eHomemakers Malaysia

Compression garments. Burn survivors either hate them or love them. The first time the occupational therapist introduced me to them, it took me around 40 minutes just to wear them on my legs and hands. So hot and tight. It felt like I was wrestling, and the compression garments won the match.   Taking off was another struggle. I hated them. Feeling weak, I would sometime give up and refuse to wear them. Occasionally, there were small patches of blood soaking through the pressure garment, an indication that my skin was still raw and had not stabilise yet. I remember giving a bunch of excuses when the occupational therapist caught me not wearing them. “It’s too tight” or “My skin is breaking down at that area”. I would inform her.  She would look at me disapprovingly, “you need to wear them for 23 hours a day”. What? You must be kidding. Unfortunately, the occupational therapist was not joking. I only began to seriously put them on after looking at some photos

11th March 2019 have been a truly memorable day. It was pain this time that accompanied my waking up. I may be semi-conscious, unable to have a coherent thought yet. However, pain I do recognised very well.  This pain appeared to originate from the left side of my face; stinging pain at the back of my upper teeth and gums area. In less than an hour a trail of burning pain journeyed upwards from my gums. It went across my cheek to the side of my left temple. There was another source of pain which travelled from my gums downwards to my tailbone area. This lasted for two seconds. Then I felt the area of my tailbone appeared to tighten uncomfortably.  A mixture of pain and numbness affected my appetite, mood and a pounding headache soon came after. I felt my head was facing a blaring loudspeaker in a rock concert. However, unlike the experience I had years ago, this did not elicit pleasure in my body. The sensation felt like my head being torn apart to pieces.  Ouch, oh ouch, my p