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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:
brizzledrizzle · 26/12/2018 18:10

All items that can be easily obtained at a pharmacy, not A&E.

That's complete nonsense, you can't resolve an ACL with items from the pharmacy = it'd be like trying to block a dam with a drinking straw. ACLs need immediate medical attention, x-rays/scans and usually surgery and then physiotherapy.

Holdingoutforalotterywin · 26/12/2018 18:10

I am glad you have some medical help - sounds painful.

Some people are really weird when other people get ill or injure themselves. They seem to deny it - in a way maybe because it hurts them to see someone they love hurt. Don’t know - doesn’t make it right. The sad bit here is that you needed to have something seriously wrong and agreed by doctors for it not to be unreasonable if you know what I mean. Some people are just weird about illness etc. If they don’t feel it then is it really that bad? It’s a lack of empathy which maybe is because of his own possible issues? It sounds like a high stress situation and he didn’t react perfectly - far from it. Hoping he takes good care of you now though and has the chance to redeem himself xx

Italiangreyhound · 26/12/2018 18:12

fleuriepeninsula IMHO pharmacies are not the best place for recurring injuries. This sounds very serious to me but then I am not a doctor. Maybe you are?

Lunde · 26/12/2018 18:20

fleuriepeninsula - Whilst I think you are being a bit dramatic (they can’t /won’t do anything for you except brace, crutch and painkillers) you do need some kind of doctors report as you’ll need a fit to fly cert & your travel insurance will need something to justify making alternative travel arrangements if you can’t bend your knee & sit in a normal airline seat. I’m also amazed that Medicare will do an MRI for you in A&E overnight for a soft tissue injury, well done Australia.

Wow you really have no clue what you are talking about do you.

An ACL tear is a major injury - not something that the pharmacy deals with. It's not a minor soft tissue injury as the ACL is the tendon that holds your knee joint together and gives your knee joint stability - without which you have no ability to walk.

Most ACL tears will require surgical repair (in the case of severe tendon injury you may lose your knee joint or suffer nerve damage and lose feeling in your lower leg). However usually it is dangerous to operate before the swelling has resolved

When they brace it they don't mean the poxy braces you buy at the pharmacy but a mechanised brace whereby the orthopaedic surgeon sets the angle of movement so that you cannot do further damage.

Additionally when you get painkillers for ACL damage usually they are not talking over the counter pharmacy stuff but strong precription only meds.

Bubbles121 · 26/12/2018 18:29

OP I can't follow your story - you say you came to the A and E at ten pm ish but SA is only two hours ahead of UK so how could you be posting on the same day at one o clock in the afternoon? It would be 3pm there? That would mean either this happened yesterday or your timings are completely out?

Autistichedgehog · 26/12/2018 18:38

Sympathies, Asperger husbands are just bloody impossible sometimes no matter how much we love them

Lovely. Yet another MN thread where it’s seen as perfectly acceptable to blame poor behaviour on autistic individuals.

With no recognition that firstly, every autistic person is different and secondly, and more importantly, that NT people can behave in awful ways - autism does not mean the person will behave badly.

I am sorry you have had a crappy time OP but it’s so hurtful to read, yet again, that it’s all due to autism. It’s not. It’s due to the person being a wanker.

But MN condones the continual bashing of autistic people on so many threads I should really just ignore it but I can’t.

Tartyflette · 26/12/2018 18:39

She’s not in South Africa.

icannotremember · 26/12/2018 18:42

Your DH is an unpleasant person, as are a number of pp in this thread.
Hope you're in less pain now.

Xmastummyhasgonebig · 26/12/2018 19:28

Some right nobs on this thread Shock

Hope you are ok, of course you were right to go to hospital Flowers

SoaringSwallow · 26/12/2018 20:58

Hedgehog it's not the poor behaviour itself that is being blamed on ASD. It's the reasons behind it. When someone has rigid thinking and finds external expressions of empathy impossible (despite what they may internally feel), that displays often as dickish behaviour. It doesn't mean that Aspergers = bad behaviour. It means that the condition gives rise to situations where the person with Aspergers has missed a part of the picture and due to rigid thinking and lack of empathic display (both common, but not guaranteed parts of Aspergers) the resulting behaviour appears bad. It's not at all the same as someone being abusive or just an arse.

I live with this daily and it's important to clarify the underlying difference. But yes, part of the issue with Aspergers is that it has negative social impact in interpersonal interactions/relations in a society that is not set up around an Aspergers way of looking at and interpreting the world. That is not bashing people with Aspergers. Nor is it equating any random bad behaviour as Aspergers behaviour.

And while we can argue about the fact that everybody is different, that nobody is perfect and that ASD is a spectrum and if you've met one person with Aspergers/autism then you've met one person with Aspergers/autism, the fact is that there is a condition that exists and there are certain groups of traits that when occurring together, fall under a label.

It most certainly doesn't mean everybody who has it is horrible, nor does it mean everybody who has it is some angel either. It is what it is. And it doesn't mean that anytime someone, a man in particular, does something insensitive that they have it. The OP mentioned it here in context of family situation and nobody has vilified him for it.

QueenOnAPlate · 26/12/2018 21:05

So many horrible people!
I just wanted to send a hug and ask if you’ve ever been checked for hypermobility/EDS as your injuries suggest you might have a bit of weakness. I have dislocated and torn more ligaments than is usual but just thought I was clumsy/ unlucky, but then my daughter was diagnosed with EDS and suddenly it all made sense.

Hope your recovery is straightforward x

Booboostwo · 26/12/2018 21:18

Poor you, that all sounds completely miserable!

May I attempt an explanation of your DH’s behaviour? It is not an excuse or justification, just an explanation. If he is anything like me he had a set idea of what the holiday would involve. This idea did not involve A&E, hospitals and changes of plan. Your injury was a threat to these plans, it upset the future, it upset stability and involves unwelcome change. This was so personal and so overwhelming that it let no room for thinking about how the injury affected you so his behaviour became all about making the change go away. Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen. The more it seemed like it was happening despite all the pretending, the more angry he would have gotten.

This is all speculation of course. And you may also think that adults should have ways of seeing that this is distorted reasoning, recognizing that they are engaging in distorted reasoning and having strategies to pull themselves back from the brink. You may be right.

It is unfair that you, the person accidentally injured and in pain, is not at the centre of his narrative. Again I am not trying to excuse or justify his behaviour, just explain it. Maybe if he can come to understand it more he may be more able to deal with it.

Hope you’re not in too much pain and you get to do some fun things in your holiday.

DishingOutDone · 26/12/2018 21:22

Are all the smug people on here who thought they were doctors now going to come back and apologise to the OP?

Jack65 · 26/12/2018 21:43

For gods sake to those people who don't have a clue about Aspergers, try reading, and understanding at least a bit can't you. Thanks Boo and Soaring who have put it so much better than i could.

Italiangreyhound · 26/12/2018 22:16

How are you doing ThisWayDown?

ThisWayDown · 27/12/2018 00:25

Italian I’m feeling really down tbh. I’ve been looking forward to this holiday for ages and now I’m severely restricted on what I and therefore to a large extent the family can do and have a horrible leg brace to wear in very hot weather.

And I feel defeated when it comes to my relationship with DH. He is very upset because I don’t get how his not wanting me to go to the hospital last night was a sign of concern and care for me. He is adamant that him letting me go by myself would have been a very cruel thing for him to do, but that equally he didn’t want the children to go to A&E. He is also adamant that it would have been in my best interests to wait until the morning. He is very upset that I thought his behaviour was uncaring last night when apparently it was the opposite, and feels it’s very, very unfair on him.

He doesn’t seem to comprehend at all - as in he had an open mouthed confused look - that when considering what’s in my “best interests” and the likelihood of my ACL being re-torn, that I may be better-placed to know this given it’s my knee and my recurring injury.

I am just so worn down.

OP posts:
Italiangreyhound · 27/12/2018 00:37

ThisWayDown I am not a counselor so cannot advise, but personally I would tell dh that it is best to discuss this after the holiday and get on and have as much fun as you can while you are away.

It does sound very exhausting being in a situation where you are not 'allowed' to know what is best for you medically and whether he understand why this is or not, he does need to accept it.

I cannot imagine why he had a problem with the children going to A and E, what did he think would happen to them?

"He is very upset that I thought his behaviour was uncaring last night when apparently it was the opposite, and feels it’s very, very unfair on him." I think for your own sanity you will probably need to explore some sort of counselling when you get back home. And then you can discuss this in an environment where your thoughts can be validated and his thoughts can also be validated (in that he does genuinely believe it). Whether he believes it or not, you still have a right to your own feelings and thoughts.

I'm so sorry you are going through this.

On holiday is not the time to re-hash things, IMHO so try and enjoy the holiday. Would your holiday insurance allow you any money back due to the injury? I don't know how it works but I'd look into that once home.

Jamiefraserskilt · 27/12/2018 00:45

Given your history I don't think you were being unreasonable at all. It is unlikely you would have slept well anyway. By going, you got early treatment and pain relief.
When you have both slept, it is worth having a conversation about your disappointment with his reaction. You were in pain and likely to have snapped more. I also agree there is no bloody quota. It is not something you planned.
Now you both need to work out what you can all do together and enjoy the rest if your holiday.
The hotel may have a wheelchair that may make getting about easier or there may be a short term.scooter hire locally so you can self drive.

Mummyshark2018 · 27/12/2018 00:46

Op I was a little unsure/confused about this post but after reading the update your dh sounds like a complete knob. Maybe he is asd ........ but the complete lack of regard to the fact that you have actually medically /physically hurt yourself is terrible. If my dh treated me that way I would not be at all happy and he would know it.....

tittietinsel · 27/12/2018 00:55

Why did you let him decide whether you should get medical assistance or not? Is he always that controlling?

I'm of the wait and see opinion, however you wanted to get it checked, he stopped you from doing so for HOURS.

That's not normal behaviour.

JollyHolly30 · 27/12/2018 01:21

Tartyflette - how is she not in South Africa? The first sentence of her original post reads 'I'm in South Africa'...
Did I miss somewhere later in the thread where she changed her mind on this? I'm confused!

RCohle · 27/12/2018 01:32

Yes, you did.

OP said she changed that detail to be less identifying.

ThisWayDown · 27/12/2018 01:39

JollyHolly30 ‘She’ didn’t ‘change her mind on this’. Instead, She admitted some way down the thread that She’d said South Africa to try and make the post less identifying, but that in fact She was in a different country (which She strongly implied was Australia, because that is where She is).

She apologies for any confusion caused. She didn’t think it would be hugely relevant when She started this post but then couldn’t be bothered to continue the pretence when it did become relevant. HTH.

OP posts:
AGHHHH · 27/12/2018 01:40

I'm not sure being autistic would cause him to be an arsehole, and when presented with the facts of the situation he should be able to recognise that the hospital is a good idea, ignoring any lack of empathy he may have... He simply sounds like an arsehole.

tittietinsel · 27/12/2018 01:41

Maybe he is asd ........

Maybe he IS ASD.

Maybe he IS Autism spectrum disorder Hmm

FFS.