B U R N

You know in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding how the dad always uses windex to cure anything that might be wrong? We all laughed, right?

But I grew up with Basic H and I assure you that every mosquito bite on vacation, every minor burn or sunburn, and every blister from hiking got a dose of Basic-H on it to kill the sting or drain the blister without resorting to popping it.

I love cooking, so I've had a lot of minor little burns in the kitchen. I always just went to the sink, dropped on a few drops of Basic H, and went on with my life. I never really thought much about it, it was just how I grew up.

When I was twenty I was making donuts while home alone. I had a big pan of oil heating up on the stove, and I left it on for too long.

Before I knew what was happening it combusted into huge flames.

I hate fire (earned naturally with some rather pyromaniac-ish people in my family), but I knew I had to do something right away. I couldn't burn down my parent's house. Instinctively I picked up the pan of burning oil to get off of the heat. The lighted oil sloshed over the edge of the pan and over my right hand.

Honestly, I screamed. It smelled like cooking meat. I was terrified, but again, I was not going to be the one who burned down my parents house. (If that was going to happen, it was going to be one of the pyros!) I grabbed the pan lid, threw on, somehow got out the back door and threw the pan as hard as I could out on the heavy gravel in the back.

It looked like an explosion with the burning oil flickering like a bonfire. I remember the horses staring at it in the dark as if they were watching fireworks, with their own version of 'Oooo' and 'Ahhh'.

I then went into the kitchen and got all the baking soda and salt I could muster. In the end I actually had to resort to flour as well (it was a LOT of oil). BTW flour does not put fire out well.

Only when I was sure the fire was completely out did I have a moment to look at my hand.

It was gruesome. In a splash pattern I had one big burn that looked to have gone straight through the skin and fat down to the muscle. It was all fried and gone. Many smaller burns surrounded it. It looked for all the world like a meteorite and all its little pieces had imprinted themselves into my hand.

It was ugly.

I was home alone. I didn't drive at that point, and my nearest family was on the road between Tucson and Salt Lake City.

Besides, I didn't want to go into the ER. I hate hospitals.

So, I did the only thing I could think of. I'm not saying it was smart. I just did the only thing I thought I could.

I filled a bowl with ice, water, and a heavy dose of Basic-H. I soaked my hand in there until the sting was mostly gone from the burn and I couldn't stand the cold anymore. Then I carefully put straight Basic H over the burns.

When it started hurting bad again, I repeated the process.

I decided to leave it open to the air. Over the next few weeks I left it mostly uncovered, save for when I was working with the horses or at the University.

I couldn't use my right hand. The biggest burn was a good 2 inches long and a little wider than that, all on the fleshy part above my thumb. I was scared that I was goi

ng to lose the range of motion in that hand. For the duration of my healing process I wrote (badly) left handed, and just prayed that one stupid accident hadn't put an end to all of the things I really enjoy doing right handed.

It formed a kind of weird-looking skin over it, nothing really like a scab, and then that came off and I had a crevice in my hand with new angry-looking pink skin.

I resigned myself to the scar and worked on getting the range of motion back. I had to stretch the burned area carefully everyday, but slowly I got it back.

I really hated that scar. It seemed to scream at me that I was an idiot for what had happened.

Honestly, once I stopped wearing the bandages, people stared at my hand.

It was healed now, and I was grateful. My hand had been saved, so I really had no right to hate the scar so much.

But I did. A lot.

So, now that the skin was there, even if it was thin and fragile, I started treating the area with Enfuselle's C & E at night. I put a pea-sized amount all over my hand every night and then covered it up (once I discovered that the dogs would lick it off when I was sleeping if I didn't.)

The results were astounding. Truly amazing. I don't remember the time frame anymore for how long it took, but I do know that right now, when I look down at my hand, the only way I can tell where that burn was is because the grain of the skin runs slightly different in that area. The skin is still thinner there, but I don't even think about it anymore. Most of

the time I can just forget it ever happened.

But it did happen, and I honestly believe that Basic-H saved my hand, and that C & E saved my dignity.

( This picture was taken only a couple months later, if you look VERY carefully at my right hand you can see what was left of the scar. What is left now is pretty much impossible to capture on camera.)