Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Saturday 21 September 2013

An injured Compostgirl :(

Today has been a curious mix sort of day.

We (mainly Compostman)  have pressure washed the new patio slabs and I have done lots of housework and preserving, but overiding all that is the situation with Compostgirl's hand injury.

She burned her hand on Thursday evening while at a cook out at Guides - she put her hand on a gas Tilly Lamp and sustained partial thickness burns to her left palm - cue a visit to Ledbury MIU until nearly 11 pm and a very late night and a very distressed daughter :(

Friday saw an very very early start as she had to be at a burns clinic for 9.15 - in Bristol, over 60 miles away and reached by a notoriously slow road network, despite it being so called  "Motorway".  Left in loads of time to arrive at the clinic, but were then caught up in the fall out of an M5 accident and arrived late - fortunately I called the Hospital and warned the clinic of the delay and they were able to sort out something so she was seen by the consultant.

Compostgirl has a very bandaged left hand, the prognosis is good, fortunately for a full recovery :)

She will be visited by community outreach nurses to dress the wound for the next week, at least. I was astonished to find they do home visits. Home visits!! I thought they had long gone and am so grateful to find they still exist.

All of which brings home the seriousness of the situation :( Compostgirl is coping but is in pain and is quite affected by not being able to use her left hand - fortunately she is right handed but even so, it is having a huge effect on her daily life. Getting dressed, brushing her teeth or hair, eating, doing her pets and other jobs, playing sports or practical subjects at school  - all is affected and it hurts her to do stuff  :(

And I can do very little to help her, apart from the obvious practical stuff  - wash her hair, her hand, cut up her food, reassure her it will be ok. -  is to cuddle and reassure it will be ok and her hand will heal.

It will, of course, but the getting there is not great for any of us. Especially her.

If you want,  could you send some good wishes please for Compostgirl - who would love to read your comments ( she is fascinated by this blog and the way people comment :)   )



Compostgirl ok'd this post, btw I would not have written it , otherwise.

15 comments:

  1. So sorry compost girl:( I did a similar thing when I was young on a camping trip, but on a smaller part of my hand, above the wrist. It did hurt so very much. I was left with a very faint white scar for some time but actually it was OK because every time I looked at it it reminded me, not only of the accident, but of the fun I was having before the accident! I was lying in the tent watching the shadows from the lamp and listening to the quiet sounds of the lamp, and feeling really adventurous. But burns of any kind are so painful and you have my sympathy: I do hope it begins to feel a little better soon. Perhaps one day you will think of it as a War Wound?! ((Big hug))

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear Compost Girl has been injured, burns are very painful aren't they but with time will heal. Lavender oil is very successful, obviously once skin is starting to heal and should help to soothe her skin a little. Hope she can keep her spirits up.
    Wishing her a speedy recovery.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my goodness, so sorry to hear you have been burned compost girl, wishing you a speedy recovery, and it feels a bit better soon, at least you were out doing something fun, I burnt my hand when younger on our electric cooker ring at home when I was about 13 :( it was so frustrating trying to manage day to day with an injured hand, but it did heal nicely. Sending lots of healing vibes your way
    Sharon xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Painful things burns, but it will go. what will stay are all the funny things like learning how to put undies on with one hand, chasing that choice morsel of dinner round your plate with a fork, ( use your fingers!) and reading a book while holding a cup of tea. I have never burned my hand but have broken both wrists, 3 months of having my hair washed by someone else, pure indulgence, not forgetting no washing up, win win. try to make the best of a nasty accident. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hope Compost Girl gets better soon. Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my sweetheart! I'm sorry to hear about your hand - it's painful but it will mend. I've burned myself pretty badly from welding but it did heal up eventually!

    Here, have a story to pass the time (I tell abbreviated stories to friends on Twitter who are often feeling poorly, even though they're also being very brave about it).

    I just happen to know of one, which I heard from another storyteller far away where silk and spice is as common and dust, and even the poorest have plenty. A sultan had a young bride whom he was very fond of, bright as morning, and her eyes soft as a doe's. She was also very fond of her sultan, although many people (probably jealous) said all sorts of unkind things about them - "Only for the money, only for the gold, does she bow before him as if he was the Sun and Moon!"

    The young wife had a rival among the courtesans, and she had magics grim yet powerful, and she cast a spell upon a basket of lemons she made them look as if they were the most beautiful pomegranates and apples, sweet as honey, ripe as autumn dates. She presented herself dressed as an old fruit-seller to the sultan one day in the market, and said to him "O Exalted One, these fruits are most blessed! Give them to one you love most, and they will taste of honey! If they are sour, so is their love, and most false!"

    "But surely I must taste them for myself!" the Sultan said.

    "Oh, no! They are reserved only for another - try and see!"

    And so, he went home with the basket of fruits, and presented them to his bride, who eagerly took one of the crimson fruits in her hand, and bit deeply into it.

    The rival watched from behind the screen, anticipating the scandal in advance.

    But, not so! The bride's eyes shone, and she smiled wide and fully as she ate the fruit, exclaiming "It is so sweet! So lovely! So delicate!"

    So much did the young bride fuss over the fruit that the rival narrowed her eyes to slits in a fury, and she dashed forward forgetting herself, and grabbing up one of the fruits herself, biting deeply. "Ugh! It is sour! It is a lemon - look, see!"

    The Sultan was surprised, and stared at his bride, marvelling. "But how could you think a lemon could be so sweet? Why are your eyes not watering at the taste?"

    And the bride replied, her eyes full of love, "Because -you- gave it to me. All is -sweet when presented to me with your hand."

    And thus was her love tested and sound, and the rival's proven not. Would that we all have such loyalty!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi compost girl, hope your hand gets well soon and the pain soon forgotten. Glad you got some good medical attention.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sorry to hear about your burn, CG. It's not just the pain and the inconvenience, it's very wearing and can grind you down a bit. I don't tknow if this will help, but when I've had anything debilitating happen, I try to picture myself in the future. I start with "this time next year, I won't remember this", and then I move it forward a bit and picture myself in 6 months "actually, in 6 months it will only be a memory"; then 3 months (picture Christmas) "actually, 3 months time", and so on "1 month" etc... and it kind of helps. That sounds really stupid now I've written it down, but if I do it properly and try and imagine myself doin gthings at those timescales, it does help. to you,

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ouch! I know how painful burns can be. Sending healing hugs to {{{Compostgirl}}}.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yowsa, that sounds nasty, I hope compostgirl recovers quickly and the pain reduces.
    Sending healing thoughts :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ouch! So easily done though. Sending hugs and prayers for a speedy recovery.
    Barbara xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oof! Very sorry to hear about your burn, Compostgirl. Make sure the guinea pigs & chickens get a good look at it - they might have some advice (although take it with a pinch of salt - guinea pigs are well known practical jokers). I know how rotten it is to lose the use of a hand. I fell off my motorbike & broke my thumb when I was sixteen; it was only when my hand was in a plaster cast that I realised just how much I used it! But it got better - as yours will. It just takes a bit of time.

    Sending you the strongest healing thoughts I can :)
    SK

    ReplyDelete
  13. Sorry to hear about the burn on here hand - it sounds painful and she must be being brave to keep doing all here normal stuff. Love sent from the three (almost four) of us here! Kev

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi compost girl, I hurt my thumb a while back and had to have an operation on it, the one way I found to ease the paid was to elevate it on the arm of the sofa resting on a cool wheat bag. If you don't have one you can make one by filling a freezer bag with flour or rice tying it tightly and then putting it inside an old sock. These bags are also useful as hot water bottles in winter, as they only need two minutes in a microwave.
    Hope you feel better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Compost girl, I hope that by the time you read this your hand is not hurting you quite as much.

    I know how much it hurts because I burnt my arm last week trying to catch a falling bread tin, it went through lots of layers of skin on my arm and I have a really quite nasty burn there now, but I guess being on your hand yours is a lot worse, at least I can still use my hand okay.

    I am so glad that Compostwoman is helping you so much with cutting up your food and doing little jobs that you don't realise you really need two hands for.

    Take lots of time to relax and your body will help your hand to heal until soon it will almost be as good as new. It's a good time to watch lots of wildlife programmes on the television and look at some of your books, make sure you eat lots of nice home grown foods too, your body will need lots of vitamins and minerals to help with the healing.

    I hope you soon feel much better.

    ReplyDelete

Hello! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. I try to reply as quickly as I can and I really appreciate your interest in my life and doings here in The Compost Bin.

UA-40361266-1