Improving recovery

As I advanced to the second month of recovery the really painful dressing changes stopped towards the end of the month. My immediate surgeries for skin grafts ended and I was being fitted for a pressure garment, which is an elastic material that applies pressure to your skin in an attempt to reduce the raised scarring. This all happened before I had the first elbow operation, so I could use my arms again. Consequently I needed help to wear the suit. Nurses helped me out of it and after a cleansing, helped me back into it, as they were still applying dressings to the wounds that had not completely healed. My pain medication was also reduced, which I didn’t much care for, but they wanted to slowly take off narcotic dependency. I was able to move around the ward and go outside for a short time. The whole time I was in the burn unit the hospital was building a new wing, which was going to have a state of the art burn unit. The ironworkers could see into my room, were always friendly, and waved to me, which was nice. It seems my timing was always a little off, because when the new burn unit was finished it offered much better overall treatment. However, such has been my luck! Things were starting to improve and my outlook to the future was feeling better.