The Burn

Monday night, Patrick stuck his index finger into a candle flame, and apparently left it until the flame went out. This resulted in 3rd degree burns and a trip to the ER. Krista pulled some wax off his finger, to keep it from burning more deeply. Turns out it was actually the skin of his finger. (Which would have been removed at the hospital, so it was actually a good thing.) Patrick is missing a substantial part of the end of his finger. The doctors do not know it he will have a fingerprint, or a fingernail. He has been relatively pain-free until today. It seems that the medication has eaten away most of the dead skin on the lesser burns, and the live skin has functioning nerve endings. His parents are having to watch the wound closely, in case of complications. He will visit a plastic surgeon on Monday, to see if more work needs to be done on the finger.
We are very thankful that the pain hasn't been severe so far, and that the injury was not worse. Please pray for Patrick; he has no way to understand what is happening. Pray for his parents as well. Watching your child suffer and scream in pain while being helpless to stop it...