OK, so you've read part one where we were left in the Emergency Dept of Wollongong Hospital. To say we were both devastated is an understatement. We were in shock. The pain was tremendous and even though pain killers were prescribed, it was awful to look at, to think of and to even contemplate where we were now. The hospital applied what can only be described as 'contact', to us. Adhesive plastic film. They were applied so that the skin could grow back underneath.
The hotel manager came to the hospital and offered to house us for the time being until we were ready to fend for ourselves. As newly weds, we did it the old fashioned way. We had never lived together. Jane was moving form her parents house into a house I had rented in preparation for married life. There was no way we could really care for ourselves, the burns on Jane were so severe, movement was to be avoided and my back was giving me grief as well. We discussed it and decided to retire to the hotel room to lick our wounds as it were, and not emerge for some time. We didn't want to have a bevy of people coming to wish us well so told no one at first. I know we did call our parents at some point but they were to think we were on our honeymoon so wouldn't miss us. I think we had about 2 days of darkness and room service. We cried and consoled each other but frankly, it was horrible. Even the thought of in room video was dashed as the titles on show at the time were Mississippi Burning and other just as pain associated movies.
I remember having to call all the accommodation and car hire and what not to try to recoup spent honeymoon funds. Everyone was nice but to retell the same gory story over and over was not nice. We were still so very raw both physically and mentally.
After a few days, we emerged and it was agreed we would go back to my in-laws' house to recuperate some more. Jane back in her single bed with me on an foldaway bed on the floor beside her. All so very romantic and newly wed. I was caught between wanting to be the provider of care and not being in a position to do so. Her family were really great to us in our hours of need. At night, I'd wake to find Jane playing with the air with her curled fingers. Laughing and giggling in her sleep. I was quite amused and sat up to watch and listen to her having the dream. I never realised it was Jane playing with the bubbles in the spa until it was too late. Jane's screams of terror waking the house once the water main burst and her wild kicking in her sleep, at the water to stop it burning. I watched her relive that terror episode night after night for about a week. Each one just as bad as the previous.
Word came from relatives as far away as Brisbane that the media were reporting an "anonymous couple were scorched and were currently honeymooning in Queensland" and made all the typical low brow jokes and implications. It made us cry if they only knew the truth.
After a few days our dressings were quickly filling with fluid. The adhesive film trapping it all so that a bubble started to form. Upon good advice from my mother in law, we went to see her GP to check on the burns. The doctor examined us and then asked Jane to leave the room. The doctor explained to me and my brother in law that the dressings were only meant to be used when drains were fitted and you were in hospital. They had to come off and quite quickly. The risk of infection was great and the doctor was quite concerned they'd been on for as long as they had. Explaining this to my wife was very hard. My father in law and brother in law and I tried to allay her fears but Jane knew what those words meant. The adhesive films were coming off.
The doctors surgery was a converted house with the waiting room at the front and consulting rooms towards the back of the house, Jane was laying on the examination table with my brother in law on one side and me the other. We are both of similar dimension exceeding 6' and 100Kg each. 2 strong young men. The doctor had us place the palm of our hand on Jane's shoulder and push down whilst she removed the adhesive from Jane's shins. The pain of looking at this happen was unbearable let alone being the one on the table. Jane sat bolt upright lifting both of us off the ground as the adhesive peeled not only good skin but scar tissue and burnt flesh up with it. The pain so great, her screams heard past the waiting rooms and out to the street. I feel very sorry for those people awaiting their check ups having to listen to something they had no idea was happening. I firmly believe even child birth didn't come close to that day. After the first one Jane was pleading and crying for us to stop but the doctor stressed the urgency. We literally held Jane down. I still feel that today 23 years later.
This is surprisingly hard to write. If you saw me now, you'd understand how hard.
Once Jane had her hospital applied dressings removed, the doctor used far more appropriate ones but the pain stayed and stayed. I had to have mine removed from my back as well. Mine was smaller and less serious than Jane's but still was as close to passing out through pain that I've ever experienced Jane sustained that 3 times that day.
Burns take a long time to heal. We eventually moved into our house and so the marriage that started out in such drama and pain, quickly turned into comfort and security for us both.
The hotel offered us a fully paid holiday in sunny Queensland as compensation but seeing as we were not to be exposed to the sun for some years, we politely declined. We would determine how and when they would compensate us at a later date. The trouble is, no one can possible feel what we felt that day and the months and years later.
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