When The Garbage Goes Boom!

Taking out the trash is a fairly simple chore.  One chore that I never considered life threatening.  Carrying a garbage bag to the out to the bin at the curb…not much risk involved.  However, if you are living in a remote location in the Philippines, where taking out the trash requires a pit and an incinerator, then there may be a bit more risk for you.Meet Markus.  He and his wife Sarah are missionaries in the Philippines.  One day last February, Markus took out the trash, dropping the non-burnables into the “pit” and the rest into the incinerator.  Simple.  Easy.  Trash is usually sorted before Markus takes it out.  After lighting the fire for the burnables, the only thing Markus remembers on this day is, “BOOM!“Hearing the BOOM from the house,  Sarah assumed it was a truck backfiring.”Markus has been burned!” Alex, ran to the house with the news.Sarah flew out of the house to Markus.

Here’s her story:

“When I got to Markus, he was hunched over by a water faucet (Alex had helped him get there) running water all over his arms and hands and face. He was gasping for air saying that he couldn’t see anything and he had pain all over. I was mostly concerned about his eyes and face, so I told him I’d be right back and ran home to get some towels and ice to clean his face up. I called our co-workers, the Sowins, on my cell phone as I ran (they live up the hill from us) and by the time I got back to Markus, they arrived as well with a first-aid kit and the trusty “Where There is No Doctor” book.

We quickly brought Markus to the house since he couldn’t stand up for much longer and we tried our best to dress the burns. None of us have had any experience with severe burns, but we did have a few books to refer to and in just a few minutes we had lying down with his face and both arms slathered with aloe. We got as much ibuprofen as we could safely in him, and just prayed that the meds would kick in soon. He was in shock by this point, shivering and shaking and moaning and in sooooo much pain. (After seeing him in agony like that, I decided that I would never again hold over his head the pain I went through in childbirth…hahaha.)

It wasn’t too much longer that he began to feel the effects of the painkillers. I kept re-applying the aloe to his arms and face and tried to keep him drinking so he wouldn’t get dehydrated. Alex and the Sowins took the kids so I could give my full attention to Markus. After about an hour, I helped him move out to the living room so he could better elevate his arms and maybe get his mind off the pain by watching tv.

Through the night, we weren’t sure at all what we should do regarding further care for him. There are hospitals up here, but after others’ previous experiences, that wasn’t even an option. If we were going to take him to a hospital, it would have to be in Manila. The left side of his face was burned quite bad, and his left arm was the worst of all. We decided to take pictures and send them via e-mail to our brother-in-law in Norway who is a doctor.

Through his advice, and the advice of burn specialists and other doctors we consulted here, we were advised to go to Manila as soon as we could. That night we were so thankful to get a few hours of sleep, which were broken up by alarms going off for him to take the next dosages of painkillers.

A emergency medical flight was arranged for us early the next morning. We live about 50 minutes south of the SIL flight base, and they were so helpful in arranging everything for us. Alex and the Sowins helped us get a few things thrown in a bag and we ran out the door, hopped into the airplane, and took off for Manila. Jelyn, a local girl who helps me in the house, was willing to come along with us (her first time on an airplane!) and help me with Levi and Emma.

We found a great doctor in Manila – a Christian husband/wife team who are plastic surgeons/dermatologists. They got Markus cleaned up and covered in cream and gauze. It was determined that he had 8% burns on his body, which we were so thankful for because 10% burns require immediate hospitalization. His face and ear sustained 2nd degree burns and there was a very large 3rd degree burn covering most of his left arm, and that was the greatest concern. I agreed to be his nurse and change his bandages and force him to keep hydrated. So we were able to go back to NTM’s guesthouse in Manila, and that’s where we spent the last 2 weeks.

It took several days before Markus was able to get up and walk around, but we knew that he wasn’t supposed to go out into the dirt and pollution of Manila. Jelyn was with me to help keep the kids occupied and we were grateful that all of our meals were provided by the guesthouse. We spent a looooooot of time in our room (surfing the internet, watching tv, talking, etc.) and Jelyn and I took the kids out in the city most mornings, but by the end Markus was able to go out if he kept his burns covered.

Monday was his final check-up with the doctor and he was given the go-ahead to return home. We were driven back up here and now we’re back in our own beds again! Markus is doing really well now. His face looks almost back to normal. His arm still needs to be bandaged up, but should be completely healed in a few weeks.

The doctor told Markus that she was amazed at how quickly and how well he has healed up. Originally she told us that he would be scarred, but she actually told us on Monday that she thinks he may heal completely with no scars after all!

He is doing well now. Once the pain left, the itching became unbearable for him, but now he is coping just fine. Everyone here is taking great care of us and we are so happy to be back home now.”

Markus & Sarah Rosvik

Blog:  my.opera.com/rosviks