Gratitude List (March 9, 2024) #TToT

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. This past week has been tough. I was going to write an update only to realize there’s no #WeekendCoffeeShare this week. I could do one on my own, but that’d just leave room for endless negativity. Instead, for this reason, I’m going to turn things around and do a gratitude post. As usual, I’m joining Ten Things of Thankful. I’m going to cheat a little and do this gratitude list for the past ten days so that I can provide a little update anyway.

1. I’m grateful for the night nurse on duty during the night of February 29/March 1. Like I said on February 29, I was intensely triggered by my intake interview for therapy. Though I tried to calm myself down, it didn’t work and I ended up self-harming after my staff had left by throwing boiling hot water over my leg. Thanks to the night staff and particularly the night nurse, who cooled the wound under the shower for over half an hour, I am left with superficial second-degree burns. The wounds still cover most of the front side of my upper leg, but I realize things could’ve been a lot worse.

2. I am grateful my wounds are healing as well as can be expected. I’m getting them dressed once a day now, which is frustrating and sometimes very painful. I looked up my kind of burn (that’s how I found out there are two kinds of second-degree burns) and it usually heals within two weeks. Yay!

3. I am grateful for French fries on Sunday. As I couldn’t walk on Sunday (or most of this week, for that matter) because the band-aid that was on my leg would fall off if I did, I decided that my spouse shouldn’t come by for a visit. Instead, my staff took me to the institution cafeteria in a wheelchair to have fries and some snacks. They were delicious!

4. I am grateful for nice weather last week Sunday as well as over the past couple days. Last Sunday, the daytime temperature rose to 15°C. When having the fries I mentioned above, we sat in the cafeteria yard.

5. I am grateful I am feeling slightly better mentally. I definitely hit rock bottom on February 29 and from that place, you can only go up. I will have to see how things work out in the long run, as the behavior specialist is going to try to talk to the therapist I met on Feb 29 to see whether any changes to the plan need to be made. Though I’m ready to give it a try, particularly the thought of doing the therapy without the support of my staff, feels overwhelming.

6. I am grateful that my support coordinator listened to me when discussing the outcome of the monthly team meeting with me. The team meeting was on Monday and, though I had already asked that some things would be discussed, such as my day schedule, my self-harm made things a priority. The day schedule isn’t changing, as I expected, but I honestly don’t mind as much.

Initially, in the team meeting, the staff had agreed to stick with announcing staff switches half an hour in advance. I was really disappointed. Though I understand the staff don’t want to designate a one-on-one shift, I feel it will help me immensely if I know more in advance who’s going to support me for my activity slots. I am grateful my support coordinator reluctantly agreed to this.

7. I am grateful my support coordinator reassured me that she and the behavior specialist at least aren’t planning on asking for less one-on-one for me anytime soon. Of course, they aren’t the ones making those decisions, but then again neither is the therapist I met last week.

8. I am grateful I did manage a few crafty endeavors over the past week. Not as many as I’d hoped, but I did craft yet another polymer clay unicorn, as well as finally making the crocodile I’d promised one of the male staff here. He actually helped me make it. It’s maybe a little too cute, but oh well.

Polymer Clay Crocodile

9. I am grateful my spouse came by for a visit today. We sat in my room talking, playing a card game and such, as I still didn’t feel comfortable going out.

10. I am grateful for the few short (as in, fifteen minutes tops) walks I did manage over the past few days. It’s been a pain f(sometimes literally) inding the right band-aids and other things to go over the wound. Let’s hope Dr. Google is right and my wound heals within the expected timeframe of two weeks.

20 thoughts on “Gratitude List (March 9, 2024) #TToT”

    1. Thanks so much. The pain finally lessned. That is, I wasn’t in pain for the first few days (and that thankfully was pure luck and didn’t mean my wounds were more severe, as it can mean). Then the pain did increase and it’s now finally manageable. Now, however, my wounds itch like crazy and it’s really hard not to scratch, which of course I shouldn’t do if I don’t want to cause the scars to get even uglier than they’re likely to be.

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  2. I am so in love with the crocodile. It is adorable, indeed. You have artistic talent. I hope that your burn heals quickly and that Doctor Google is correct or even decides you can heal sooner. What’s the place for a second opinion for Doctor Google? Maybe Doctor Bing? 🙂

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    1. LOL to your comment about Dr. Google. I didn’t get any clear answers from my nurse practitioner, either re the degree of my burn or how long she’d expect healing to take. Not that I asked directly, honestly. I wasn’t even trying to look up answers to those questions when finding out about superficial vs. deep second-degree burns, but when looking up an ointment I had (briefly) to aid in healing, I stumbled upon a general page on burns. On that page, I saw my signs under superficial second-degree burns and it said they usually heal within two weeks with appropriate dressing and maybe an ointment, whereas deep second-degree burns might require a skin graft and usually take longer than two weeks to heal.

      Thanks so much for your compliment on the crocodile.

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    1. Aw thank you so much for the compliment on my crocodile. As for my burns, the way I understand it, the risk of infection has pretty much passed now and the wounds are healing quite well. I’ll likely be left with some scars, but oh well, at least those will be covered by clothing unless I’m swimming.

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  5. It’s good to ‘read’ you again!

    (the thing about the blogosphere, we meet people from all over the world, people we would never, in a million years meet. And this, in and of itself is something I’m grateful for)

    Have a good/healing week.

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    1. Thanks so much for your prayers. Re the crocodile, I meant that crocodiles and particularly the ones my staff likes are mean-looking rather than cute. He did appreciate this one though.

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  7. I hope the healing is continuing and getting easier to handle. Burns are no fun. It does sound like your week got a little better though. I love the crocodile! I hope the staff member you made it for liked it. Hope you have a good week Astrid!

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    1. Thanks so much. Yes, the healing process is getting easier by the day. Mentally, I’m experiencing some higher highs and really low lows at the moment. I hope this week is going to get better.

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