Page 5 - January 2021 BSTTW Community News
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CONTINUED From Page 4 “GRASS” burns to the whole of my body, apart from
I thought, how nice it would be to do small areas of skin covered by my ankle
something ordinary, like maybe sit down boots, shorts, and the skin under my watch.
and watch some television, but something The hospital was for general accidents and
told me I should have a cold shower. I went had no facilities for treatment of extensive
into the bathroom, stepped into the bath burns. I took off my watch and handed it to
and gave myself a cold shower. I remember one of the nurses; I knew that I was going
seeing a large blister, about the size of a to die and had quickly resigned myself to
rugby ball, on my right leg below the knee, I the fact. I knew that burns could be treated
detected the smell of burnt flesh; all this told by grafting, but my burns were such that
me that I was in need of hospital attention. there was nowhere to take grafts from.
I wrapped a towel around myself and went Moving Hospitals
back downstairs into the sunshine. I saw
my footprints in the grass, dark burnt My next recollection was of laying in a bed
patches, coming from a large black circular in a poorly lit room. I was laying on
area about six feet in diameter; bits of metastasized foil and a nurse was sitting in
clothing were spread about and still the room. I tried to look up but the effort
burning. From somewhere a man wrapped was too great, I wanted to look at the light
me in a blanket and led me to his VW above the door. The room was not poorly
'beetle'. I do not remember what he said or lit, my eyesight had been damaged, I was
what he looked like, but I guessed he was looking through a fog and the swelling
taking me to the hospital. As he drove along made it difficult to open my eyes. I asked
the road, we met an ambulance coming the nurse if he could play chess. It must
towards us with bells clanging. He stopped have been Sunday. I do not know if it was
and somehow I was transferred from his car the drugs or shock, but I had no fear of
to the ambulance. dying, I was not in pain. I didn't have to
worry about making any decisions about my
In the ambulance I was given two painkilling future.
injections, one in each thigh. This I thought
was a waste of time as I could not Several times I talked to the nurse. "Why
remember being in pain. I was laying on my are you sitting there?", I said; "Can you play
back on a stretcher. When the ambulance chess". For some reason I had a fixation
stopped I was wheeled into the hospital and about playing chess. It seemed such a
greeted by about ten faces looking down at waste of time, us both just doing nothing in
me. It was only then that I started to worry, this dark room; I do not remember his
the expressions of hopelessness on their answers.
faces told me everything. I had received
Whilst I was laying in the room things were
happening. Arrangements were being made
to move me to the
Berufsgenossenschaftliche Umfall Clinik in
Duisburg. This was a special hospital
funded by industry to treat serious industrial
accidents.
CONTINUED On Page 6 “GRASS”
