Happy 4th of July everyone! In my hopes that everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July I wanted to post some pics of what happened to me 4 years ago.
I always thought illegal fireworks were illegal because Utah was dry and they would start a fire. I really had no idea they were also illegal because they were dangerous...LOL.
In our old neighborhood everyone would gather and watch fireworks together. Jokingly before they started someone said - if anyone catches fire stop -drop -and roll. (I thought that was pretty funny). We all enjoyed the fireworks. Let's be honest - the illegal ones that shoot 20 feet up in the air are way better than the flowers that spin on the ground.
Then one of the fireworks fell over and shot 20 feet down the street. We all gasped. I remember thinking - wow that was lucky that shot down the street and no one got hurt.
Then the firework went off again. This time the force of it going off spun it around and it shot straight at me. It hit my leg and caught my blanket on fire. I sat there for what seemed like forever but was probably only a few seconds. My legs were stinging but I thought if I sat still it would stop - then I realized I was getting burned and should move - (that's were the stop drop and roll came in, LOL). I was holding my neighbor's sleeping 18 month old son. So I held on to him and started to roll on the ground - he didn't even wake up!
After the firework stopped everyone started to make sure that no one was hurt. Can you believe that in a group of 50 tightly packed people I was the only one! Luckily the little boy I was holding was safe too.
I looked at my legs and there was bits of dead skin peeling off. I remember trying to act really calm. There were lots of kids there and I didn't want to freak any of them out. My mom took me to the ER. Isaiah was at work so he met us there (he thought I was being a wimp and got burned by a sparkler or something ;) He was pretty shocked when he saw that I was actually burned pretty badly.
The ER techs numbed me the best they could then proceeded to scrape off layer after layer of dead skin. They said I had deep 2nd degree (almost 3rd degree) burns over the fronts of both of my legs. I also got the award for the best firework burn of the night!
They sent me home with some serious pain killers.
Here is a picture I took a few days later when the techs at the U of U burn center checked out my legs:
For the next 2 weeks I had to scrub dying skin off my legs to keep them from getting infected. It was the most excrutiating pain I have ever felt.
It's hard to see in the picture but the burns also took off the top half of the birth mark on my left leg. 4 years later the birth mark is barely starting to grow back. (This pic is about 4 days after I got burned)
4 years later my legs look just fine :) The areas that got burned are a little bit lighter than the rest of my skin - but let's be honest...I'm pretty pastey white so most people can't tell :) I also have a few spots where you can see the weave from the guaze on my legs. Those are the places where the burns were deepest and took the longest to heal.
I learned a few things about fireworks from my burns.
1. Don't light or watch illegal fireworks
2. Follow ALL safety directions - I'm sure the directions on the firework that burned me would have said we should be sitting more than 10 feet away
3. Love your neighbors - we're still really good friend with our neighbors that did the fireworks. (Don't let silly accidents ruin a good friendship).
As for me I'm still a little gun shy about fireworks. I prefer to watch them in the front room of a house or just go see a movie on July 4th :)
I hope this will help remind everyone to be careful with fireworks - especially if you have kids around!
Happy 4th of July!!
