3rd Degree Chemical Burns to 65% of the Body Posted: 11-27-07 19:37pm
Hello,
I'd appreciate greatly any input. My dear
friend suffered mostly 3rd degree burns to
65% of his body from chlorine dyoxide the
beginning of October.
He's had 13 surgeries. Experienced some
kidney failure, has pneumonia, and most
recently has suffered from low blood
pressure--which is, as I understand, the
reason why none of the skin grafts have
"taken".
He is on Levophed, and they basically can
only take him off of it during surgeries.
He has been intubated since day one and
has been heavily sedated.
Family and friends are just sick with
worry as 13 surgeries into this, there has
been NO progress.
Does anyone out there have any
advice/comments/concerns?
Thank you so much for reading this.
Jennifer
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sillyakchick
Moderator
Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 2690
Thanks: 5
Thanked:0
Posted: 11-27-07 20:42pm
A friend of mine had the same sort of
thing happen to him, but it was with
magnesium powder in a giant fire pit.
Nobody thought he would live. He had
sepsis, he had burned his lungs, had a
staph infection and pneumonia, and we
reeally thought he was going to die. He
was in ICU for 6 weeks under sedation.
Then one day, he just got better . They
let him be fully conscious and he was out
of the hospital 10 days later. It was
truly amazing-I thought i would never see
him again. It was a true miracle. He
still has to have some hand surgeries to
remove more scarring, but the amazing
thing is that his face which was totally
burned, simply peeled and now the jerk
looks 10 years younger than the rest of
us! I seriously thought that even if he
did live, he would probably kill himself
because of the disfiguration i thought he
woul have, but I was sooo wrong. There
are amazing things that can happen to
people. Keep your faith, keep positive,
and be supportive. Also, make sure YOU
have support too. Best of luck to your
friend.
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jentaylor728
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 3
Thank You! Posted: 11-27-07 23:06pm
Thanks so much for your reply...it's
wonderful to hear of something like that
happening. My one friend told me that the
hospital that he's at is supposed to be
one of the best burn centers, but I'm
beginning to have a few doubts. After a
week or so, they still didn't have the
MSDS (the official data sheet) on the
chemical that he was burned with.....
If I may ask, what hospital was your
friend at?
Thanks....have a good evening!
Jennifer
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sillyakchick
Moderator
Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 2690
Thanks: 5
Thanked:0
Posted: 11-28-07 07:56am
It was a hospital in Greeley, Colorado.
Although it's only about an hour from
major medical complexes in Denver, they
did a great job with him, and I was
actually pleasantly surprised at how
confidnet i was in the staff.
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jentaylor728
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 3
Posted: 12-11-07 23:18pm
My friend died last night...10 weeks after
the accident..he had gone thru two more
surgeries since my last post. Some of the
grafts had actually started to "take", but
a week ago he developed an allegeric
reaction to an antibiotic that he was
taking and went into "v-tac" and was done
for 14 minutes before they were able to
resucsitate him. After that, they took
him off the ativan to judge brain activity
and did another surgery. He started
having platelet replacement (he was
bleeding into his lungs) and then his
kidneys started shutting down again..in
addition to sepsis..
I was wondering if you could recommend an
on-line grief support group...his fiance
is just devastated...she went into shock
and was unconscious for 3 hours in the
emergency room after he died.
I've helped her through her child's death,
a nasty divorce, and now this. She's not a
religious person...
If you could give me a few links or
suggestions, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you.
Jennifer
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PixieKat
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 201 Location: UT,
Posted: 12-11-07 23:51pm
I dont know of any grief support groups,
but if i see any ill let you know. I was
just so saddend by this i thought i would
comment and tell you how sorry i am, an
that i wish there was more that i could do
to help out. *hugs* i know that probably
doesnt help to much, but i bet you need
all the hugs you can get.
