DS stepped on nail

[Willowbella]

I was wondering if I could tap into your collective wisdom?

DS, 11, stepped on a rusty nail in the garden yesterday that had dropped off a piece of old fence so the nail would have been extremely old.

The nail went straight through his shoe and was bleeding quite a lot although stopped fairly quickly. I rang 111 for advice as I assumed he'd need a tetanus shot and they told me to to take him to A&E to have it looked at.

When I got to A&E the nurse told me 111 were wrong and he'd be covered by his jabs from when he was a baby and they sent us away without looking at it. She said if I wasn't sure to ring GP in the morning.

So far, what I have read on here suggests other people have had tetanus shots in similar situations. Is the nurse right? She rolled her eyes when I told her I had rung 111.

He's in a lot of pain and is struggling to walk. I cleaned it and put some antiseptic cream on and covered with a plaster. Is there anything else I can do to help? He is starting secondary school tomorrow. I feel so sorry for him. He is finding it really hard to be mobile.

Definitely check with your gp. Poor him-sounds painful

I can't believe they didn't even look at it! I don't know about tetanus but I'd check the wound site frequently and if it looks at all red go and get it looked at. You can only have cleaned the surface properly and I'd worry about infection.

Ok so hes covered for tetanus. That is good. But she was incompetent and should have looked at it. There are plenty of infections tgat can be contracted from the soil which he probably wont get because you cleaned it and put antisceptic on it.

Would it have hurt her to cast her eye over it?

he needs proper wound care.

so call the gp to ask where to go.

rusty nails, soil etc have the potential for very nasty infections and ds is in pain.

Yeah he'll be covered for tetanus as long as he's had all the immunisations he's supposed to have had. Just keep an eye on it in case of another infection though.

Thank you
I rang the GP this morning and they said to bring him in for the nurse to look at.
She said it looked ok and as he is up to date with his jabs didn't need the injection.

The problem is it really hurts him and he is struggling to walk on it. He is really worried about starting school tomorrow. Fingers crossed it makes a miraculous recovery overnight. #wishfulthinking

Such lousy timing.

Ah I really feel for him. Could he have some paracetamol before school and hopefully once it’s worn off the excitement of the first day might take his mind off it a bit until home time?
Maybe a gel blister pad in his shoe?

Try padding it out so there's some cushioning in his shoe, if pressure directly on it hurts you could try getting a sponge and cutting a hole in it so it sits around the wound.