Thursday, December 27, 2007

Blister in the Sun

What price beauty? What price uh... hairlessness?

At about 1AM this morning, I opened up a fresh case of tweezerless wax and headed for the microwave. Guys, this is the kind of wax girls use to do their eyebrows, get rid of that mustache, or generally, remove any small bit of unsightly hair with just a whip and a wince. I've used this crap dozens, nay hundreds of times.

First I popped it in the 'wave for the recommended sixty seconds according to the instructions:

Then I returned to the couch while it 'waved to catch a hand from a repeat episode of the World Poker Tour's "Poker by the Book." Daniel Negreanu's 4-8o sucked out on Tom McEvoy's J-J and made a full house by the river. Lucksack.

The microwave beeped and beckoned me to return. I opened the door and the wax was more than melted. It was steaming like a bowl of soup. I gingerly removed it by its handle and headed for the bathroom. Only I never made it there.

As I crossed the living room, I noticed that the container was starting to bulge from the heat. And quickly. Fuck, it looked like it was going to burst. And before I could set it down on top of an old copy of InStyle, it did burst. All over my right hand. I dropped it instantly and the remainder of the wax sizzled off the cool hardwood floors. Smoke actually rose from the ground.



It took about 30 seconds for the pain to really hit. Then I was yowling and staggering around like a wounded animal. I made it into the kitchen and stuck my hand under the faucet. But even that was excrutiating. I went into the cabinet and got out a mixing bowl with my one good hand and filled it with cold water. Submerging the hand was much less painful. I sat there for over an hour with my hand in the water, trying to distract myself with the WPT broadcast as I cried crocodile tears and started freaking out. How long would it be before I could pick up a pen? Type? What about the Aussie Millions? And FUCK, the pain was really not going away AT ALL.

So what's a girl with no health insurance to do when it's 1 AM, she doesn't want to freak out her parents, Showcase is dog-sitting in Encino and a trip to the Cedars-Sinai ER will likely cost well over a grand just for some creams and bandages?

I popped two Xanax, four Motrin, pulled the coffee table flush with the sofa and attempted to fall asleep with my hand in the bowl of water. Because taking the hand out of the bowl at this stage was far too painful.

I slept about three hours and woke up to some infomercial on the television. My hand was still in the bowl. Pieces of wax and skin were floating around. I took it out and the pain was bearable. I wrapped my hand in a towel and slept on and off for the next 2 hours.

When I got up the second time, I removed the towel and greeted two enormous blisters. One on the pointer finger, one on the middle finger.


Yup, they're still covered in wax. And will likely remain so for the next several days, as peeling off the wax would not only peel off the skin with it, it would burst the blister.

I called my mom when it finally became a reasonable hour and she put my dad on the line. He's had experience with burns. When he and my mom first moved into our house, a water heater exploded all over his arm, leaving him with second and third degree burns from his wrist to his elbow. He said not to pop the blisters and was going to send my mom over with the proper bandages and some antibiotic cream to stave off infection. Which is where I'm at now... waiting for mom to get here with supplies while I brainstorm how to wrap this hand to allow maximum typing ability. I wrote this post with six fingers and holy fuck did it take a long time.

I should be fine for Australia. The blisters should go down on their own by then. And everything should be OK if I keep the burns clean and change the dressing every day. I might have a couple of gnarly scars though when all is said and done.

And today was supposed to be the day where I post all my fabulous food pics from Christmas! The Chateubriand melted in my mouth and the port wine and cherry sauce was a hit!

10 comments:

pokertart said...

Holy crap!

I once had a disaster with wax in which I prayed to the baby jesus and promised that if they grew back, I'd never attempt to wax them myself again - but that was nothing compared to this!

It sucks that you have to worry about the cost when contemplating health care. I hope that when it all clears up the scars are minimal (hopefully even non-existent!)

BadBlood said...

God I cringed when I read this...

Hope everything turns out OK.

Betty Underground said...

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God lord! I once burnt the tip of my finger making beignets (drunk) and I was tempted to chop my whole finger off the pain was so bad!

Cold water. Nice ice. COLD WATER.

And, Vicodin.

SirFWALGMan said...

Here I thought you made yourself bald by accident or something.. jesus girl! Be careful! All my best wishes and all that crap to you. Hope you get better soon.

So does the package say "Leave in Microwave for 1 minute before using".. thats the legal out for these idiots.. they will be like "Well we told you to leave it in there! You must have pulled it out too soon!"..

Garthmeister J. said...

Hope it gets better!

Owen5819 said...

Next time you have a burn, squeeze some vitamin E on it. The pain will go quickly, and the burn will heal in a few days. Best if you do it with half an hour or so. It's probably too late now, but try it anyway. It may help with the healing.

One evening, my wife put her hand on an electric stove that had cooled just enough for the glow to die. She should have had second-degree burns and scarring. Two hours later, the pain was gone. Three days later, you couldn't see where the burn had been.

Most of the damage in a burn happens after the heat is off it, as free radicals eat away at the tissues. Vitamin E kills off free radicals.

Good luck with the burn.

Irongirl01 said...

OMG Change. Feel better. I had grease from a fryolater pour onto my fingers and down the side of my hand when I worked in a mexican resturant back in my heavy partying days.. Similar scenario. No insurance etc. The blister was bigger then my finger. I self medicated too. I did survive with no scars.

I leave the waxing to the professionals. Lip, Bikini, Eyebrows.

I was so looking forward to your food report and to see how the cherry/port concoction came out.. I just made a Juniors NY style cheesecake with Strawberry sauce for Snake. Well actually I made two!!

peacecorn said...

Heavens! That's just awful! Hope it heals up soon.

4dbirds said...

That sounds and looks so painful. I think you did the medically correct first aid thing by getting that burn in cool water.

Student of Life said...

SHITFIREFUCK! I think my skin blistered up and fell off just reading this. HOLYMOTHEROFGOD that had to hurt. Hope a little mama TLC put you on the road to recovery.