This is good advice. I tried to cook a pot of ramen when I was 10, grabbed the pot of boiling water without realizing that the handles were very hot, and proceeded to get 2nd/3rd degree burns on almost 10% of my body (mostly thighs)

I didn't have to stay in the hospital, but I do remember having visit them to take off the bandages daily and clean them. From what I remember, they used some kind of cold, white cream to clean the wounds and it actually felt good despite the fact that I could literally see chunks of my rotting skin being scraped off. I honestly looked forward to the scrubbing, but taking off the bandages was the most painful shit ever oh my god...

Also, some more advice. If you ever get burned, the first thing you should is dump some water on the burns and cool that shit down. I remember my doctor telling my parents that they were retarded for taking me to the hospital right immediately after seeing me get burned; supposedly I had a chance to avoid the 3rd degree burns if I had cooled the wounds within a minute or two of getting burned.

Deleted User 3420

24492 Posts

July 13 2010 05:30 GMT

#23

so are people in the tub not given strong pain meds?

condoriano

United States826 Posts

July 13 2010 10:40 GMT

#24

On July 13 2010 14:30 travis wrote:
so are people in the tub not given strong pain meds?

How would they learn not to do it again then?

User was warned for this post

ZeaL.

United States5955 Posts

July 13 2010 12:46 GMT

#25

On July 13 2010 12:12 Subversion wrote:
Pardon my ignorance, but isn't anasthesiology hella-boring?

I'm in biology research but my gf is currently a 2nd year in med school. Whenever we talk about specialties I always get interested in anaesthesiology. From what I can tell its walking a fine line between killing a patient and having them wake up in the middle of a procedure. Also every patient requires different dosages based on genetics, body size, and probably more stuff I don't know about. It sounds like a difficult art to master, and while the anaesthesiologist doesn't directly do the operation, he makes the operation possible and that sounds extremely appealing to me. Oh that and the fact that they get paid a shit ton of money.

radar14

United States1437 Posts

July 14 2010 00:44 GMT

#26

On July 13 2010 04:54 YoonHo wrote:
Great blog! I have a question though, few days back I saw an article on this woman who got severe burns on her face from that London terrorist attack 5 years ago. A hospital in England somehow treated her face to perfectly normal. Her skin and her face overall looks amazing, as if nothing ever happened. However, in the article they never mention how they treated her. Do you have any ideas what treatments they could've used?

I would guess a skin graft if it was a deep burn. That's the only treatment I'm aware if it's that deep. They take a very superficial layer of skin from somewhere else on your body (typically your legs since those are less likely to be burned), make a mesh out of it, and then staple it to the recipient site. If they weren't that deep then they can heal on their own. In fact people who recover from these more superficial facial burns look like they just got a facelift i.e. less wrinkles etc.

I'm sure there are other treatments and plastic surgery options I'm not aware of.

On July 13 2010 12:12 Subversion wrote:
Pardon my ignorance, but isn't anasthesiology hella-boring?

I'm not going to go ahead and say it would be "exciting" for everyone, because surely it wouldn't be. I'll give you one analogy that's pretty common. Anesthesiology like flying a plane. Takeoff (induction, intubation) and landing (recovery of spontaneous respiration and extubation) are the most "exciting" and critical times. For the actual "flight", if you're doing your job correctly, things should look like they're operating pretty smoothly aka boring. Once in a while the plane will start to crash mid-flight and you'd better know what you're doing to make a landing.

Anesthesiology is applied pharmacology and physiology. You push a drug and you see its effects immediately (or soon thereafter). Patient's heart rate is going into bradycardia? Give some atropine and monitor, keeping some phenylephrine on hand. He's going into tachycardia? First instinct is that the patient's in pain. Give some more fentanyl first. Patient is hypertensive? Try increasing the volatile anesthetic first for cardiac depression, then consider a beta blocker. Watch, act, react.

Also lots of procedures for people who like using their hands. Intubations, arterial lines, central lines, nerve blocks, etc.

It will certainly become "boring." That comes with the territory of being proficient. If you're doctor is genuinely excited to be treating you, chances are that either he's a newbie/sucks or you're fucked because he's going to get published writing up the strange new disease that you have.

On July 13 2010 14:30 travis wrote:
so are people in the tub not given strong pain meds?

They are given repeated doses of strong meds. Morphine and fentanyl are the strongest drugs that are used regularly for pain control in the hospital setting.

Empyrean

16937 Posts

July 14 2010 00:59 GMT

#27

And people can still feel it through the morphine? X_X

As always, I really enjoy reading your threads

radar14

United States1437 Posts

July 14 2010 01:21 GMT

#28

Unfortunately, yes. Then again, how much pain medication you give is completely dependent on the attending in charge. While the rest of us are squirming from screams of "Oh God, please stop AHHHHH", she was calmly going to town on the poor guy's arm like she was filing her nails. I never did question her methods because I am too young to die.

Empyrean

16937 Posts

July 14 2010 01:26 GMT

#29

On July 14 2010 10:21 radar14 wrote:
Unfortunately, yes. Then again, how much pain medication you give is completely dependent on the attending in charge. While the rest of us are squirming from screams of "Oh God, please stop AHHHHH", she was calmly going to town on the poor guy's arm like she was filing her nails. I never did question her methods because I am too young to die.

And what would the consequences be to the patient if the wound weren't completely debrided?

Also, did you ever decide on that whole Durham thing?

radar14

United States1437 Posts

July 14 2010 01:44 GMT

#30

On July 14 2010 10:26 Empyrean wrote:

Show nested quote +

And what would the consequences be to the patient if the wound weren't completely debrided?

Also, did you ever decide on that whole Durham thing?

Increased risk of infection. Necrotic tissue is a cesspool of stuff you don't want next to healthy viable tissue. And you need to see the lowest layer to determine whether the patient will need a graft.

About Durham, I'm definitely applying there but whether I can invited is out of my hands

From the people I've asked, they really only take superstars. Still wanna visit sometime though~

Empyrean

16937 Posts

July 14 2010 02:18 GMT

#31

On July 14 2010 10:44 radar14 wrote:

Show nested quote +

From the people I've asked, they really only take superstars. Still wanna visit sometime though~

Ah, I'm only here for two more years (going into my junior year), so let me know :D...it's a real foodie town. Just got featured in the New York Times. They're really cleaning up the place, actually. And if it's of any use, it's also very gay-friendly. Especially for a southern city :O...that in addition to the other good stuff about it that I told you about before.