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 !

Sorry, just read that he's in lots of pain and it smells - Off to ED tonight then

A lot of things I see in here were people are told fo go to a&e are not really fitting

For goodness sakes go!!!! Now!

May I ask are you a diabetic and if so how long have you been ?

I'm another person saying to go to a&e immediately!
I don't say that lightly either, I've never been to a&e in my life for anything, but I would definitely go with that.

A and E and if not sorted go private. Someone at work had an infection in a cyst on their back and nurse kept giving them antibiotics loads of different kinds so they went through Bupa to get it removed. I can’t believe the nurse has let it get like that!

Yes, go to A and E, he could lose a leg, or even worse. Sounds awful. So sorry.

My goodness @NOTSUREWHATIMDOINHERE That looks excruciatingly painful.
Go to A&E .

Please go to A&E.

A&E and I have no doubt he’ll be staying in for IV antibiotics. Don’t risk leaving it until the morning.

To add, offensive smell and redness and a yellowness tinge to dressing arent necessarily a sign of infection in venous leg ulcers, they take so long to heal because blood pools as the venous blood return to the heart is poor, this causes capillaries to burst, which causes the redness (this is why compression helps, in very basic terms, it pushes the valves in veins closer together, improving venous return, and reducing the pooling), yellow weeping can be a normal part of the process, those combined dont necessarily indicate infection. The smell is unfortunate but once you know the smell of a venous ulcers, you never forget it, its not always a sign of infection though. It does need to be swabbed, he does need bloods to check infection markers. These should be 100% a priority in his care needs over the next few days, but please dont panic and worry he is about to develop sepsis imminently. Get him seen though.

Thanks everyone, he is going to go tonight. Poor dh. I'll need to stay home with the children. He might not be able drive might need call taxi more than likely. Nightmare.

I'm so sorry about your DH; that's awful. It's an incredibly cruel twist of fate that your friend's DH developed sepsis too; in 50 years I've not known anyone who has. Hopefully your experience and ability to be an advocate for your friend's family lightened your grief a little. A brave thing to face on your part.

A&e asap.
It wants swabbing, iv abx, debriding, possibly under a local and properly dressing. I'd be referring to tissue viability nurses too.

I really wouldn't be leaving it if it's getting worse after two weeks of antibiotics, and I know exactly what you mean by the smell op you both have my sympathies there, once smelled never forgotten!

This is so awful. I'm so sorry to hear it. Thank you for the reply. We'll get him in tonight.

Dear god I hope he is seen quickly OP!

@NOTSUREWHATIMDOINHERE stick him in a taxi, safe option, no faffing.
He doesn't want to have to think about driving,parking,etc just needs to get there

😱 ... if it's getting worse go to a&e
Good luck

I have a friend who had an infected leg.
He thought it was an insect bite ''gone bad''.

I worried about cellulitis.

I nagged and nagged and he spent days in hospital on IV antibiotics.

Ah hadn't read the full thread before posting sorry, glad he's getting seen tonight (and feeling quite vindicated that pp tvn thinks a referral is appropriate! You guys do a fantastic job! )

Please just call a Taxi for him.

This ^^

OP,
A&E. He's likely to be staying in for a few days, or even weeks with his leg in that state.
My ex used to get cellulitis often, and so does his Dad, both have been in hospital numerous times for stays to get infection under control. Neither have looked anywhere near this bad.

They should do repeated blood tests to see if the infection is going down.

But definitely IV antibiotics.

Also, please complain about the nurse who sent him away in that state. Absolutely disgusting.

Gosh, poor him. That looks like a really bad ulcer. This needs a hospital. It's terrible the nurse was just dressing it and not acknowledging it was getting worse.
My DH has severe nerve damage in his leg and any kind of knock can cause really bad injury or ulcer.
Please get him to A&E. He could well need much stronger IV antibiotics and other meds. He should go straight away.
I hope he gets better soon. X

I agree- I'm NOT a nurse, but looking at the state of the man's leg- it's obviously something very seriously amiss.

This doesn't look like a wound that is healing well.

The terrible smell OP mentions.

What the heck was the nurse playing at?

DH didn’t have sepsis – he had a heart condition. I didn’t know my friend’s DH had sepsis – I just knew he was very sick and knew that advocating was important.