I've been waiting to write this update until I had completed my final Burn Unit visit and as of last monday… I have! Woooo! Also my doctor is retiring, and I'd like to think this is because he's no longer going to get monthly visits from me. Thank you Dr. Yurt for all of your hard work, awkward jokes and stoic faces over the past year. I'll miss you. More importantly though they asked me to be a patient mentor! So excited for that! I have to go through a training program & complete some blood work in the fall in order to become a registered volunteer at the hospital and then they'll pair me up with other burn patients in my general age range. :) Can't wait to share what I've learned over the past year and hopefully bring some joy to others going through the same thing.
*I'm also slightly nervous that I might freak out and cry and not be able to handle all the sadness, but we'll cross that bridge when it come. Hopefully the training goes over all of that.
So, I suppose I should insert some photos here. Ok here you go:
The thing is, I swear these scars change daily. Sometimes if I've been running around all day they're a bright pink/red, and other times like when i've just gotten out of a shower they're more white - so photos can really be deceiving. Overall though they're getting a LOT better, and my doctor says there's likely still going to be improvement over the next few years. Scars just get better and better as you age, so at least I have that to look forward to as I'm getting old. Hey, the stomach one barely even looks like a burn anymore - now it just looks like i have some weird skin disease/rash! Hooray, lol. I'll take it!
Anywho I'm just glad that year is over. It was awful. I still have flashbacks occasionally and I have to just sit and remind myself that I don't ever have to touch a stove again if I don't want to, and that it's over. PTSD is so real. I still get so anxious in the kitchen. My roommate (hey Tiffany girl) was cooking pancakes the other day with olive oil and I didn't like it at all, it made me uncomfortable, I felt like there was so much oil in the pan and I couldn't take the sound of the oil popping. I just have to go in my room at times like those and remind myself that I have a fire extinguisher now and the chances of having 2 kitchen fires in your life is probably really slim. It's bad, I know, but it's getting better with time.
On a high note I can finally wear normal clothes this summer with NO compression garment. Woo, let me tell you how lovely that is!!! It can get real muggy here in NY and I'm so glad I no longer have hospital grade spanx on under every outfit!!!
