TW: some fairly graphic health issues/procedures described
Hi all,
I want to start by saying I know many people have a much worse situation than me. But I just feel so poorly and I have two small children and not enough help. NC given outing medical and personal info.
I had umbilical hernia repair surgery on Valentine's Day. Since then I've been feeling feverish, nauseous, having night sweats, feeling faint, struggling to eat, and completely wiped out. My DH is due to be going away for a few weeks for work on Thurs leaving me home alone with our two DC (1 and 3). Already not a great situation but manageable assuming the surgery went OK.
Went to see the nurse who checked my wound (evidently not very well sadly), said it wasn't infected, and i probably had a UTI so given some antibiotics for that. Took my dressing off the next day and it was pouring pus and very red and angry. Went to the out of hours GP on Saturday who checked the wound and said cellulitis, doesn't look great but borderline for IV antibiotics. Sent home with some oral antibiotics and a marker line around redness. Woke up this morning to significantly more pain, redness, and swelling. Rang 111 who fiddled about with me putting me through various teams over a few hours until I got sent to the hospital surgical assessment unit.
By now so nauseous I haven't been able to eat, drink much or take my painkillers so in agony. I get there and have to sit in a chair for a few hours (to be fair much less time and much better situation than many face)but was just in so much pain and feeling so poorly it was awful, and being surrounded by incredibly poorly people that clearly should have been admitted was just awful. No one was allowed to eat in case they required imminent surgery.
The junior doctor saw me and said looks like very bad case of cellulitis, 48h of IV antibiotics. Shuffled back to my chair then called in by the consultant a few mins later who checked my wound and immediately said - it's an abcess and we are going to have to surgically drain it. Immediately went and got all the stuff, gave me local anesthetic, and drained it. I will spare you the horror of the details (I am not squeamish but genuinely it was horrifying) but they told me during the process there was a lot of necrotic tissue there and it was lucky I came in when I did as it was very serious. He then told me it was a very bad abcess and should have been sorted out under general anaesthetic but he wanted to spare me the risks of that and get it dealt with swiftly. Then he said - no IV antibiotics, you can take the ones the OOH GP gave you, off you go. Just go to the GP every day for the next week to get them to check your wound. Now back at home and have bloody pus pouring out of the dressing which isnt properly sealed (maybe deliberately?). I've just had enough, the carpet is now covered in bloody pus whivh is running down my legs.
My DH is trying his best to support me but is having to work very long hours ahead of going away and thus makes me feel guilty (not deliberately) at every stage and isn't able to help. I just feel like absolute shit still, in pain and feverish, and the idea of potentially being in sole charge of our two DC in a few days time is horrifying. I'm just so tired of all this and just want to be better.
Ahhhhhhhhh.
If there's any one on here who knows about what I should do about bloody pus escaping, should i try to put on a new dressing and seal it, do let me know. I can't face ringing 111 again.
Thanks for bearing with my rant that doesn't even include all of the dramas and other ailments but is still a novel!