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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be angry & upset that DH didn’t want me to go to hospital?

324 replies

ThisWayDown · 26/12/2018 13:04

I’m in South Africa for a holiday with DH and DC. No family here but a friend. Today at the beach the waves were strong. I got knocked over by one and my knee gave way with a loud snap. I tore my anterior cruciatr ligament (ACL) 15 years ago when someone skied into me and had a reconstruction - it tore again some years later and I needed another. The way the knee sounded and hurt and not being able to stand on it made me really worry that I’d torn my ACL again.

DH helped me stand up and hobble over to our towels on the shore. He then said “we’re not going to A&E”. He was being slightly lighthearted but also totally serious. He said that’s because we went to A&E our last holiday due to a hand fracture I turned out to have.

We took the kids to get some dinner before heading back to our rented flat. As we went home on the bus, my knee became increasingly painful and in my view was swollen. DH said “oh shit” when I told him I was in pain and seemed angry. He said he was upset that I may have injured myself. He was caring but when I said I wanted to go to A&E he seemed to shut down, which he often does. He thought it was in my “best interests” not to but to get back to the apartment and rest and decide tomorrow, as it was “highly likely” that I wouldn’t need treatment and that the hospital wouldn’t be able to do anything. And the kids needed to get home. He thought I was being unreasonable going.

He’s not a doctor. I was angry that he’d - yet again - put what he thought should happen above what I did. He thought I should wait to the morning. When we got off the bus I told him to take the children home and I would call my friend to take me there. She didn’t answer. I said I’d take a cab. He said he wasn’t leaving me but he didn’t want to take the children to the hospital as that wasn’t in their best interests, so it was “an impossible situation”. He wanted me not to go. I said I was in considerable pain and I strongly suspected it was torn, and that I couldn’t believe he wanted to override that. We had a huge argument at the bus stop, in front of our kids SadBlush They wanted to come to the hospital. Eventually we all went in a cab.

The triage nurse sent me to wait to see a doctor. My family stayed with me for a while but I sent them home so the kids could go to bed. My friend eventually called but had been drinking so couldn’t drive over to see me.

My DH said again while here innA&E that he hadn’t wanted to go to A&E as we went on the last holiday. I said I didn’t realise there was a quota, regardless of whether someone needed treatment or not Hmm I am so upset that he wanted me to delay hospital treatment to the next morning or, better yet, not seek any. I am so livid and heartbroken by his irrationality, callousness and rigidity (again) that I put my friend and not him as my emergency contact and told DH I’d let the kids know how I was getting on but not him.

I strongly suspect he is on the autistic - one of our children is - and so does our ASD child’s psychologist and the couples therapisf we used to see. He agrees that he has traits sometimes but when pressed will deny he has it and refuse to seek a diagnosis or accept that some of his thinking and actions are, er, different and frankly come across as selfish and uncaring. He says he was worried about me, just felt it was much better for me if I slept on it and decided on A&E in the morning. I said that wasn’t his decision to make.

We’ve had a lovely holiday so far but I am so down with him not respecting my opinion and thinking it’s aporopriate to think he knows best. I’ve been waiting for hours to see a doctor and, apart from my children who have been so sweet and caring, I feel utterly alone. AIBU to think he’s BU?

OP posts:
BollocksIsNoACompleteSentence · 28/12/2018 13:13

Maybe stop commenting on MN threads if you can't be bothered reading them, it's definitely boring for everyone else.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 28/12/2018 13:21
XXcstatic · 28/12/2018 13:33

I went to A&E with chest pains one Boxing Day night. I was pretty sure it was indigestion, as it turned out to be, but they got really bad so we got a taxi. I said sorry for wasting their time and the doctor said she'd rather tell me to lay off the rich food rather than have to tell my husband I was dead

limitedperiodonly Thousands of women in the UK die needlessly or suffer long-term heart failure because their heart attacks are not recognised. Women are much more likely to be misdiagnosed than men - both because women are trained to ignore their own health needs (as seen on this thread Angry) and because doctors are not trained to recognise female heart attack symptoms, which are often different from those of men. You are never wasting anyone's time to get a possible heart attack checked out.

BollocksIsNoACompleteSentence · 28/12/2018 13:46

"Jesus Christ" is totally something my DH would say Smile once I fell down the stairs (actually hurt my back quite badly) and I distinctly heard him mutter "for fucks sake" from the lounge Grin

ThisWayDown it sounds promising that he recognises he has been hurtful as if he can recognise it, he can work on it.

Thinking about it a bit more, my DH is a very practical person. He doesn't like the "drama" of things like sudden hospital visits, but he will be the first person to arrange pillows in the car or pack a bag for me with a charger and wildly unsuitable nightclothes GrinHe just shows his concern in a different way. These days I don't mind, I know he loves me very much, he just doesn't like big displays of emotions and tends to underplay things. He also does this as he believes it reassures me rather than making me want to hit him with a shovel which it actually does but nowadays he tries to hide any exasperation and show concern.

If people can recognise when they have upset their partner and make efforts to address it or at least compromise, it bodes much better than if they genuinely don't think they are doing anything wrong. It sounds promising for you. I hope your leg heals OK Thanks

ThisWayDown · 03/01/2019 06:41

An update:

I was referred to an orthopaedic surgeon by the GP here in Australia and he gave me my MRI results. Turns out my ACL is MIA. It is completely gone, completely torn. Which was a bit of a shock.

The surgeon thinks (but can’t be sure) that because my last reconstruction was done with a donor tendon from a stranger, my body saw it as foreign and over time “ate” it 😱 leaving a bit left that tore last week in the sea.

This means my knee is currently very unstable (as well as still sore). I have to have surgery if I want full movement and be able to pivot as normal. I’m going to try and stabilise it first with a physio programme and modifying my activities, to prevent further cartilage damage, before deciding whether to have surgery.

The surgeon also said that he can tell from the remaining ‘tunnel tracks’ that in the first ACL the graft was put in the wrong place, which is why it never felt properly stable and eventually tore again Angry

And I’m glad I trusted my instincts and signs from body and got it checked out immediately. Those saying you can’t walk with a fully torn ACL so it can’t have been serious well as I walked on it - your ACL is for pivoting and turning, you don’t need it for walking in a straight line, and after years of knee issues I have quite a high pain threshold believe it or not, and tend to just get on with it while taking it easy where possible, which is what I tried to do the first few hours after it happened until the pain and ‘wrong’ feeling became too much.

So all in all it’s a bit shit and I’m down about it. Terrible way to start the year, especially on holiday, and the pain and having a crutch is tiring. Will need DV and extra legroom on flight home. My DH is being v supportive though and we’ve all managed to have a very good time and do some great stuff regardless.

There’s been some great advice and support here, thank you Flowers

OP posts:
Pachyderm1 · 03/01/2019 06:53

Bloody hell OP. You poor thing, that is awful!

Is it bad that I want to know whether your arsehole husband has realised he was a dick and apologised?

Look after yourself and your cannibalistic knee and I hope you’re on the mend soon Flowers

Booboostwo · 03/01/2019 07:32

Oh no, poor you!

Hop you make it home safely and your knee gets sorted out ASAP.

redexpat · 03/01/2019 07:35

Crikey! Hope you can get that fixed asap.

mirialis · 03/01/2019 08:54

Oh that's rubbish OP!! When did you get your last reconstruction done? I think the operation has really moved on in recent years - I don't think they use donor ones for a start. I had my hamstring reconstruction a few years ago and was completely back to normal within 6 months having been expecting it to take at least 9-12). I think you said you love swimming and hiking so hopefully you have decent muscle base already as this helps. If you can afford it, get some private physio when you get home (for significantly greater frequency and length of appointment than the NHS can offer).

Well done on managing to keep the family having a good time on your holiday when you off course must be feeling really shit. It is a massive PITA but go into this time well-informed, ask questions, do some research and hopefully this time you will emerge with an ACL which is as good as new as that is the expectation these days and is how it worked out for me. Flowers

Italiangreyhound · 03/01/2019 10:12

That's total pants. Well done on getting the hrlp you needed.

I hope your dh has noe realised that just because what he thought and said seemed right to him it wasn't right for you.

Safe journey home.

llangennith · 03/01/2019 11:27

Hi OP. Only saw this thread today for the first time but I've read it all. So sorry this happened and completely changed your holiday for the worse.
I'm really astonished at the number of people who chose to post such mean and spiteful comments. The point of your AIBU was ignored and some posters piled in with snide and bitchy comments.
Anyway, good that you've got a diagnosis but not good knowing that it'll be a while till you're on the road to recovery. Good luck OPThanks

Willow2017 · 03/01/2019 11:41

Just read the whole thread. Christ almighty the nutters and goady feckers are out in force these days!

Sorry to hear your injury is worse than hoped for Thiswaydown thats really crap.
Having the same illnesses/accidents over and over is really depressing and can knock your confidence for 6 as i found out. I have a recurring problem with 1 foot/ankle that occasionally drives me mad. Currently have a swollen multi coloured foot from just turning over on it getting up from the chair😀 things do tend to get to you when you have other shit to deal with in life too so dont apologise for being upset nor using your own knowledge of your body to decide whats right.

Glad you and dh.and kids have had a nice time despite it all. I am sure you and dh will be able to work something out once you get home and the 'events' arent so raw. He really needs to accept that you have autonomy and his needs for routine and contol of his life doesnt trump anyone elses needs.

Glad you got some great suppport on here too and will contunue to do so.

Wishing you as speedy a recovery as is poss with no setbacks and your next op if you chose one is 100% done properly and lasts forever.
Safe journey home.

mirialis · 03/01/2019 12:40

Meant to say OP - you can get good advice off kneeguru.com or the skiing specific forums as loads of people there have had the ops so will have up to date feedback on hamstring grafts etc. (as I said, this is what I had a few years ago and it's been good as new). I imagine you are very wary of going through it again, but if you are active then I would go for it personally. Yes you can get away without an ACL if you modify your activity OR if you have the muscle mass of a pro athlete but my friend (who is a pro athlete) has been told they will have to have total knee replacements at a relatively young age to offset the fact that they didn't want to take the time out of their career to get ACL reconstructions.

Wishing you well and on such a long flight, the extra legroom is a little bit of silver lining... also glad your DH is being very supportive and is seeming to 'get it' a bit better.

bengalcat · 03/01/2019 12:45

When I ripped my MCL @20yrs ago skiing and was in a leg brace insurance provided for a flight rather the the ski train home and I was able to put my leg up on three seats . Good luck to you .

Consolidateyourloins · 03/01/2019 13:18

Autistichedgehog

Please note that some of the posts that were deleted were considered sufficiently nasty that MNHQ actually emailed the posters to warn them. I’ve had posts deleted before but never ever had an email warning.

Bullshit. There's no way MNHQ would tell you that.

Consolidateyourloins · 03/01/2019 13:22

@swingofthings

Dramatic because she made it sound as if her injury was much worse than it turned to be.

How on earth was she supposed to know how bad her injury was?

Of course her Oh didn't stop her from going, he was trying to get some sense into her that he would have preferred to go with her

This sounds so very Handmaiden. So doing what he wants is 'getting sense in to her'? He doesn't get to make that choice, only the injured person does.

It's quite re-assuring that I always disagree with you. Restores my faith in my decency.

mirialis · 03/01/2019 13:22

also buy yourself a proper bed-size pillow/cushion for the flight

Consolidateyourloins · 03/01/2019 13:24

@swingofthings

OP got a brace and painkillers, so of course it could have waited until the morning. I would have posted differently if the outcome had been OP being rushed into surgery that evening.

Because you have the benefit of HINDSIGHT, which OP didn't have. Do you seriously not get that?

Consolidateyourloins · 03/01/2019 13:33

Just RTFT! Sorry had to keep interrupting to respond to dickish posters.

I wonder if said posters will come and apologise to you now?

OP, hope you can get treatment and feel better soon Flowers

justilou1 · 03/01/2019 13:45

Oh you poor thing! You must be so stressed out! I hope you have contacted the airline and sent them a medical certificate and a letter from your doctor so you get special attention for your flights home! (I used to be a flight attendant.) The pressurisation will cause more swelling so you will need extra leg room. If you can give them advance notice they may upgrade your flights. Best of luck with the trip home!!!!

drawn · 03/01/2019 18:18

Sorry to hear of the damage.

My injury is nowhere near as severe as your but I thought I'd share it. I stubbed my big toe 5 weeks ago, it soon went purple and was extremely painful. I hobbled around for the rest of the day and it kept me up all night. I got no sympathy from DH, I asked him to take me to hospital so I could get it checked out. He refused based on the fact they would probably do nothing about it anyway. So I hobbled 15min to the train station got a train and a bus there and back. It was X-rayed which confirmed a break. They offered to band it to my other toe but I preferred it as it was in my walking boots. So yes they didn't do anything like DH said but they said I did the right thing getting it checked because if it had of needed resetting etc and hadn't been it would of healed incorrectly and caused long term issues. It's still giving me problems now but I can tell there is some improvement. DH has been no help at all.

mirialis · 03/01/2019 18:30

to be fair I would say I'm lucky with a very lovely DH - kind, caring, brings me a coffee in bed every morning type thing... but I had an injury on my ankle when I was heavily training for an event (that was taking place 3 weeks later) and said I needed to go to the doctor because it had quite suddenly become hot, red and swollen. My DH was all "just rest it and ice it and see how it is in the morning" and of course it turned out there was a problem and I was on the verge of blood poisoning which would have clearly been very serious and I had to stop the event and spend the next couple of weeks on meds and barefoot. I had to ask him twice to drive me but on the second time he knew that if I was insisting I needed to go, then I needed to go (and would have said the same even if it didn't turn out to be such a problem). Now he would not question me - talk about these things now, in advance of a problem, and agree that if one of you thinks something requires treatment then your partner must trust and help you (unless they are a medical specialist in that particular area)!!

Lunde · 04/01/2019 15:52

Really sorry to hear that this has been such a major injury. It is a shame that this thread has been derailed with totally clueless people telling you that this was not a serious injury. With an ACL rupture it is important to get it immobilized with an expert fitted mechanical brace as soon as possible - otherwise there is a huge risk that the instability can cause additional damage to the interior surface of you knee joint, and if really unlucky the femur can slide forwards and damage your tibia.

This happened to to me. I had an accident with a complete ACL rupture but the unstable joint kept moving resulting in complete ruptures of all the other ligaments as well (PCL, MCL. LCL), a fractured tibia, complete cartilage detachment, fractures to the bone surface inside the knee joint, serious muscle tears, tibia fracture, bone marrow oedema, and significant nerve damage. My knee joint was totally destroyed and had to be replaced complete with bone marrow canal pins. As a result I am disabled will never walk unaided again

FrogsAreMean · 04/01/2019 16:14

Quick question and I have to admit I have not read the whole thread, but are you in South Africa or Australia?

Just a bit confused that's all OP.

BatsAreCool · 04/01/2019 16:27

Just read the thread and was Shock at some posters. I think some people honestly think A&E should only be if you are about to die. My DH when I fell over and hurt my hand insisted on taking me to A&E despite my protests because I had been bought up with the mentality of 'it can wait, it isn't that bad' and he was right as it needed to be immobilised for several weeks.

Sorry to hear about your injury OP.