Woman scalded with boiling water as brittle hot water bottle exploded in bed
A woman passed out from agonising second degree burns on her groin after an old hot water bottle exploded.
Jessica Shanks, 25, was trying to soothe stomach cramps with a hot water bottle tucked into the waistband of her pyjama pants while lying in bed.
But she ended up in even more agony when the boiling water engulfed her thighs after the out-of-date bottle exploded on October 12.
Jessica, from Corfe Mullen in Dorset, said: ‘I had checked date on it and it was two years out of date. I know it’s so naive but I just didn’t think anything would happen.
‘It started to trickle down my thighs from bottom of the water bottle and as I moved in shock, it then burst. I jumped up from bed who I was in with my partner Finley.
‘He saw the hot water bottle had exploded and he got me straight into the bath and showered me down for 15 minutes in cold water.
‘I passed out from the pain and the shock.’
With blisters on her stomach, inner thigs and groin, she had to spend two and a half weeks on the burns unit at Salisbury Hospital where she had skin graft surgery.
Jessica, who works in a school for children with special educational needs, said: ‘I remember having a shower with one of the nurses and my mum as I couldn’t stand and I had to have gas and air every time they changed the dressings as I was in agony.
‘I used gas and air in the shower and one of the gauze was stuck in the wound and we had to try and peel it off.’
She added: ‘When I woke up in recovery after the surgery I was so much more positive as the surgery had halved the pain.
‘It was easier to sleep in bed, it was manageable to get up and take a few steps.
‘But I had to be catheterised for a week and a half as I couldn’t sit on the toilet without getting the bandages wet or risk infection.
‘I was pretty much bedbound for the whole time. I had physiotherapy every day to get me up and into the chair next to my bed.
‘I was going a bit stir crazy from being in bed.’
Despite the ‘difficult’ ordeal, Jessica’s wounds are healing well enough for her to have been discharged last week.
Now she can walk around her village for 15 minutes at a time, and he’s started fundraising for the burn unit that gave her such ‘phenomenal’ care.
Jessica said: ‘Everyone has been so amazing and I’m so grateful as it was traumatising. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever had.
‘It is useful hot water bottles have the expiry on them. This one came from within the family and I never thought something like this would happen.
‘I want to be able to say thank you and show appreciate for the amazing work they do.’
Hot water bottles can cause severe burns if used beyond their expiry date, as Jessica found out.
It’s advisable to replace them every two to three years to avoid similar outcomes.
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