Koehnae
August 13th, 2004, 10:52 PM
I know, I know... half of you probably don't even remember me, but I had to let those that do know that I'm still here. So here's what's been going on...
On the night of June 4th I was at work and we were doing our biweekly sanitation clean. Well, imagine me all gussied up in a bright yellow rain suit (rubber overalls and jacket... sexxxxy), bright yellow knee-high sanitation boots, pea-green elbow length rubber gloves, deep purple plastic sleeve guards, a white saftey bump cap, and saety goggles. I know, the picture of attractiveness, eh? Anyhoo, now imagine me and a crew of others spraying around some heavy duty cleaning chemicals on everything from ceiling to floor and in between... and then rinsing it all off with water. Got the picture? Cool.
Wellll... in the midst of all this activity, I managed to get chemicals into my gloves. After 8 hours of baking under all that rubber I pulled off my gloves and discovered why my hands felt so hot and itchy. My hands were blistered and puffy beyond recognition and the skin was just peeling off my arms. Needless to say, I headed straight for the hospital... to be treated for second degree chemical burns to both arms and hands from elbow to fingertip.
I spent the next few weeks completely bandaged... and I had to go in to the hospital daily to have the bandages changed. All the bandaging made my hands stiffen up and the skin wasn't healing properly, so then I had two weeks of physical therapy to restore the mbility in my hands and to peel the dying skin off. Holy PAIN! During all of this, I still had to go into work every night and sit in a chair (they call this light duty) because I had hurt myself at work and they didn't want a lost time accident. I also was not allowed to take my pain meds because drugs are not allowed on the premises. So, I sat there hot, tired, and in pain for 6 weeks.
Well, then the really fun part came in... my hands appeared to be well enough for me to return to work. Barely into my first day back to actual work and my hands broke out in blisters from the contact with the goves... and they were surgical quality, powder free, latex free gloves! Turns out that the chemicals have caused a new condition in my hands... irritant contact dermatitis. Essentially, I can't even use dish soap, fragranced soaps, lotions, and many common household things.
And it gets better... despite TWO doctors (one dermatologist and one occupational medicine specialist) saying that this had definetly happened because of my job, the people from the workers comp insurance are saying they have no evidence that this is a work related incident. *sigh* So, now I got sent home on personal medical leave. I've taken a financial blow, a physical blow, and a mental blow... and somehow I keep going. All of this going on has kept me from doing little more than stopping by here to see what everyone's saying... not to mention how impossible it was to type when I was bandaged from elbow to fingertip... that was actually pretty amusing!
Well, just wanted to let you all know where I've been... and reassure you that I've got full mobility in my hands now and I'm home 24/7, so I should be back to chat a bit more now. Hugs and kisses to all my fellow MWers... its good to be back!
I've attached some pics for thoise that are interested...
On the night of June 4th I was at work and we were doing our biweekly sanitation clean. Well, imagine me all gussied up in a bright yellow rain suit (rubber overalls and jacket... sexxxxy), bright yellow knee-high sanitation boots, pea-green elbow length rubber gloves, deep purple plastic sleeve guards, a white saftey bump cap, and saety goggles. I know, the picture of attractiveness, eh? Anyhoo, now imagine me and a crew of others spraying around some heavy duty cleaning chemicals on everything from ceiling to floor and in between... and then rinsing it all off with water. Got the picture? Cool.
Wellll... in the midst of all this activity, I managed to get chemicals into my gloves. After 8 hours of baking under all that rubber I pulled off my gloves and discovered why my hands felt so hot and itchy. My hands were blistered and puffy beyond recognition and the skin was just peeling off my arms. Needless to say, I headed straight for the hospital... to be treated for second degree chemical burns to both arms and hands from elbow to fingertip.
I spent the next few weeks completely bandaged... and I had to go in to the hospital daily to have the bandages changed. All the bandaging made my hands stiffen up and the skin wasn't healing properly, so then I had two weeks of physical therapy to restore the mbility in my hands and to peel the dying skin off. Holy PAIN! During all of this, I still had to go into work every night and sit in a chair (they call this light duty) because I had hurt myself at work and they didn't want a lost time accident. I also was not allowed to take my pain meds because drugs are not allowed on the premises. So, I sat there hot, tired, and in pain for 6 weeks.
Well, then the really fun part came in... my hands appeared to be well enough for me to return to work. Barely into my first day back to actual work and my hands broke out in blisters from the contact with the goves... and they were surgical quality, powder free, latex free gloves! Turns out that the chemicals have caused a new condition in my hands... irritant contact dermatitis. Essentially, I can't even use dish soap, fragranced soaps, lotions, and many common household things.
And it gets better... despite TWO doctors (one dermatologist and one occupational medicine specialist) saying that this had definetly happened because of my job, the people from the workers comp insurance are saying they have no evidence that this is a work related incident. *sigh* So, now I got sent home on personal medical leave. I've taken a financial blow, a physical blow, and a mental blow... and somehow I keep going. All of this going on has kept me from doing little more than stopping by here to see what everyone's saying... not to mention how impossible it was to type when I was bandaged from elbow to fingertip... that was actually pretty amusing!
Well, just wanted to let you all know where I've been... and reassure you that I've got full mobility in my hands now and I'm home 24/7, so I should be back to chat a bit more now. Hugs and kisses to all my fellow MWers... its good to be back!
I've attached some pics for thoise that are interested...