Rhian

Age at interview: 28

Brief Outline:

Rhian sustained a burn injury to her forearm caused by hot coffee when she was 27 years old. When Rhian attended the hospital for treatment, her burn was incorrectly assessed, and this led to her contracting an infection. Rhian’s advice to healthcare professionals is to be honest with patients about how long the burn may take to heal.

Background:

Rhian is a 28-year-old self-employed textile designer. She lives with her partner. Rhian is White British.

More about me...

Rhian was in her parents kitchen when she accidentally put her arm under a running cafeterie and hot coffee was poured on her forearm. Immediately after, Rhian placed her arm under cool running water before ringing NHS 111 for further advice. Her forearm was kept under cool running water for around 40 minutes and then Rhian was taken to a Minor Injuries Unit.

At the Minor Injuries Unit, Rhian was given incorrect medical advice and this resulted in her contracting an infection which began to spread up her arm. When Rhian went to A&E a few days later at the request of her GP, she was told she would need to be seen by a consultant at a burns unit. From there, she was told she would need to be admitted as an inpatient because of the infection.

Rhian found her time at the burns unit to be “relaxing” and a “really positive” experience. The staff were “kind and caring” and having time to rest allowed Rhian “time to breathe” and helped her to realise that there was more to life than she originally believed.

Although she does still sometimes struggle with accepting the appearance of her burn, in time, Rhian began to see her scars as a unique part of herself. In the beginning, she was worried about people asking questions about her burn because it is in an easily visible place. However, Rhian didn’t want thoughts about the burn to dominate her life so she began to try and accept it and “move forward”.

Rhian’s advice to other people with a burn injury, specifically those who are still in recovery, is that “having a burn takes a lot out of your body and that it’s going to take a while to heal”.

Rhian started to feel unwell and the area surrounding her burn was red. She went to the hospital where she was told her burn was infected.

That evening I just went for a walk and started to feel funny again. I wasn’t feeling very well, went home and elevated my arm again. Following day, I called in as soon as the doctor’s surgery were open, because I realised that my redness had started to go up around my elbow.

Yeah, the redness was spreading. So, I went straight to the doctors in a lot of pain. I can remember, I was like “Oh, I’ll drive myself”, trying to turn the steering wheel. Just trying to move my arm really hurt. They took photographs of it. They sent it to a consultant, I think. I got told that I should go to A&E. So, I waited, gradually saw a nurse, who then organised me to have a consultation with someone the next day at 12. The next day when I got into the Burns Unit, I had to have it cleaned, which was the most painful thing I think I’ve done. I was on gas and air, really trying not to cry. Then, because of all that green stuff, it basically looked like it had gone off. Yeah, it wasn’t very nice. And yeah and the doctor came in and was like “Oh, I think we’re going to have to admit you to hospital because your infection is spreading up your arm.”

First time I’ve ever stayed overnight at a hospital and, yeah, I was put straightaway onto antibiotics through my vein and my arm basically got put into a sling. Whenever I sat down, when I was asleep, my arm was trying to drain all the fluid out of it and all the infection out.

Rhian told us that her stay at the burns unit was relaxing.

Out of all my experience the Burn Unit was the most relaxing place I’ve been. Like, I don’t really go on holidays and the fact that it’s such a beautiful hospital as well, I felt like I was in a hotel. I’m not one for napping, I never stop, so the experience was really good because I’m self-employed I’m always like “I have to keep working, I have to keep working, I have to keep working”, because I had basically two weeks and that last week I couldn’t like, I was just in hospital, like couldn’t do any work, made me realise that there’s more to life. That I could just breathe. And the people were really caring, and I was in my own room.

My hospital experience was really positive. The nurses were all really kind and I was lucky because my parents could come and visit me and they could come and sit because I had my own room, they could just come and sit with me, and the hospital was a really nice environment. Like, it had a really nice like garden that was very tranquil and relaxing, and then I do remember feeling very tired, so I’d just nap a lot. I’m not one to watch TV so, like, the TV was never really on, so I think the nurses sometimes would find it a bit strange that they’d come in my room and there was no sound. But yeah, and it was quite lucky as well, the fact that I could just put my arm in a sling and go down and get a coffee or hot chocolate.

Rhian said that being self-employed allowed her to prioritise her well-being.

What was the impact on being self-employed and not being able to work?

I suppose I’ve always had savings. I don’t really know, I can’t really answer that question, because as soon as I came back, I just worked really hard and then just met deadlines, I guess.

Did it add stress to an already stressful situation?

Yeah. I allowed myself to breathe and realised that, you know, work is work at the end of the day. Your wellbeing is far more important and also your mindset’s far more important than getting stressed out about it.

There is more to life than work. And I know some people were like “Oh, well, you need money to enable you to do things.” Yes, you do need money but at the time, if you’re not going to look after your health who else is? Money can’t look after your health.

I can understand that.

Maybe I was very fortunate that I was self-employed, and I didn’t have the stress of knowing that I didn’t have to go back to work with a massive workload of a business that had carried on working whilst I was recovering. So, I was probably very fortunate.

There wasn’t a financial impact on you because of the burn?

At that time, I was very lucky, I was living in the annexe and the rent for my studio is not a lot, so it was ok, I didn’t have a lot of outgoings.

Rhian believes it is important to look after your mindset whilst recovering.

I allowed myself to breathe and realised that, you know, work is work at the end of the day. Your wellbeing is far more important and also your mindset’s far more important than getting stressed out about it. There is more to life than work. And I know some people were like ‘Oh, well, you need money to enable you to do things.’ Yes, you do need money but at the time-. If you’re not going to look after your health who else is? Money can’t look after your health.

Rhian said that her scars make her unique.

I’m now like “Oh, it’s just part of me now and it is part of me and it’s one thing that makes me beautiful and it makes me stand out from others” and even though sometimes I think it’s the most ugliest thing in the world, but then it’s not, like, there is a lot worse things, like I could be well, you know, there’s a lot of worse diseases out there and, at the end of the day, can I walk? Yes! Can I breathe? Yes. Am I able to carry on doing what I wanted? Yes. Life’s fantastic then. It’s like “Don’t worry about it”.

Because I think if it’s just a different pattern on your skin, well then why can’t you make it feel nice? Why can’t you grow to like it? Like, why can’t you accept it and make it part of you? Like mine’s an odd shape.

Rhian didn’t want the burn to take over her life.

I didn’t want those thoughts to go through my head every day. I didn’t want to second-guess what I was going to wear and what I was going to do, so if I just accepted it, which is hard, I understand that and just let it be part of me, then it’s ok, it’s going to carry on and we’ll be fine. You don’t want it to take your life, thought, do you really? Like, yes it was a traumatic experience but, at the end of the day, that experience has been done now, so I need to move forward and yeah, see what happens. This is me and my new scar!

At the end of the day, if I’m ok with this massive red-, because at the time it was huge wasn’t like, it was a very red thing on my arm. If I’m ok with that then everyone else is going to be. I shouldn’t be apologetic about what’s on your body. And I think lots of people have tattoos, don’t they? And some tattoos are quite offensive, so if someone finds my very red burn offensive well, that’s up to them, then, isn’t it?

Rhian found it useful to focus on other areas of her life to distract her from her burn.

I’d say I am, just because as I said, like I do gym and running. I can run ultra-marathons so I have to put myself at that kind of mindset, and that can get really hard, but then it’s going to get a bit better, and then it’ll be the end and I’ll be so relieved. So perhaps everything I’ve done before, and like, starting my own business from scratch, I’ve obviously had a lot of ups and downs so, well maybe if anything, maybe I’ve been too distracted to be concentrating on my burns because I’ve had all these other goals.

Rhian sees her scar as “part of me”, and an experience that has made her more confident.

Like, in one way, I can’t wait to get married and to be holding a bouquet with my burn on my arm because that’s part of me and I want to have photographs with me looking at my right side so you can see my burn, like … and that’s probably one of the strangest things but that’s me. That’s part of me and that’s one of my experiences and it’s made me confident, I guess.