Monday, November 3, 2008 - 11:05 a.m.

Wounds are still weepy.

You might not think these look very bad, but they HURT. A LOT. You can still see where the skin is peeling back around the triangular wound. I trim the dead skin off with cuticle scissors every morning. Also, both wounds are pretty gooky in the morning when I change the dressings. It takes me a while to clean and dry them before I take these pictures. Today is day 2 of being reasonably comfortable after my horrible night on Saturday.

Somehow or another, Bill and I got into a discussion yesterday about epsom salts and other home remedies that people don't really talk about anymore.

Since soaking my leg in the tub in tap water burns, he suggested that the salinity could be why. Well that makes sense. The wound wash I've been using is saline, and neti pots use saline rather than plain water.

It occurred to me that if epsom salts are good for sprains and bruises and ingrown toenails, maybe they'd help with burns. So I did some quick research on the internet to make sure they wouldn't HURT, and found that people HAD used them to soothe burns. One woman's post said she was bathed in epsom salts prior to having skin grafts for burns, so that was good enough for me.

I started tossing Epsom salts into the bath and it really does feel more comfortable than plain water. Hopefully it will help these wounds heal more quickly too.

The smaller wound in the crease of my knee really hurts; sometimes it's worse than the big one.