Injury while making sugar blocks

[Greg Peck]

I was off work today and decided to make some sugar blocks for my light hives. I made a batch but apparently did not get the mixture hot enough so they ended up too sloppy. So later in the day I re melted them and brought the mixture up to 265 degrees. My 3 year old son got home from daycare while I was doing the second batch and was playing out in the living room. So I was alone in the kitchen. I purred a glass container full of the 265 degree sugar mixture on the counter and put the pot back on the stove. Just then my son ran into the kitchen, said dad can I have some of this and shoved his hand into the container full of the mixture I had just pored. I screamed NO but it was to late he had already gotten his hand into the mixture. This happened in literally seconds. I grabbed him and ran his hand under cold water. The mixture came off quickly but his was burnt. We took him to the ER and were looking at a 6 hour wait!!! They got us in in about 1 hour due to his screaming. He has partial thickness burns on his thumb and first 3 fingers up to the second knuckle. We have to go to the burn center tomorrow to see just how bad it is and what will need to be done to fix it. Being that the burns are the whole way around the fingers they are afraid that the skin will come off all the tips and he may need skin grafts and loose feeling in the tips of his fingers. But the burn center will know more. Amazing how much a few seconds can change everything. If he had come in 15 seconds later the container would have been outside cooling . I am just glad he did not tip the container or pull it off the counter, this could have been much worse. He is feeling no pain now due to the heavy duty pain meds they gave him so at least he is not suffering now. I think I like feeding fondant better now.


Click to enlarge!

Click to enlarge!

[justgojumpit]

Oh, that's just awful!  I'm sorry your son had to go through this.  It really is amazing how quickly things can go wrong when things are done in the best intentions.  I hope your son will be alright, and I'm sure that the doctors will take good care of him.  He will be in my thoughts.

justgojumpit

[kathyp]

i know you feel bad, but kids do that kind of stuff.  good thing is that they tend to heal well and quickly.  he'll be ok a lot sooner than you will be.

[slaphead]

Wow, that sounds awful and could so easily happen to many of us who have children.  Do hope you get good news from the burn center tomorrow.

SH

[Koala John]

Greg best wishes to your son and to your whole family. It's dreadful to think of the pain he went through and how hard that must be for you. Thanks for sharing, it's a good reminder for us all, particularly those of us with kids. I really hope he recovers quickly, preferably without the need for skin grafts if at all possible.
Take care,
John.

[BeeHopper]

Here's Wishing a Speedy Recovery for the Little Guy  Working with High Temps around the house whether you're cooking or repairing the plumbing presents safety issues. It is an excellent idea to go FONDANT, it eliminates work and incidents such as this. I have been feeding my girls fondant from Dawn Foods, thanks to BjornBee for directing me to the source in Lancaster, Pa.


BH

[KONASDAD]

Get well soon. Ironically, honey will help those burns.

[charmd2]

I have a friend who had a similar type burn when she was a child.  they grafted skin from her hips onto her fingers, and the scarring isn't readily noticible.  She has full hand function. 

Make sure they keep up with the pain meds.  She says the worst part was when they would wash it off to prevent infection. that caused serious pain. 

Best wishes to little one, and to you.  My support and sympathy is with you. 

[BjornBee]

Greg...Sorry to hear about this.

(Now I know why you called me yesterday)

Hoping the best for you and your family.

[reinbeau]

Oh, that poor baby!  I feel so bad for him, what a lesson to learn!  I hope he heals fast - I know this will stick with you forever.

[erak]

Really sorry to hear about your little boys burn.  I hope the healing goes quickly and with little pain.
I was glad to hear you call what you were making, "sugar blocks".  I got the recipe for fondant off of this site, thinking it was fondant, I made some and it turned out to be hard candy.  For the people that call it fondant, there is a difference.  I had thought I would rather buy bakers fondant, now I know I will.  Although, I just found a recipe using, one bag of mini marshmallows, 2 Tbs water, and 2 lbs of powdered sugar.  I may give that recipe a try even tho it will involve a lot of kneading the sugar into fondant.

[Keith13]

Greg terribly sorry to hear about your son. Hope all goes well when you see the burn Dr's

Keith

[Cindi]

Greg, oh that made my heart break when I read what happened to your young boy.  Oh such pain.  There is nothing worse in this world than to see one's own child cry with that heartbreaking, wrenching cry, that one of deep pain.  I do not envy your position.  You must not look back, you cannot change history, you can only learn by this.  A good way to look at it is, and to thank your lucky stars above, as you have already, I know, that he did not pull the container down off the counter, onto himself.

He will heal.  The miracles of modern day medicine are nothing short of miraculous, things will be well. 

Do remember to use honey for that healing.  Honey is a miracle in itself with the healing that it can provide, and it will also cause relief from pain.  Remember, bacteria cannot grow in honey, the pH is too, low, that is one of the reasons for the healing properties.  Do you remember my story of how much I worked on that young girl that had the bad burn from boiling tea?  I used colloidal silver water for healing too, but you don't NEED to use that, it is only another alternative for healing, I link the post, if you are interested -- the power of honey must never be overlooked.  Here are a few posts that speak of honey healing (and if you wish Colloidal silver water -- you can purchase it at the health food store, expensive, but it can be bought).  If you believe in "alternative" cures, do not turn your back here.....

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,11075.0.html reply #2

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,7313.0.html rely #4

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,7738.0.html

Good luck Greg, keep that chine up, your boy will be fine, just a little time and some of TLC that your family will provide for him.  Have a great, most wonderful day, health.  Cindi

[Scadsobees]

Poor little fella!  Yes, they do this stuff so fast!   Burns are so nasty and painful!  Its hard to imagine, I just get a fingernail size burn and i'm in agony! (of course I don't get the good drugs for that!)

On the bright side, they heal so fast at that age! (my first 2 were in the med center every other month at that age! )

Rick

[Pond Creek Farm]

Greg:  Sorry to hear of your little's boy's mishap.  I got a pretty bad burn on my hand from boiling grease, and while it hurt and required debridement, it healed fine.  The big issue will be keeping it clean and infection free.  (at least that was what they told me with my burn).   Wishing you the best...

[ArmucheeBee]

Very sorry to hear this.  I have a 4-year old.  I hope he heals up quick.

[HAB]

So sorry to hear of your sons injuries.
Wishing him a full and speedy recovery.

[JP]

Greg, I wish that little man a speedy and full recovery, so sorry this happened.

One thing to consider in all this however. If this episode leaves some scarring your boy can tell those who ask "My Dad and I were cooking feed for our honeybees!" Instant celebrity. If I were he I'd play it up for the girls, better than any puppy on a leash.

Hold him tight and give him an extra hug on our behalf and please tell him all the guys and gals from beemaster are thinking of him.


...JP

[Greg Peck]

Thanks everyone for your concern and words of encouragement. It is nice to know you all care.

We went to the burn center this morning for what was to be a one hour appointment. However they admitted him for the night in order to be able to get him into surgery in the morning. She said the only reason he had to be admitted was basically a procedural thing to get to the top of the surgery list to get the burns cleaned up ASAP. They are going to “remove all the dead tissue” in the morning then apply a synthetic skin which will prevent infections. If all goes well, and the doc said she thinks it will, the synthetic skin will fall off in a few weeks and new skin will be underneath. His finger nails may take much longer to get back to normal though. If this treatment does not work then there will be skin grafts and other treatments. The doc said absolute worse case could be the loss of the tips of his fingers, but she said that would be only if major infections set in which would be in issue if he was not getting this surgery tomorrow. I am going to ask about the honey for treatment, I had read a lot about it in the past.

He is not in any pain even without constant pain meds. He got up this morning 10 hours after his last pain meds and said it did not hurt. He is just angry that his hand is all wrapped up and he can not use it to play with. This concerns me that he has suffered nerve damage, but the docs did not seem to think it was in issue.

So the burn center is about 1.5 hours away and we will be traveling there 2 times a week for a few weeks then once a week for several more weeks.

Thanks again everyone.


Bjorn This happened after I called you. I figured that I would just make the sugar blocks rather then run to Lancaster to get the fondant. So this is your fault for not keeping fondant on hand for me when I need it. (I am totally joking about the your fault thing) 

[KONASDAD]

Great news. Sorry he has to sleep away from home tonite.