What would do - dh injured himself

[ForFuckSakeWhatNow]

So dh fell over and ‘skimmed his knee’ - his description.
I can see a bit of skin hanging through a hole of his trousers so I’m going to say it needs looking at.

There is no minor injury clinic where I live. I’ve just checked.

What would do? Dh will not go to A&E. won’t be able to see a doctor or nurse for a few days either.

Im at loss at what to advise him - esp as he is extremely reluctant ‘to make a fuss’
He is currently in the shower and told me he will just ‘cut the hanging skin off’

OP, follow all the great cleaning advice on here. It will hurt to clean it properly- but force him.

I cut the end off of my ring finger 3 weeks ago- clean off with a v sharp knife. I've not had pain like it for many a year. I was in agony, but cleaned it; dressed it every day for 2 weeks, and let it breathe every night once it wasn't so raw, until it healed. The cleaning is the thing. Keep eyes peeled for infection, otherwise treat at home. Good luck.

Do you have children (other than the idiot who hasn't washed a wound)?

First call the GP and see if they can see you - they will have nurses on site who may be able to fit you in - ours often does. They'll also be able to give tetanus if not up to date and will have the records about that which hospital won't have. Secondly, consider travelling to a minor injuries unit even if it's further than your local A&E. And yes, pharmacists are good too with injuries. Only when you've exhausted all these options and if it's serious enough (... I'd say bone poking out or something) go to A&E and only then if 111 advise you to and don't think you can wait for an appointment at the GP (they can book you in for one within 24 hours).

A relative had a suspected stroke, we were told to take them in the car because the fastest ambulance would be an hour even though it was a suspected stroke / brain bleed. At triage at A&E we had to wait behind several relatively minor injuries for triage, increasing the time until my relative was seen. As soon as they were seen, they were prioritised and it was straight through, but the wait until this point was 40 mins which was critical time lost. A&Es are overrun.

When we were 'through' in the doctors area a manager came up and said to the doctors 'you're all doing really well, you're doing the best you can, and prioritising risk' and one of the doctors said back 'yes, in here we're prioritising risk but out there (pointing at waiting room) there is a lot of unknown risks and there are far too many people waiting'.

There are statistics on the increased deaths now occurring as a result of A&E delays, at one point the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said 300-500 deaths a week extra as a result of delays. So I wouldn't go unless there was no other option if it's not life threatening.

It was a truly horrendous experience and we weren't the only ones (obviously) suffering from the system failure.

@ChickpeaPie @Maireas Have you never heard of someone needing stitches? It's very common, I had to have 6 in my arm and that was just for a fairly small cut. They nearly didn't as I left it several days and then it has more risk of infection. But then it would've healed less well, scarred more.

Yeah right.

If you ever slice a bit of flesh off your finger again, you could try and keep the bit, head somewhere and they can reattach it.

I have a child with severe learning difficulties. Recently, in an online group for parents of the same, a mother expressed her concern about how to keep her adult son's abscess wound clean after being released from the hospital. The wound was only a few centimetres from his anus, and her son was non-verbal, over 6ft tall, weighed over 20st, regularly attacked her, couldn't keep it clean himself and didn't like being meddled with. It made sense that she'd be concerned with creating a plan to ensure his wound was properly treated.

Your husband, on the other hand, is not washing a cut properly, cutting off his skin and not getting severe wounds looked at. Why is he behaving like this?

Honestly I judge the need for stitches based on the ability to stop bleeding (not a medic) If a few mins of hard compression stems bleeding and a few mins more almost stops it. Then it's a home patch up. Otherwise medical attention.

I've had several horrific hand cuts, sharp knife, pruning saw. a massive cut to the head. An ex husband who liked to fall off his bike...

The keep it clean, is the most important bit of advise.

Yes. I have heard of someone needing stitches.
I cannot speak for @ChickpeaPie .

That slightly more than skinning the knee - that's a deep cut that would need medical attention.

Skinning knee is taking skin off but not any deep wounds - so wash and dressing at home is usually fine.

I'd have a look - then if it does need medical attention ring 111 to see what local options are - as they do vary in different areas.

If he won't go to A&E I would agree try the GP. We have a joke in the NHS, regarding a farmer coming in saying he's cut his hand, what actually ment is he's cut it off! We know farmers are apt to underplayed injury. So now you've said that get him seen.

Good luck. I've no appointments for a month.
And we rarely do dressings as no money in it for us!

Giz a pic, OP!

Phone 111 for advice

That happened to me - fell off bike. I went to A&E and they scrubbed it and dressed it, including cutting the skin off. I still got an infection (the road is dirty!) so just watch out for that.

Most minor injury units have closed here too. We tend to just patch ourselves up. I grew up with an accident prone father, he’s still very accident prone and I often have to patch him up as he refuses to go to hospital, he’s had several circular saw accidents. I think the key is trying to keep it clean and stopping infection which is exactly what they would do at hospital.

At the end of the day he’s a grown man so I would just let him deal with it how he wishes.

'tis but a mere fresh wound 😁

111. They'll know. They might want to speak to him though

Yay I’m not expecting the surgery/nurse to be able to help.

I remember 20 ish years ago, I went to see the nurse after dc had a fall.
She cleaned (again) put a nice medicated dressing on it (similar to what I had had myself before). I asked the name if the product so I could do it at home.
She was horrified saying that ‘I could ALWAYS come if I needed any help in things like this’🤪🤪

How times have changed!

My farmer dad would poor over a good glug of iodine and get on with it!

I'm sure your best bet would be to call 111 and get advice, if you haven't already.

Update is that dh has ‘cleaned it as best as he can’ (didnt say if it was actually properly cleaned despite me asking ). And is now wondering if he shouldn’t go to the chemist to buy some savlon (I’m sure we have some in our first aid box)

Ive left him to it.
But I’m pretty sure that there will be no Savlon put on unless I either find the one we have or pester him to get some.

I was worried for him when I first posted. I think I’m now finding it infuriating

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 love it.... like loose thread, he'll cut the skin off. He's a real man !!!!!

My ex was a clumsy fucker.
I told him if he carried on then I'd have to start telling people he'd had a fall instead of that he'd fallen over. It worked surprisingly well.

I'm confused.

Why is your adult husbands grazed knee your responsibility? Why are you treating him like a child?

I had a cut that looked like a graze when inspected through my trousers. 9 stitches later. No bone on view, but a lot of bleeding.

Depends what he’s done.

Is he covered for tetanus? If not it's worth seeking medical attention to check if needed. Does he have any medical conditions such as diabetes? If not then should be ok with a good clean and keeping covered until healed, regular checks for signs of infection