AIBU

[FizzyMoonDust]

To be annoyed at leaving hospital 90 minutes after surgery without having had the dressings changed since they were put on in the operating theatre, without having been given enough dressings and steri-strips to redo them myself when they all fell off the next morning and also having to redo them again myself on day 3 having spent £20 on new dressings and strips.
Also, being told to leave the dressings on for one week? Surely that is unhygienic, they were stinking tonight so I have just changed them all.
I am considering a complaint......or AIBU?

YABU.

They wouldn't change dressing 90 minutes after applying them in theatre.

You should have asked for some before leaving.

You can visit your gp surgery and ask the nurse for some dressings.

Buying dressings also isn't an unreasonable thing to have to do either. At least you got the surgery.

I think you need to take more responsibility for your own wound tbh, you sound quite twisty

As hiddenhome says, they wouldn't change them 90 mins after they'd put them on.

Your practice nurse at your GP's will provide you with dressings, change your dressing if necessary and check your wound for you.

If your dressings are very smelly, or you have more than the expected amount of pain, you may have an infection, so it might be an idea to pop along and see the nurse tomorrow.

They say leave the dressings on for a week,- and for some folk that is fine. For others the wound may be very leaky and need changing more often, - they assume you will seek help if you need it.

It might have been helpful if they'd given you this information though.

Fair enough, I am being unreasonable, and probably I was feeling a bit sorry for myself because the GP surgery was shut and I was in pain. I can't drive yet and I can't walk as far as the surgery, nor will they do a home visit.
I'd have thought they would change them since they were saturated with blood.
I won't be complaining then.

Fizzy - its quite common to feel a bit down after surgery esp. if you had a GA, - it takes a while to get out of your system, and you will be tired and in pain.

But do go along and see your practice nurse if you can, - they have more time to explain it all to you than they do in the hospital (where they generally want to get you home as soon as poss. and sometimes things get forgotten) also, practice nurses often have lots of tricks up their sleeve to make you more comfortable, and will check it all out (sometimes you get a rogue stitch that is digging in or something), and ask for some stronger pain killers if you are very sore.

Just seen that you can't get to surgery very easily - try asking for a district nurse visit, or get a nurse or doctor to phone you and talk to you, - they might give you a supply of dressings and a prescription for pain killers.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

Thanks KurriKurri. It's been much more bearable today and I have got my smile back :) At least I have got 5 weeks off work to recover completely.

That's good to hear - take things easy, - it's always tempting to try to do too much too soon after an op. - especially at this time of year, but I expect you are glad to have got your surgery out of the way

Yes, very glad indeed, maybe now I will be pain free after several months of it.