Local Idiot Learns About Frostbite
Peoria, IL native George McDufus learned something new this week: that 2nd degree frostbite looks just like a 2nd degree burn. He learned this the hard way, not outside in the cold, but inside his apartment."I pulled a muscle last week while walking across the street," he told us as we interviewed him lying in his bed, "I was just walking and bam! It felt like a rubber band snapped in my leg and I couldn't walk on it anymore.
"So the next day I was basically an invalid. Luckily for me there was a K9-5 marathon on Animal Planet. Have you seen that show? It's so cool.
"K9-5, up at the crack of dawn
K9-5, workin on and on
You love your job
It feels great to be alive
Workin like a dog
K9-5
"Oh yeah, my leg. Anyway I had this ice pack to put on my leg to take the pain away. Well, I didn't wrap it in a towel since I figured the towel will absorb the cold, right? And I used these velcro elastic bands to hold it on my leg since it was on the back of my leg.
"So I'm sitting there watching K9-5 with this ice pack strapped to my leg. Did you know there is a drug dog in England that is so successful that a crime boss actually put out a contract on him?
"Oh yeah, my leg. Anyway yeah so you know how it can hurt when you put ice against you since it's so cold. Well it really hurt, I mean oddly enough it felt like it was burning. But I figured, you know, real men don't feel pain, right? So I just toughed it out for 30 minutes. I am a believer in ignoring pain.
"So the next day, my leg really hurts, and I look down, and it is all red and scarred in a perfect square, right where the ice pack was. It even had blisters and everything. I wasn't sure what happened. Then I looked it up on the web, and realized I had 2nd degree frostbite.
"I think it's kinda cool how the freezing felt just like burning, and it even looks like a 2nd degree burn. I feel like I really learned something. Maybe I'll write a medical paper on it, who knows maybe it will make me famous.
"Though next time I think if my leg feels like it's burning I will remove whatever is causing the pain. I don't know though, I don't want to be a wimp about it."
posted by Pluto's Dad @ 1/17/2005 01:44:00 AM
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