Husband leg infection being almost ignored (disgusting pics included)

[NOTSUREWHATIMDOINHERE]

Hello

So been at nurse 3 weeks in row. Had leg infection for 2 weeks antibiotics not working and it's now worse. Smells. Pain so severe he cant walk so will be off work now! Nurse just dressing it and sending him away after asking gp to prescribe 2nd set of different antibiotics after 1st set that was supposed to be the right ones for that infection did absolutely nothing to help him.

What would you do ? We are worried, he can't get about its horrible. He had a venous ulcer but this was due to that part of the leg getting bumped and all of sudden this infection gets worse , he was hiding it from me !

It's actually terrifying the state the NHS is in.
I really hope your poor husband gets better soon.

He is sitting in waiting area of hospital now, the waiting times displayed on the tv screen are 1 to 2 hours minor injury and 12 hours for gp referral. so its a waiting game!

thank you, appreciate it

The nurse should have taken it more seriously as it was getting worse, not better or staying the same.

My H had this after a veneous leg ulcer. Hospital for 5 days and on a drip.
He was hallucinating.

That's great he is in the best place now OP. Can you look into some childcare for later in case you need to go in and advocate for him/take him overnight stuff?

I'd do this for any friend

Please don’t linch your practice nurse on the basis of things that people have said here.
All leg ulcers which are wet will be colonised with bacteria and ALL will have positive swabs. This is clearly not just a case of simple infection - there is a background of chronic disease and this would not be a quick fix with ‘the right antibiotics’ .
Heat around a wound can be related to inflammation as well as infection too.

I hope your husband’s leg improves. The best thing about being in hospital will be a period of bed rest with his leg in the air and dressings being done often enough. But … in hospital compression is often not done because of lack of expertise.

OP can you answer the question as to what investigations / treatment your husband has had . Dopplers ? Compression bandaging ? I don’t think you said if he has been in compression or not. Does he normally wear stockings ?

And your medical degrees were obtained where?

This is such dangerous, garbage information.

I am very interested to know whether he does indeed have a background of a chronic disease, as @olympicsrock keeps insisting is the case?

he had been using compression but nurse told him not to wear it with infection so he gets bad leg swelling when he is up on it. He has a physical job, He is over weight, trying lose it , warned him many years ago, Had doppler few years ago not any since.

I hope you get this sorted soon now you are at hospital. I had an infection a few years ago and they took a sample so they could prescribe antibiotics that would be the most effective. Hopefully once he’s seen they’ll do something like that.

I hope you get is sorted as it looks really nasty.

That looks like a venous leg ulcer is it being bandaged toe to knee? It will need some sort of compression bandage to help with venous flow.

I would ask for a referral to the tissue viability nurses or complex wound care team. A&E are likely to do nothing, if the surrounding redness is not getting bigger I'd make a GP app for next week (urgent) and ask for a referral / plan of care. Venous ulcers can take a while to heal unfortunately.

Tell DH to stop smoking if he does and eat lots protein

Hope you get it sorted

Sorry OP I've only read your posts and not the rest but is he diabetic? I saw an ulcer like this on a care resident once and it took months to heal even with several courses of IV antibiotics in hospital. In the end, they got referred to a specialist nurse team who came out and put these miracle sort of dressings on along with oral antibiotics and it finally started to recede.

I hope it's sorted today, OP

I'm astounded and saddened by so many stories of medical staff that just don't seem to care or know what's truly serious any more...

Best wishes to your husband for his recovery. I saw a nurse had posted earlier that it will take a long time for this type of wound to heal, keep at it consistently x.

Does he have any underlying health conditions which make him susceptible to these type of infections? He is very young to get this.

Mine ended up with the start of an infection like this (also physical job) and I was actually worried it was a DVT, although not the back of the calf more the side, swollen red hot. Went A&E turned out it was cellulitis it was far less progressed as this and he still went in for IV antibios daily at the hospital for one week and had to continue on oral antibiotics for the rest of the month at home with regular blood tests to ensure infection was on decline. make sure this happens for your DH.
They really messed up, your poor DH it should never have been allowed to get this bad! I was so paranoid after and got him new socks and boots etc. He did say he had remembered itching it a few weeks before it started to swell.

OP is your DH diabetic ? Or could he be diabetic - type 2 undiagnosed. I don’t want to alarm you but this is how my DH started with a small leg ulcer which got infected. His experience was much like yours, despite being a known type 2 diabetic the district nurses dressing the wound failed to escalate it to the appropriate clinical pathway when it became much worse and stopped responding to the antibiotics and dressing protocols. He ended up with gangrene and lost his leg below the knee. You need to be forceful - it should never have been allowed to get to this stage and the healthcare professionals involved need to know that you won’t tolerate any more such treatment.

Oh my - looks horrendous - demand he is seen - get a second and if needed he needs antibiotics urgently. Please update us when you can OP. Sorry he is going through this - he has a long journey to recovery ahead of him.

Another update, they have taken his bloods and said might get admitted for the antibiotics treatment, they waiting on a doctor to decide. Waiting game...

At least he’s now being dealt with properly . As a retired nurse I can’t imagine what the nurse at the GP thought she was doing especially with someone who is only in their 40s .

V glad he’s getting sorted OP.

It's strange how people stating they hold a HCP role (yes I know you have no idea who is who on the internet) - their advice is ignored and people yell 'you can't diagnose on the internet'

Yet random people making diagnoses of cellulitis, sepsis, infection, gangrene, necrosis - are not challenged.

OMG - haven’t read the whole thread but just looking at the photos has left me astounded that someone who calls themselves a health professional could have let your poor husbands leg get to this state without referring him on for urgent treatment.
So glad he’s waiting to he seen now -whatever you do don’t be tempted to leave.
When you know what’s what I’d put a complaint in writing about the care he’s received. It won’t help him because the damage has already been done but it may help all those other poor people who suffer with leg ulcers etc not end up in the same state.
No doubt there be some on here who will find excuses and try to defend the indefensible. I’ve not worked in the NHS for several years now, but even then there were protocols to be followed for dressing wounds in the community.

Sounds like they are taking it seriously which is good