Pain and Thoughts

What would it be like if you cannot use or move your right hand...

Never thought about this before, until early last week, I was (un)fortunate enough to "gain" this experience...

What happened was - I accidentally poured half a bowl of burningly-hot, thick corn soup onto my right hand.

If you have burns before, then you'll know how it feels - yes, IT HURTS - like HELL!!!

I can be a clumsy person sometimes, but this was definitely the most tragic incident caused by my carelessness.

Fortunately, the mistake was tragic but not fatal.

Mike immediately ran out to buy me burn medicine and bandage, while I ran my seriously-burned hand with cold tap water.

It hurt so much that day that I had to numb my hand in a bowl of cold water for most of the afternoon. =(

My burn turned out to be a second degree burn. Big, puffy blisters over the burn area and extreme redness of the skin followed the next whole week... (It's still not healed yet.)

Mike was so worried and urged me to see doctor several times. But my "doctor-phobia" (as Mike called it) made me reject such idea, despite my inability to move my hand nor the bad pain from the blisters.

I was almost like a "disabled" person in the following week: couldn't really use/move my hand at all, and had to have my right hand medicated and bandaged the whole time.

Poor Mike - he took care of me like a baby.

I felt so guilty watching him cook me meals everyday, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, peeling me fruits, and even going out to buy me desserts just to keep me from being totally depressed. Yes, I was pretty depressed because I couldn't do anything except coding to keep myself distracted from the pain. >_<

I have been very emotional in the past two weeks. Before the burn happened, I was already very sadden over the Sichuan Earthquake and all of the heart-broken stories behind it. Tears ran down my cheek everyday watching sad stories one after another... And then this burn... It made me realize something else...


True, the burn was very painful and it might even scar me after it heals...

However....

My burn will heal someday, but how does the pain of the people who lost their families, their loved ones, their homes, their everything in the earthquake, pain of such great magnitude be healed, be relieved, or even just be reduced... just a little....

......

I don't know...

......

I just hope that they'll find peace and be strong to continue to live...

My heart goes out to all the victims of the earthquake and their families...

Be strong!!!!