Cellulitis - linked to obesity and getting hold of medical notes

[RebelliousHoping]

Hi,

Bit of an odd one, and unsure if this country, buts someone has posted in a support group for cellulitis they have been told very much to lose weight in an attempt to stop reoccurrence?

I did join a necrotising fasciitis group and in great comfort they said it defo wasn’t that - didn’t have the high red cells count, totally other way low white blood cells, plus there was something else which made that community say no this isn’t nf and the hospital were just following some policy 48 hours after surgery. And stated the hematoma on front of foot is was more eshgar.

I recall having streptococcal cellulitis in 2008 (did not require hospitalisation then and whilst I just can’t remember what it looked like 😕 but then it did clear up well inside a month) back in that year I was just a stone less that what I weighed today.

I did see briefly the mri notes after debridement surgery showed oedema.

Whilst I accepted disfigurement, possible multi surgeries and or loss of limb before the surgery on the day -
Do you think such a thing is possible as to get hold of the theatre debridement notes?
Again I’m gutted I wasn’t in a position to be spoken to following the surgery for around 48 hours and totally reliant on the next of kin - a nurse started querying Friday what a strange place to have a wound in for the type of alien ball of fluid and where that was on the leg, then my next of kin pipes up something went wrong with the area they put the scalpel in so they had to exit or re enter somewhere else.

The district nurse has been in today taking pictures as red patch on lower leg has returned (I think it is the bandages I really do and the different ways some of the nurses have), asking about my diabetic status. I take it the healing could take well longer for diabetics but really does this still apply to people on pathway to remission.

OP have seen a few of your posts about this recent illness on here and it sounds like things have been difficult. Meaning this gently though, your posts are so hard to follow (even to a doctor) that you're really not going to get many sensible answers to many of your questions here. It sounds like a debrief with one of the hospital team that looked after you might be helpful and I'd suggest asking for that next time you're in contact with a doctor/someone from the hospital (it may also be helpful to take someone completely independent with you if possible to help think of questions for them/maybe write things down). If you spent time in the intensive care ward (which is quite likely if there was a real concern about whether you had nec fasc) then most units do follow-up appointments to go through exactly the sorts of questions that you're asking. If you weren't on intensive care then there will be some sort of follow-up planned by a surgical or perhaps medical team (even if you haven't had the appointment through yet) who could help explain things and give you some sort of timeline of what happened and why, and perhaps most importantly, what to expect going forward.

Answering a couple of your questions in this post in very general terms 1) obesity is one of the major risk factors for developing nasty skin infections including cellulitis. 2) It usually would be possible to get a copy of the operation note if it's formally requested, but it will be written in medical jargon and may not be that easy to decipher (however, if you had a debrief meeting with someone they could explain what it means, which would probably be more useful). 3) They are absolutely right to keep mentioning diabetes for a few reasons, including that obesity and diabetes do frequently go together; diabetes makes people more vulnerable to nasty skin infections, but also nasty infections can play havoc with diabetes control too; diabetic status can change - it would be negligent of them to not raise the question given how unwell you've been even if before the illness it had looked like your tests were improving.

Hope you're able to get the rest of the answers you're looking for in a way that makes more sense of things from one of the hospital teams.

Thank you, thank you for responding, I greatly appreciate all you’ve put.

I’m so frustrated. The GP says I’m not getting involved even though I’ve said are you not the patients advocate then, I am told to approach PALS in insisting on follow up and all they respond back is there is no need for follow up, (despite this not being the case in 2008 when the town’s County hospital ((sadly now demolished)) saw me in out patients for not even half the drama I’ve been through) to right I’m confused and left thinking hell the nhs must be in crisis. It has just completely added to my distrust of the medical profession.

In regards to my first question the person on the cellulitis support group came back and answered oh I’m in the USA!