*** Two ***
*Shoot!* I thought to myself. *I'm on fire. I
am burning.*
From the back of my mind I heard Sensaii
telling me to roll, to remember the refresher course I had that same afternoon.
This encouraged me to douse the flames on my head and face with my hands before
rolling in the wet grass to smother the rest of the boiling oil.
*Water!* my brain told me and I headed over
to the huge water trough the horses used.
Sitting down in the water, I started
splashing water over my head and arms, keeping my burnt legs submerged.
Strangely, it did not hurt that much. I guess
the pain would only come later.
*The body knows what happened. It does not
need to warn you by telling you something is wrong through pain.*
A lesson I had forgotten.
Ronald needed my attention and I looked up at
him.
"What do we do?" he wanted to know,
not really comprehending the severity of my burns.
He had sustained burns to his hands and feet
as well.
"Phone 082-911," I told him while continuing
to splash water over myself, the act of talking making my facial skin feel uncomfortable.
"Are you okay?" the gentleman that
also lived on the property inquired, jumping over the enclosure fence on seeing
that we were in trouble.
"No! My wife has been burnt badly!"
Ronald replied.
"I will fetch my wife to see to the
children," he immediately stated, again using the fence as the shortest
route to fetch his wife.
"Is Lulu okay?" I wished to know as
her box had been partially hit by the firestorm and I feared she might be
injured as well.
"Lulu is a good girl. She stayed as instructed,"
Ronald replied, phoning the number I had given him.
He left a moment to check up on the children
and to unlock the front door for the people to assist us.
I used this time to figure out that my face
was swelling and it was my spectacles creating the intense feeling of discomfort.
Immediate relief followed upon removal of the
melted and twisted frame.
I dropped the spectacles next to the trough
before inspecting my hands where the skin was busy peeling off like melted
plastic.
The bones of my left hand and wrist were
visible, all muscle and flesh burnt away.
Discomfort in my legs made me move them. The
right thigh, just black skin and grey-white blanched muscle down to the knee.
The left thigh was burnt almost as badly.
As long as I kept my legs and arms submerged,
the discomfort was bearable.
I had to keep on splashing water over my face
to stave off the intense cold burning there as well.
"The little ones are okay," Ronald
informed me. "The emergency personnel connected me to Sunninghill Hospital.
The helicopter is otherwise occupied and they are sending an ambulance that should
be here in about fifteen minutes.
Is there anything else I can do?"
This was good news. I used to work for
Sunninghill Hospital's Manager, so the staff would know me.
"Phone your sister to bring your mother
to look after the children," I told Ronald, staying put in the water where
it was comfortable.
He was on the phone for a while before
reporting back.
"My sister just stopped in front of my
mother's house. She will explain the situation and help her pack before bringing
her here to assist us.
The emergency personnel also called to say
they are almost here. We must just keep the wounds submerged."
"Please run water into the bath for me.
I wish to get out of these oil soaked clothes."
"Okay," he replied. "Stay
right there until I have a bath ready for you."
"Ronald!" I called him back.
"Yes, Han?"
"Please. I do not want our child see me
like this. Keep her away from me."
"Okay," Ronald agreed, leaving
again to prepare the bath.
"It is ready," Ronald stated,
ignoring his own pain and open wounds to help me out of the trough.
Dripping wet, I hobbled through the house,
down the passage to the main bedroom, carefully discarding my clothes in a heap.
The cotton T-shirt and short pants had protected my torso from the fire as all
the burns sustained were on the exposed areas.
Sitting down in the cool water, the harsh
reality of the extent of the damage was glaringly illuminated by the bright
lighting.
The realization of being in serious trouble
gave way to relief when Ronald entered, stating the Ambulance had arrived.
He helped me out of the bath and we managed
to dress me in an undergarment before the emergency personnel arrived.
Basically naked and vulnerable, none took
offence, insisting I lay down on the trolley so they could attend to the burns,
giving me an injection for pain before wrapping my limbs in gel patches.
"Do not let my child see me like
this!" I again ordered Ronald who had been treated superficially by the second
technician.
Yet on our way out the front door, my eldest
came over to touch me for a moment while I tried to hide my face from her. I suspected
that I looked like hell itself. I did not wish to let my child remember me this
way.
"Go to your sister. Look after the
baby," I told her while they wheeled me past to the ambulance.
Without delay, we were raced through to the
hospital. Ronald was by now in severe pain while I knew I should feel pain but
all I felt was cold.
As we sped along, my body started to shake. I
knew it was going into shock and if I should lose track of time I would die.
This was an unusual thought. I was aware that time was of the essence to keep me alive, yet I felt that if, for any reason I should become unaware of time, I would die.
This was an unusual thought. I was aware that time was of the essence to keep me alive, yet I felt that if, for any reason I should become unaware of time, I would die.
The technician gave me another injection and
the shaking subsided.
At the ER, one of the best plastic surgeons
in South Africa, Dr Ching, was waiting for us while Dr Kozaczynski was in
charge and the surgeon on duty.
"Please," I pleaded. "I'm
prone to infections. I just had a baby and had been on high doses of antibiotics.
I submerged myself in the animal's drinking trough. Just stop any
infection."
Dr Kozaczynski smiled at me as if to say that
I actually had bigger problems to worry about than a bit of infection from
dirty water.
"We need to remove the undergarment,"
Dr Kozaczynski kindly told me. "Is it okay if we cut it away?"
"Of course. Do what you must," I
gave my permission, aware that there was no place left for shyness.
Both doctors donned examination gear and
started removing the gel pads in order to examine the extent of the damage to
my body.
I listened intently while the doctors charted
the burns.
"35% third degree burns," they
concluded.
"We are unsure of inhalation
burns," Dr Kozaczynski stated for the record.
"Where is your glasses?" he wished
to know.
"I removed them when my face started
swelling," I replied, finding it interesting that he remembered that I
wear spectacles.
"Your spectacles saved your
corneas," he informed me as a matter of fact while looking for a vein to
secure an IV into my shoulder to start a drip as my arms were not accessible.
"I'm putting this in here to save you
from further discomfort," he told me, watching my eyes while stitching the
inserted needle in place.
*Look at the clock. Do not lose time!* Sensaii
urged me.
This instruction was so persistent that I looked
past the doctor at the ER wall clock stating 7h50.
Sound faded to muted tones before blackness
overcame my body.
The familiar feeling of slipping out of my
body into Astral was followed by my awareness of drifting above the scene, looking
down where the doctors and personnel were scrambling to revive me.
I was exceedingly lucky.
All the burns were to the front of my body.
My face, neck, both arms and hands, and both
legs looked like black crisps.
Part of the wrist-, hand- and finger- bones
of the left hand was exposed.
I had lost the tip of my nose and the tip of
my left ear as well.
As the defibrillator touched my body,
awareness returned to the flesh.
I was back, hearing the doctors discussing
the amputation of my fingers.
Then I was out again, ignoring the scene of
frantic desperation below me, joining Sensaii before heading off to the Land of
the Golden Light . . .
Excerpt from:
The Chronicles of Han
Living a Multidimensional Life
Section 1:
Near Death Experience, Life Review, Aftermath
Copyright © H Gibson Chronicles of Han 2009-2019
Date Published: 3 February 2019
Paperback: 978-1-928471-26-4
ebook: 978-1-928471-27-1
H Gibson Author and Cover Design
Photo Credit: Sri Nithya Sadyojatananda
Set in Book Antiqua
56,391 words - approximately 6 hours of entertainment
Autobiography
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