Its time for OC adventures part 2!
So after putting soap on my face and having the momentary cooling sensation, the pain starts to bubble through again. I dab off the soap and hopefully some of the liquid from hell as well. Then I stick my face over the side of the ship into the wind to try and cool it off. The wind helps, but it's not great. It still really hurts and I have to blow my nose multiple times to get rid of mucus build up. There is a reoccurring gagging reflex in my throat though it doesn't feel like I will throw up. It is just like a spasm that makes you take a second breath because the first one was stopped by the gagging. So I sit/stand at the edge of the ship for a good hour and half as the chaos continues behind me. Every couple minutes a new tormented soul joins our ranks at the side of the ship. Everyone reacts differently and I feel like other people are handling it better than I am. My eyes still hurt and are really sensitive to light. My face still burns and I am trying to focus on breathing but my mind always comes back to the pain and the gagging. I may have made the mistake of not using water to wash off the crystallized particles on my face. Since the chemical is water activated, water causes it to flare up and I was advised to wait to wash it off until later. A few other people waited about 30 mins then did a wash off, and they said it re-flashed really bad at first but it was better in the long run. After a while the pain moves from the top of your head to the bottom and to your ears. I assume because we don't think to wipe off our ears and under our chin when decontaminating.
After everyone was done we were directed to go inside and sit in the crew lounge under observation. After stepping inside and being out of the wind, I re-flashed again, and it was really bad. I tried to close my eyes and tune it out and after about 20 minutes I was able to fall asleep. When I awoke my eyes were crusty and the pain had subsided a little.
We were told we could leave if we felt like our situation wasn't getting worse or if we felt like we wouldn't need more medical attention. So I gave Doc the thumbs up and went to the bathroom to continue my decon.
At first I dabbed around my head with a wet paper towel, and then dabbed around after with a dry paper towel. Each time it felt like I re-flashed, but not nearly as bad as before. It just felt like a really bad sun burn. It would die down after about 10 minutes and I would go do it again. I repeated that about 3 times until I stepped up the process. Next I cupped my hands and filled them with water to splash on my face. I dried my face off again and was met with a lovely re-flash that was worse then when I did the dabbing with the paper towels. After about 10 minutes I did it once more. Again I waited about 10 minutes and decided to take a shower to finish the job. The training team advised us to wait a day to shower, but I wanted to get it over with and not get any on my pillow that night.
The shower: Oh man... I expected that all my decon work earlier would have taken off all the OC spray but I was wrong. I stepped inside the shower, making sure the water was pointed at the wall and not at me so I wouldn't wash it down on my sensitive areas. So I leaned over and stuck my face in the water. Immediately I could feel it in my throat and nose flare up. My face burned like it was the first time again and my eyes burned. I made sure that I kept my eyes closed the whole time so that it wouldn't make it worse. I would put my face in the hot water then pull it back and rub the water off my face, being careful not to let it drip to far down my body. I repeated the process over and over for about 10 minutes, I found out about half way through that it felt much better with colder water, so when I was standing with the water hitting my feet I would have it warm, and then I would turn it cold when I ducked my head in. Eventually I was able to open my eyes and the pain started to not show up even when I put it directly in the water. My ears still burned so I tried washing those out but even after my shower they burn for a good hour. I assume that it pooled in my ears and when I washed them out it re-flashed pretty hard. Anyways after about 10-15 minutes in the shower I was able to take a normal shower without all the leaning over, the water burned my ears and back of my neck. I think maybe some of the OC spray washed out of my hair onto my neck but it wasn't as bad as having it on my face. Again it felt like a really bad sunburn.
After my shower, my ears and hands burned but my face and eyes were good, so I was really happy that I took the shower to get it over with. And that is my wonderful experience. The moral of the story, don't challenge someone with OC spray, it sucks. IT REALLY SUCKS.
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