u/Despondent_Data

Reddit filters keep removing my post as soon as it hits the sub, so i'm going to try one more time with even less pictures and see if it goes through. If not, I give up.

Warning the pictures will get increasingly graphic. If you cant handle it then stop at the first one. Reddit filters removed my post last night before it ever hit the sub, so I'll try with less pictures.

So I'm the a-hole that did something really stupid and got really bad frostbite burn. Initially diagnosed as 2nd degree. But then later diagnosed as 3rd degree. And because there are no limits to my stupidity and arrogance, I delayed surgery for a week and had an infection nearly go septic because I thought a surgeon was overreacting when he said I needed to be admitted... until exactly what he predicted ended up happening and I realized my error.

I've had 1 surgery where they cut 1 inch deep (2.54 centimeters). Then I had another surgery where they cut even more (not sure how much) and they applied some sort of temporary skin graft. I got a 3rd surgery in just about a week for a final skin graft.

But be honest: I'm always going to have gaping holes in my legs, right? I've been taking Norcos, Percocets, Oxycodone and Dilaudid in a hospital setting and at first the meds were so strong I wasnt actually sure I was going to be ok after they were administered. But scratch to a week later and now I'm so tolerant I barely feel anything at all when they administer the meds, they don't make me drowsy anymore, and they dont help the pain much.

I dont even know why I'm making another post. But I just kind of wanted to share and see if anybody has an injury of similar scope and can tell me what I'm realistically looking at down the line in terms of both pain and appearance.

This is day 19 since the burn.

Warning the pictures will get increasingly graphic. If you cant handle it then stop at the first one. Reddit filters removed my post last night before it ever hit the sub, so I'll try with less pictures.

So I'm the asshole that did something really stupid and got really bad frostbite burn. Initially diagnosed as 2nd degree. But then later diagnosed as 3rd degree. And because there are no limits to my stupidity and arrogance, I delayed surgery for a week and had an infection nearly go septic because I thought a surgeon was overreacting when he said I needed to be admitted... until exactly what he predicted ended up happening and I realized my error.

I've had 1 surgery where they cut 1 inch deep (2.54 centimeters). Then I had another surgery where they cut even more (not sure how much) and they applied some sort of temporary skin graft. I got a 3rd surgery in just about a week for a final skin graft.

But be honest: I'm always going to have gaping holes in my legs, right? I've been taking Norcos, Percocets, Oxycodone and Dilaudid in a hospital setting and at first the meds were so strong I wasnt actually sure I was going to be ok after they were administered. But scratch to a week later and now I'm so tolerant I barely feel anything at all when they administer the meds, they don't make me drowsy anymore, and they dont help the pain much.

I dont even know why I'm making another post. But I just kind of wanted to share and see if anybody has an injury of similar scope and can tell me what I'm realistically looking at down the line in terms of both pain and appearance.

This is day 19 since the burn.

Warning: There will be pictures.

My injury is a bit atypical and I'm not sure if it "counts" or not. I got burned... via extreme cold. Frostbite. I passed out while straddling a canister of a decompressing gas. When I woke up, my skin was as hard as a brick and there was 0 pain for a while. As things warmed back up it began to hurt badly. I tried to tough it out for 2 hours during which i reached what i would call an 8.5 / 10 on the pain spectrum. So i went to the ER for pain pills. The pain slowly reduced somewhat, and then went mostly away nearly completely. Now the entire area is numb. I think maybe the nerves died. I was only in the hospital for 90 minutes and they gave me ibuprofen and silver cream. The whole area is really gross now. At first it was filled with a water-like fluid, but now it has taken on the consistency of jelly. How screwed am I? How long until the blisters go away? Google says 1 to 3 weeks or maybe more, but maybe one of you can give more realistic idea based on the pictures. I have to walk like a penguin now. I still cannot truly believe what I've done to myself.

The hospital and others are all calling it a 2nd degree burn despite being caused by extreme cold. I was told it doesnt matter that it is frostbite because the body is treating it the same as a severe burn.

And yes I'm a stupid ass that used a sharp implement to try to drain the blisters because I just couldn't handle looking at them. Every time I take the bandages off I feel like I'm either going to puke, pass out, or both.

Feel free to delete my post if you want. I feel like it's in the right place but others might not agree so just do what you gotta do.