Burning Jalapeno Hands

A few disclaimers as I begin...

There are no pictures in this post. That is on purpose. You'll understand by the end of story time.

Also, if you have a weak stomach, you may want to read cautiously.

So, here we go. Last night, Zach and I hosted two friends for dinner. We had a great time eating our 'endless' taco's family style - where all the ingredients were spread across the table. I made homemade salsa to complement all of the delicious ingredients. 

At some point in the midst of the night, my fingers and then hand started to burn. It was awful! We all thought it might have been from when I was cutting the jalapenos - so we googled remedies and tried them all. I soaked my hand in milk, tried baking soda, Solarcane for sunburns... no relief! 

We ended the night shortly after birthday cake and candles - and my hand was still burning.

The only thing that helped was running cold water over my hand or wrapping it with ice. By 11 p.m. I was exhausted and almost asleep.. except that my burning hand kept me awake. Zach offered to go get a cold pack out of the freezer. I was thrilled. He wrapped it in a dish towel and I was set to fall asleep happily.

Luckily, at some point in the night, my hand stopped throbbing. I rolled over and left the icepack in the middle of the bed. I slept contently.

Zach and I woke up and I got ready for church. It takes me significantly longer to get ready so Zach stayed in bed and watched TV. When he got out of bed, I went to make the bed up.

(DISCLAIMER: It gets GROSS!)

As I pulled the sheets up, I noticed there was blood everywhere. After a quick self-examination, and ruling that it wasn't my blood, I yelled to Zach to let him know he was bleeding.

He came into the room and said that he couldn't find a place that he was bleeding from. When he looked at the sheets, I could tell on his face that he knew exactly what had happened.

Apparently, he had left our cold pack in his lunch box at a job site. When he went to the freezer, and realized we did not have a cold pack, he grabbed a package of raw ground Venison.

Yes, you read that correctly, I slept with my hand on a thawing package of raw meat! 

I thought I was going to toss my cookies.

I stripped the bed down more quickly than I could scream - found blood on our pillow cases, pillows, sheets, and duvet.

Oh, it was awful!

So, after two showers, candles lit all around the house because I just thought the house smelled bad, and washing all the bed linens twice, I have mostly recovered. If there are stages of recovery with sleeping with raw meat, I'm now at the queezy laughter stage.

Hey, with a resourceful husband at tow, my hand is no longer burning. 

We also made a stop by the store today to buy enough cold packs to last us the rest of our lives.

Much love,

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