Accident that changed my life
So its 11 May today. Happy 3rd fire-accident-that-burnt-my-entire-right-arm-completely anniversary to me!
This date, 3 years ago, I met with an accident that changed my life. Okay not entirely but I have ugly scars on my right arm to forever haunt me and torment me. I was working at my part-time job as a server back then. It was after Mother's Day weekend. I was assigned to deliver cooked food to the customers and we serve hotplates as well. Here's how it works. The customers will be given table clips and since it is buffet, they can go up to our buffet counter and place their clips to indicate that they want the food cooked and sent to them. As servers, it is our job to ensure that you sent the food as fast as you can to the customers once it's cooked. For hotplates, since you basically just lit it and cook it on your own, it takes a faster time. You just have to take the food plate (either beef/seafood) and lit the hotplate and place the food on top to allow it to cook. Then, sent it straight to the customers, informing them to wait 5-10mins to let it cook. Simple right?
After I sent the food to this customer, another customer told me that we sent him the wrong hotplate order. I went back to change it for him. And there's just 1 clip at the hotplate counter. I wanted to be efficient, so I prepared that one hotplate too. The chef assigned at that hotplate counter was a cranky old man and we hated to make him angry. And since he's more experienced than me, I assumed he knows what's best. I have been working at that restaurant for about 1 year and throughout my working experience, I have never had any complains with regards to my hotplate cooking at a very slow rate due to the small amount of jelly-liked fuel I squeezed. But that day, the chef was being cranky as usual and I hate to be pissed when Im working so while I was about to send the hotplate, he suddenly screamed at me saying the jelly-liked fuel is too little. I wanted to squeeze more when he suddenly screamed "NOT TOO NEAR!!". I panicked. I was like what the fuck. But before I could react further, the jelly-liked fuel caught with the fire already on the hotplate and it freaking exploded.
My right arm caught the fire. Initially I thought it was a small fire so I tried shaking it off, but then it started to get real hot and I saw it was blue flames, so I panicked and started screaming. I was screaming and running and wanted to go to the chef to help me put out the fire but I fainted halfway. Yes I fainted. Wild thoughts went through my mind. I was thinking of death. I fainted for about 1 minute or so. Then I felt the chefs trying to put out the fire with a cloth. AND GET THIS, THAT FUCKING OLD CHEF DIDN'T HELP AT ALL. When I woke up, I saw him standing at his counter, minding his own fucking business. I was in deep pain to get angry.
So while waiting for the ambulance, I was tearing coz my right arm was in deep burning pain. I was comforted by my dishwasher uncle who stood by me, hugging me while I cried all the way till the ambulance arrived. So when the ambulance arrived, I was pretty glad. Apparently, there was a customer who got burnt slightly too so I was in the ambulance with him. I felt like passing out on my way to SGH. But the paramedics keep talking to me and trying to make me stay awake. They were already calling my parents and my manager was in the ambulance with me too. I was rushed into the emergency room when I arrived and was left UNATTENDED for about half an hour. 4 doctors came in and questioned me the EXACT SAME THING and that was it. I couldn't take it anymore so I asked for some painkiller to stop me from feeling the burning sensation on my right arm. After they gave me the painkiller, I felt so much better and less pain till I fell asleep. I woke up 3 hours later, still at the same place, except this time, a female doctor, so soft spoken was beside me, telling me what has happened and what is going to happen. I saw my big boss outside and he didn't even come in and check on me. By this time, my right arm was wrapped in some blanket so I didn't really see the scars. So the doctor told me that I got 2nd degree burn and 75% of my right arm completely burnt. My right ear was slightly burnt as well, and so was part of my body. She told me I will have to avoid sunlight for the time being coz its bad for my skin to recover. And I was being a baby, asking for my parents. Imagine not having your parents by your side when you met with an accident?! I wanted to see them real bad.
A few minutes after the doctor left, I was about to sleep again when my sis came in and boy was I relieved to see her! Then I ask her where are my parents and she told me that they have been there all along. They were waiting outside coz it was during the H1N1 period and visitors can't enter the A&E without masks and gloves. And not all can enter at once. But my sister sneaked in anyway. She then brought my parents in and my manager was with them too. They wanted to see my scar and when they opened the blanket, my mom let out a little "OH MY GOD" and i took a peek. It was bad. My arm was all pink and watery and its like patches. I cried. Its too ugly. Even my manager was like "Oh my god this is bad." A few minutes after that, I was brought to clean my wound and for some dressing.
By that time, they already tore my uniform apart and I was half naked so they gave me an operating robe. The cleaning of wound was the worse!! Imagine wetting the burnt part. Its horrible. Too painful. So glad that its done. They then took my blood then I went home. I wasn't admitted because I didn't have any fever/flu and like I said, it was during the H1N1 period so I wasn't advised to stay. My arm was wrapped in a plastic like bandage. As soon as i reached home, my arm started to stink because of all the pus coming out from my scars. It was bad. I had to elevate my arm just to sleep. And I had to wrap my arm in towel to prevent the pus from dripping.
My mom had to give me a bath the next day. And my colleagues came to visit me. I couldn't move much so I just sat there and welcomed them. They came and brought me gifts and get well soon cards. Really sweet. (:
A few days later, we went for dressing. They changed my dressing and cleaned my wound again. This time, they wrapped my arm with the normal bandage. So when I went for the next dressing, it was terrible because the bandage got stucked to my wound and they had to rip it apart. Like literally. It took me like 2 weeks to finally remove my bandages and let my arm breathe. I had to wear long sleeves and I missed 2 weeks of school because of it. I couldn't walk without shelter for like weeks. My scars got very itchy and I couldn't scratch it coz it hurts. So it was torturing.
I still have the scars right now. Its permanent. Its like an extra skin burnt and can't be cleared kinda thing. So yeah, for the past 3 years, I have been haunted by that accident and the scars are not helping. Its not really obvious now but its still there.
Sometimes, at night, I suddenly got reminded of that accident and I will always end up crying. I will forever remember the pain I felt..... Scary.
Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
This date, 3 years ago, I met with an accident that changed my life. Okay not entirely but I have ugly scars on my right arm to forever haunt me and torment me. I was working at my part-time job as a server back then. It was after Mother's Day weekend. I was assigned to deliver cooked food to the customers and we serve hotplates as well. Here's how it works. The customers will be given table clips and since it is buffet, they can go up to our buffet counter and place their clips to indicate that they want the food cooked and sent to them. As servers, it is our job to ensure that you sent the food as fast as you can to the customers once it's cooked. For hotplates, since you basically just lit it and cook it on your own, it takes a faster time. You just have to take the food plate (either beef/seafood) and lit the hotplate and place the food on top to allow it to cook. Then, sent it straight to the customers, informing them to wait 5-10mins to let it cook. Simple right?
After I sent the food to this customer, another customer told me that we sent him the wrong hotplate order. I went back to change it for him. And there's just 1 clip at the hotplate counter. I wanted to be efficient, so I prepared that one hotplate too. The chef assigned at that hotplate counter was a cranky old man and we hated to make him angry. And since he's more experienced than me, I assumed he knows what's best. I have been working at that restaurant for about 1 year and throughout my working experience, I have never had any complains with regards to my hotplate cooking at a very slow rate due to the small amount of jelly-liked fuel I squeezed. But that day, the chef was being cranky as usual and I hate to be pissed when Im working so while I was about to send the hotplate, he suddenly screamed at me saying the jelly-liked fuel is too little. I wanted to squeeze more when he suddenly screamed "NOT TOO NEAR!!". I panicked. I was like what the fuck. But before I could react further, the jelly-liked fuel caught with the fire already on the hotplate and it freaking exploded.
My right arm caught the fire. Initially I thought it was a small fire so I tried shaking it off, but then it started to get real hot and I saw it was blue flames, so I panicked and started screaming. I was screaming and running and wanted to go to the chef to help me put out the fire but I fainted halfway. Yes I fainted. Wild thoughts went through my mind. I was thinking of death. I fainted for about 1 minute or so. Then I felt the chefs trying to put out the fire with a cloth. AND GET THIS, THAT FUCKING OLD CHEF DIDN'T HELP AT ALL. When I woke up, I saw him standing at his counter, minding his own fucking business. I was in deep pain to get angry.
So while waiting for the ambulance, I was tearing coz my right arm was in deep burning pain. I was comforted by my dishwasher uncle who stood by me, hugging me while I cried all the way till the ambulance arrived. So when the ambulance arrived, I was pretty glad. Apparently, there was a customer who got burnt slightly too so I was in the ambulance with him. I felt like passing out on my way to SGH. But the paramedics keep talking to me and trying to make me stay awake. They were already calling my parents and my manager was in the ambulance with me too. I was rushed into the emergency room when I arrived and was left UNATTENDED for about half an hour. 4 doctors came in and questioned me the EXACT SAME THING and that was it. I couldn't take it anymore so I asked for some painkiller to stop me from feeling the burning sensation on my right arm. After they gave me the painkiller, I felt so much better and less pain till I fell asleep. I woke up 3 hours later, still at the same place, except this time, a female doctor, so soft spoken was beside me, telling me what has happened and what is going to happen. I saw my big boss outside and he didn't even come in and check on me. By this time, my right arm was wrapped in some blanket so I didn't really see the scars. So the doctor told me that I got 2nd degree burn and 75% of my right arm completely burnt. My right ear was slightly burnt as well, and so was part of my body. She told me I will have to avoid sunlight for the time being coz its bad for my skin to recover. And I was being a baby, asking for my parents. Imagine not having your parents by your side when you met with an accident?! I wanted to see them real bad.
A few minutes after the doctor left, I was about to sleep again when my sis came in and boy was I relieved to see her! Then I ask her where are my parents and she told me that they have been there all along. They were waiting outside coz it was during the H1N1 period and visitors can't enter the A&E without masks and gloves. And not all can enter at once. But my sister sneaked in anyway. She then brought my parents in and my manager was with them too. They wanted to see my scar and when they opened the blanket, my mom let out a little "OH MY GOD" and i took a peek. It was bad. My arm was all pink and watery and its like patches. I cried. Its too ugly. Even my manager was like "Oh my god this is bad." A few minutes after that, I was brought to clean my wound and for some dressing.
By that time, they already tore my uniform apart and I was half naked so they gave me an operating robe. The cleaning of wound was the worse!! Imagine wetting the burnt part. Its horrible. Too painful. So glad that its done. They then took my blood then I went home. I wasn't admitted because I didn't have any fever/flu and like I said, it was during the H1N1 period so I wasn't advised to stay. My arm was wrapped in a plastic like bandage. As soon as i reached home, my arm started to stink because of all the pus coming out from my scars. It was bad. I had to elevate my arm just to sleep. And I had to wrap my arm in towel to prevent the pus from dripping.
My mom had to give me a bath the next day. And my colleagues came to visit me. I couldn't move much so I just sat there and welcomed them. They came and brought me gifts and get well soon cards. Really sweet. (:
A few days later, we went for dressing. They changed my dressing and cleaned my wound again. This time, they wrapped my arm with the normal bandage. So when I went for the next dressing, it was terrible because the bandage got stucked to my wound and they had to rip it apart. Like literally. It took me like 2 weeks to finally remove my bandages and let my arm breathe. I had to wear long sleeves and I missed 2 weeks of school because of it. I couldn't walk without shelter for like weeks. My scars got very itchy and I couldn't scratch it coz it hurts. So it was torturing.
I still have the scars right now. Its permanent. Its like an extra skin burnt and can't be cleared kinda thing. So yeah, for the past 3 years, I have been haunted by that accident and the scars are not helping. Its not really obvious now but its still there.
Sometimes, at night, I suddenly got reminded of that accident and I will always end up crying. I will forever remember the pain I felt..... Scary.
Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
"Accident that changed my life" posted at 09:55