thesearethedays

{I'm not sure if the face is because of the sunburn or the bunny ears}

One week later, we can sort of look back at the awful sunburn Aaron got at the beach last Saturday and relive what we would have done differently. The big sil didn't wear any sunscreen(!!!) which is a definite no-no anytime, much less if you plan on spending hours seaside. Well, needless to say, a couple hours after we returned home from St. George Island, Aaron was in a state of misery. I took this picture Sunday morning after church, about two hours before he really began feeling bad. Sunday night Aaron began itching and feeling bad, and so I got him aloe with lidocaine and he put it on. Growing up at the beach had taught me that you're asking for pain if you make the mistake of not wearing sunscreen to begin with, so I figured that Aaron's discomfort was just the result of a quite bad burn. Sunday night he slept poorly, tossing and turning all night and wearing a t-shirt to bed to keep him from scratching at his burn. He was radiating heat, though I didn't think anything of it because he was sunburnt and, well, duh, people who are burnt are hot!

He was obviously miserable when I woke up for work Monday morning; I saw where he had tried sleeping in our bed, in the guest bed and on the couch in the living room to no avail. He was grumpy, which is unusual for him, but once again I wrote it off as a bad burn and went to work on Monday morning a little groggier than usual because my bedfellow kept me up with his tossing and turning. Late that afternoon, he texted me and told me he was in an extreme amount of pain. I thought he was joking at first, and I glanced at the clock and saw that I would be home soon so I didn't bother texting him back. Minutes later he called, which worried me, because he rarely calls at work. He was writhing in pain on our kitchen floor. Fortunately, by this time I could head home. I stopped by a drugstore and bought Benadryl to keep him from scratching. When I got home, I was pretty frightened by what I saw.

He was on our kitchen floor, like he told me, and in an immense amount of pain. My co-workers had mentioned we might need to get him into an urgent care center to see if he had sun poisoning, and once I saw him in such a terrible, completely uncharacteristic state, I called the number and found out that in order to get in we would have to wait five and a half hours. I told Aaron, and he refused to sit in a waiting room for five and a half hours, so I gave him Benadryl and he mellowed out before falling asleep on the couch. Neither of us thought about going to the emergency room, though we probably should have given how much pain he was in.

That night was a repeat of the pain and irritation of the last 24 hours. It was unbearable for him and I pitied him/was exhausted. He finally showed signs of being normal Aaron Tuesday night. In retrospect, I should have taken him to the emergency room. He showed the signs of sun poisoning, but I had never before encountered it, so I wasn't sure what to do or if going to the hospital was even necessary. Now I know a trip to the hospital could have given him more immediate relief as well as helped him sleep. Of course, wearing sunscreen to begin with would have prevented this whole scenario, but we both know that now. It's SPF for two now!