Last week,
we had an incident at home which brought us so close to the reality about how
easy it is to get oneself burnt. Of course, we see quite a lot of burns
patients in our clinical practice at NJH. And many a time, we wish so badly
that the incident had never happened. All the more, when most burns are
preventable.
If you look carefully, one can see the faint scald on her chin |
I was a bit
careless as I kept a cup full of hot tea on the edge of the kitchen counter. I
did not see that Chesed was also around and was trying to get something to
drink. And she loves tea and recognises tea quite well.
It was not
even 5 seconds after I had kept the cup on the edge, when I heard a shrill cry.
The cup was on the floor and the tea had obviously fallen on Chesed after she
had managed to get hold of the handle of the tea cup. However, we could not
find any burn mark till about couple of hours later . . . when faint reddish
marks showed up on her chin and chest.
We knew
that it was only the Lord’s grace that she did not get burnt badly. I had just
poured myself the tea directly from the stove.
I was also
quite careless in the way I had put the cup on the edge.
A very
common cause of burns in children occurs when they latch onto something jutting
out of a vessel. In the case here, the handle of the cup was towards the edge.
I have seen
a very bad case of scalding of almost the entire body after the victim managed
to pull the handle of a sauce pan full of boiling sambhar.
And then
there is the case of a boy who latched onto a ladle which was jutting out of a
vessel with hot oil.
The methods
to prevent burns in children are quite simple.
But, then
parents of small children know quite well on how much they depend on a guardian
angel to keep them safe. We say that as the order of the child increases, the
number of guardian angels needed increases.
We thank God that a very much bad case of burns
was averted only by His grace.
That must have been very scary. I have a cup of coffee every morning. One of the first words my daughter learned was "Hot". I let her touch her finger to it a couple times to see what hot meant. For her first 2 years she would point to my cup (even when cold and empty) and say "Hot" then clasp her hands together. Good job using your experience to help people learn to prevent accidents.
ReplyDeleteThank God, it wasn't so serious. Take care!
ReplyDeletePraise the Lord.
ReplyDelete