Stupidity at its Finest

While in the sun, if you know you're getting burnt and are already in pain, yet continue to stay in the sun... you're probably in store for a miserable existence in the coming days.

I haven't been this sunburnt in... well, probably all of my life. But, I think I may have helped my situation yesterday the tiniest bit. I recently learned in my first aid class that to treat sunburn you should cool down the skin with damp, cool, wet towels. It gets the heat out from under your skin. If you don't do this, it stays in there and the layers of skin continue to act like blankets heating your flesh and making your sunburn worsen to the point where blisters form. Yay, second degree burns!

So, when going to sleep last night, I covered my arms with a wet towel and tried to keep my upper body cool while covering my legs with enough blankets so that I was warm enough to go to sleep. It was an uncomfotable, restless night. But, I finally got some sleep.

I woke up this morning, still in pain, and went to the bathroom to check out the damage. I'm still way red, but my arms don't look any worse than yesterday. There may be one or two small blisters that pop up, but overall, I think I did a good job in helping my situation, though I'm not ready to wear things with sleeves yet.

Sadly, one thing I can't do is sleep with a wet towel on my face. (I tried.) My nose has been a little stuffy recently and with the towel nearby, breathing became an issue.

So, now I'm horribly disfigured.

I actually have blisters along my hairline, nose, and chin. It is taking all the will power I have not to pop them. (Gross, I know.) I'm totally one of those people. I pick at scabs and pop zits and blisters have performed minor surgeries on my own ingrown toenails and a wart I once had on my foot. I'm not usually a huge whimp when it comes to pain or pus or blood. And as these things go, this is nothing like the back pain I had for a month in June of 2005. That was the worst pain I've ever experienced. (It's been over a year since I've had any back issues! Rejoice! It's something that usually surfaces about twice a year.)

I know things could be way worse, so I'm not really complaining about the slight uncomfortableness of this pain. The left side and back of my neck hurt a little, the very tops of my shoulders where the red line begins hurt, and my lips are in a constant state of ouchiness. Mostly I feel bad about doing this to them because it was easily prevented but I'm a lazy idiot. I suppose I'll learn from this, eh? Luckily this is not a bathing suit burn. Things could be oh soooo much worse.

But really, blisters on my face? That sucks.

A lot.

End Blog.