The Mathew Heimes Experience v. 5

I was with my brother when it all happened. I was cooking a delicious meal on the stove top, and my brother and I decided to go down stairs for a second to see what was going on because we heard the T.V. and wanted to watch. We were only down there for maybe 10 minutes before we came back up and stumbled upon a glorious fire on the stove. Before my brother and I could react to what was unfolding before us, I grabbed the pan and swiftly tried to carry it outside. It was all going well before I opened the door and took a step outside; that’s when it all went downhill. The wind hit the pan and sent the fire back upon my arm, making me drop the pot full of hot greasy fire all over my left leg. The next thing I knew I was running around outside like a chicken with its head cut off because it hurt so much, with a siren in the back ground blaring, coming to pick me up and rush me to the hospital.

So there I was about ten minutes later, sitting in a hospital bed with a morphine drip, feeling like I was at the top of the world, when my mom comes in with a huge worried look on her face wondering what I did and how I did it and if I was "ok". I told her I was trying to cook, but it all went horrible when the grease I was using caught on fire and put me in a horrible situation. I ended up losing about 60 or more pounds that night in the hospital through the treatments and water loss. I got dehydrated and didn’t feel like eating at all, so I ended up staying a few days in the hospital until I got "better".

Going through an experience like this makes you unbelievably paranoid of the thing that got you in the predicament in the first place. So for about eight months after I got burnt, I still wouldn’t go near fire because I hated it so much. Now I’m fully recovered and know all the dangers about fire and even how to stop grease fires in their track while their happening. That way I won’t feel the need to try and carry it outside. The fire made me realize just how fragile life can be; it’s something you should take every precaution with because you never know when something out of the ordinary will happen and send you right into the hospital under extreme supervision to make sure that every move you make while your there isn’t stupid, and that you know what to do next time in case it happens again.

I had to go back to the hospital for 2 months after the burns to get a special treatment called whirlpool treatment. This is where they stick you and your burn in a tub of kind of warm water and then have high powered jets blast away at all the dead skin that you have because of the fire. This doesn’t actually hurt, believe it or not, but then again when you have a bunch of dead skin piled on top of fresh meat you can’t really feel it. That is, until after the whirlpool where they take a scalpel and carve away at your burns. That is the only real thing that hurts like no other.

About three weeks after my "accident," I had to go in to have surgery on my foot to have them remove the skin without whirlpool. They put me on Anesthesia, which by the way is awesome for anyone who wants to get some sleep, and I was out in four seconds, trust me, I counted. After they had me undergo surgery, I looked at my foot, which now looked 100 times better, and I was pleased. They took me down to the second floor of the hospital and tried to give me another whirlpool treatment. I sat in the tub, which stung a little, and then they turned on the jets. This is the part where I screamed at the top of my lungs from pain. On a scale of 1-10 this pain would have been a 93. They immediately rushed me up to the third floor for morphine, and in three seconds every muscle in my body was numb. They sent me home that day on Vicodin AND Morphine and didn’t attempt another whirlpool for a couple of days.

It’s things like this that just affect your life more then you could imagine. I don’t think I’ve left the stove when something is on it since that day. I stay there and watch it to make sure it doesn’t explode. Overall I think that things like this that happen in people’s lives only end up making them stronger in the long run.

Character Sketch

I remember a time that seems so long ago when I worshipped certain people in my life. I remember sitting on the couch next to my dad while we watched movies at midnight. A time where my dad wasn’t dating anyone, so it could just be the two of us hanging out and having a great time. It seems like so long ago, but then again, it seems like it could have just happened not even five minutes ago. There were times where we would take little camping trips to where ever we wanted and fish for how ever long we felt like. We would catch all sort of things, and at the end of the day we’d sit right next to the campfire while roasting the fish and just kind of talk and laugh while we waited.

These were the times before my dad got a girlfriend and before I got a job. With school every day, it makes it very hard to see him during the week. With my job on the weekends and sometimes during the week as well, it makes it even harder. But I still look back upon those days with my dad while we sat next to the campfire.

There was one time in particular that my dad and I went camping that I will never forget. My dad and I lived in Vermillion at the time, and we decided that we were bored and wanted to go camping. We went to the market that was in Vermillion at the time, I can’t remember what it was called, and got some supplies for a night out. Then we drove maybe a mile or so out of town onto this dirt path that we’ve been on many times to go fishing. We found a spot underneath some tress in a grove off the path. We got out our tent and set it up right along the side of a huge, thick tree, just in case it rained. We got our fishing poles out and a bow and arrows. We went fishing for about three hours and ended with a total of 12 catfish. We roasted a couple up and ate until we were full. I remember the mood, which was very light and very peaceful, and the feeling of a great day. After we stuffed our face with fish and were full, we decided to go and look for something to shoot. We walked around for awhile and found a very soft tree, which we could shoot an arrow into very easily. We sat there shooting the tree, which we drew a bulls eye on, until we were both tired. We went back to our camp and decided to call it a night. In the morning we woke up and fished for breakfast, but we didn’t catch anything. So, instead of eating fish, we went to McDonalds and got a couple cheeseburgers.

I will never forget that day. It was the perfect day, which I wish I could relive. I hope to soon be able to do it again and have just as good as a time. But with my job it is very hard to do and will most likely be awhile before we can do anything again.