Getting Lucky

So this is wayyyy overdue. I'm a procrastinator by nature.

Over the Easter weekend we packed our bags and swags, said goodbye to the big smoke and road tripped to Lucky Bay (about an hour north of Geraldton, Western Australia).

You can explore the world, but sometimes, all you need is to be exposed to your own backyard.

Five Minute Medical: Friction Burns 101

before : having fun

So I went away for the weekend and came back with ruined knees. I hit my left knee on the reef while snorkeling and while riding a body board being towed by a 4WD through shallow water (super safe, I know) I took a spill and got a nasty friction burn from the sand.

after : skinned knee

This post is for people like me who prefer to Google the answer to all their problems instead of seeking out someone who is actually trained in the field. In today's lesson I'm covering the treatment of friction burns (most common tends to be from carpet/rug/grass/astroturf).

When I looked up "how to treat a friction burn" I was met with (what I considered) reasonable advice: keep it clean, put some antiseptic, leave it uncovered and let it dry. The only thing was, 36 hours later my wound would not stop weeping. I took some more advice and put tea tree oil on my battlescar before bed and slept with my leg poking out from under the sheets. In the morning my wound was finally dry! 

So I put a band-aid back on and went about my merry way...

...Until lunch time when I discovered that the band-aid I put on was not absorbent enough to hold all the pus that had again started weeping from my knee. Time to seek out a new bandage and an actual brain.

When I spoke to the pharmacist he gave me a mini human bio lesson in moist healing:

1. Burns/wounds on the knees (and elbows/other areas of the body that move) are best to be kept moist whilst healing [I know this goes against all the times we've been told to give a wound oxygen to help heal and prevent infection]. When a wound dries/scabs over it is not like skin and does not have much/any elasticity, so when you bend the joint, the scab/new skin formed splits/breaks potentially causing further damage and hindering the healing process. Seems legit.

2. Keeping the wound moist while healing (especially with a large wound - mine is approx 3cm in diameter) reduces the severity of scarring because new skin cells grow better/faster in moist conditions. Apparently being shielded by a scab isn't the best environment for skin cell regeneration.

3. Healing time is greatly reduced compared to a wound that is left open to scab over.

And a little advice from me: invest in some good (large and absorbent) dressings that will properly cover your injury so you don't end up with an unexpected mess!

This is my knee tonight, after a body pump class and indoor beach volleyball game, approximately 2 and a half days since the accident.

I've followed the pharmacist's suggestion of vaseline and a non-stick dressing so we'll see how this bad boy fares up over the next week and a bit.

**UPDATE** A week on from the photo above and my knee is looking a heck of a lot better. New skin has grown in and I no longer have to wear a bandage :)

*Disclaimer* I in no way, shape or form claim to be a medical guru - take this advice at your own risk and if shit gets real seek an actual professional.

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!

Because what would Christmas be without a little Home Alone? And what would Christmas in Australia be without a trip to the beach/other body of water to escape the heat?

We spent the morning at the gorgeous Yanchep Lagoon nomming on sweet summer fruit before the heat got to us and we retreated back to the house for naptime, tv and air conditioning.

I hope you all had a fantastic day wherever you are and whoever you spent it with.

<3

Ladies that lunch.

Yesterday I was finally able to have a long overdue catch up with my best friend and exchange Christmas presents (yes, that's how long it's been!) But that's what I love about our friendship, we can go without seeing each other for weeks and then get together and pick up right where we left off. 

We lunched at the Dome at Hillarys Boat Harbour, soaking up the sun and daydreaming about which boat we would buy if we had the moolah (all the while also getting swooped by seagulls since some tourists decided it would be great to put food out for them on another table so they could take photos, grr). After we said our goodbyes I headed up the coast for some snaps at the beach as the water looked absolutely amazing when I drove by earlier.

I really need a UV filter for my camera, these pictures simply do not do justice to the water that looked like absolute paradise.