the verge of blistering open. I noticed the open wound when I went to take his shirt off from school to look at the burn, I had to literally pull his shirt off of the area, it hurt to say the least.

My dad is on his way over to watch my daughter so I can take Blake to the ER since we have no urgent care here and docs are closed since I have no idea how to dress or treat this wound and the other one looks like it is about to open as well (this one that is open is currently about the size of two US half dollar coins)

Please tell me I am not over reacting as I feel very very silly taking Blake to the ER for this but yet I have no idea how to handle these wounds or put shirts on him without bothering the wounds on his shoulders

 

[Heather9603]

I don't think you are overreacting because open skin can lead to infection. If it was on myself, I'd bear through it. But on my kid, that would be another story! I'd take him in too.

 

[Wishfullmama]

Exactly...I know for a fact if it was me I would not be going in at all, just deal with it, ya know...but with my son, I just feel they need to be seen and dressed the right way, especially since he does have to pull his shirt over and on these to be able to go to school, I have no idea what to do with these things..arg darn sunburns!

 

[Wishfullmama]

Arg some people just make me mad

So I took Blake to the ER for this burn he has plus the gaping wound from the blister which the burn has caused plus for the other blister that is about to cause another gaping wound on his other shoulder, and they made me feel like a completely idiotic mother

For starters the triage nurse asked me in a very rude tone "you let this sit since Saturday and you have not even called his doctor or taken him in or anything?" I explained to her as nicely as possible that no I did not take him to his doctor for a sunburn, who takes their child to a doctor just because they are a little on the sunburnt side? I told her the only time I had became concerned was when I went to pull his shirt off of him and his shirt stuck to his arm because of the gaping blister on his shoulder and that worried me since I did not know how to treat it and I was a tad on the worried side about infection and everything and since his doc is closed and we have no urgent care I thought it was best to bring him here....

So we finally get back there and the doc comes in to look at him and pretty much told me there was no reason to bring Blake in, that these things happen all the time and the next time to invest in sunscreen (no s*%$ sherlock I have tons of it, his grandpa is the one that had taken him out and really did not plan on the sun being that bad, ) So I explained the story to the doc and he listened and once again informed me on how minor this is but then explained to me Blake has a second degree burn on his shoulder and I need to put silvaden (sp?) cream on it....ahem how is that minor? All in all I will admit he was a nice guy and explained what to look for with infection and everything which was helpful

Then the nurse came in, a different one, and began going over instructions with me and told me that since Blake was getting a bath tonight she was not going to apply the silvadene just then but that I could do it again after his bath..which I was ok with. I then asked her if I could possibly get some gauze or something to cover his arms for while he was at school so I would not have to worry about his shirt sticking to those areas again to which she replied "I am not going to dispense dressing material to you if you would think that he would need it you can go purchase some yourself at wal mart, but I am not going to just hand it out to you here" and her tone saying it was almost like one of those "how dare you ask me such a stupid question" type of tones, so I just shook my head and said "ok".... She then did not clean the wound or anything even though there was fuzz and everything else in it and even after the doc told me about infection and everything else with the darn second degree burn that is just nothing to worry about

So luckily a friend had gotten some gauze for me so I could at least cover it so Blakes shirt does not stick to him while at school thus creating more infection and not giving his poor arms a break from pain and also give them a chance to heal and not having to keep reopening the wounds everytime I peel his shirt off...all I have to say is if they do keep reopening and not healing he will be seeing his regular doc

Darn pregnancy hormones did not help once they almost had me to tears at least two times when all I was trying to do was protect my poor boys arms

Ok rant over....arg

 

[Heather9603]

Dang what jerks. But glad he's okay.

Just make sure that when he is at home, let him go around without a shirt on or a tank on. Since you are covering it while he's at school, it needs to breathe as much as possible.

 

[NuKe]

utter assholes.

 

[sophxx]

id complaon about how you was spoke to bnut i wouldnt have took my child to er for that i would have just cleaned it and dressed it myself x

 

[Wishfullmama]

I tried really hard to figure out how to dress it the proper way, but I was kinda worried about how big and deep it looked. Trust me I felt silly bringing him in lol, since I have had blisters before from the sun, but never as bad as his and he was truly having issues with his shirts and everything so I felt better safe then sorry. The cream they gave for it will hopefully help clear it up so the doc says, and luckily a friend of mine did buy me the gauze so I dont have to worry about peeling another shirt off of his shoulders (literally involved peeling) but yeah, I am going to complain, they really could have been a tad more on the nice side, I felt silly enough bringing him in, did not need that on top of it

 

[hellohefalump]

I'm sorry you were treated so badly. I think you did the right thing taking him in though.

 

[Heather9603]

I mean I know that ER's get some pretty whacko non emergency stuff, and I could see how that would be annoying. And I could see them giving a bit of an attitude if it was YOU going in with the sun burn. But on a little boy, thats so different. Kids don't always express the best how much they really do or do not hurt!

 

[Wishfullmama]

Lol yeah I wonder what kind of 'emergencies' truly come through the ER, especially in the small town I live in....it honestly would have been alot helpful if we just had a darn urgent care or quick care here in town as it would have been easier and I knew Blake truly was in no emergent situation. I called my mom at first before the thought of bringing him in even crossed my mind and she told me she truly was not too sure on how I should dress his shoulders since the blister was such a huge area and taping anything to the are would only hurt his skin, but she told me to at least get his shirt off and give it air, which of course I did hoping that would help, but when I looked at it again, I decided to have a friend look at it (the one who also bought the gauze for me, god I love her lol) and she said if it was her daughter she would be bringing her in for it to be looked at (it really did and does look awful, this just isnt a mommy exaggeration lol) but what hurt was just the way the nurses talked to me, like how dare you waste or time, or how dare you ask me to give you a couple things of gauze so your son does not have to worry about hurting getting dressed for and after school...thats what hurt the most, it seemed they really did not care about Blake and the fact that the poor boy has to put shirts over his shoulders and it will stick to the darn blister thus creating more pain

He did try to call me a few times today while at school to come get him and I know the teacher was truly worried about him as she left me two messages..but of course this all happened while I had my OB appointment, yeah I felt like I should have won mother of the year award So now he is home, shirtless, and sitting in front of the fan, trying to get these darn blisters to dry out.....aaaahhh the saga of a sunburn

 

[Heather9603]

Well at least you have a nice 3 day weekend coming up so maybe he can get a bit of a break and heal up! If he's hurting I'd keep him home from school for the next two days.

I had a 3rd degree burn on my feet when I was about 6 or 7. I remember it VIVIDLY. I had stepped on some hot ashes after a bon fire the night before. I was trying to get a burnt stick to use as black chalk and had NO idea the ashes were hot (We were country folk so we never wore shoes outside lol) My parents felt horrible and I spent the next 3 or so days in their room with my feet propped up or hanging off the bed and my mom had to spray them with aloe every 30 minutes. But I got LOTS of ice cream and LOTS of private TV watching as we only had their TV and then the family TV. My parents TV was always off limits as they wanted all 3 kids to share and take turns (makes sense) So to get that TV all to myself was amazing!

Anyway, my point is spoil him with something so that he will remember THAT when he is older and not the burn. I barely remember the burn. I remember how it happened and I remember the pain, but I mostly remember the private TV time haha.

 

[TiredNurse27]

as a rule you're supposed to take your child to a dr or ER for any burn over the size of a postage stamp so you did EXACTLY the right thing. Nobody can make you feel bad for caring for your child how rude of them!

As long as you use the gel under the gauze it will be OK and shouldn't stick.

 

[Surprise]

Ugh, sorry you had to go through that. There's no call to be rude. Hope your poor little guy heals quickly.