Some of you will know my health problem from my thread in Health about a paractice nurse not reading my notes and administering treatment against my wishes.
I'll not go back over the whole thing but suffice to say I've been living with a wound to my leg since before Christmas which just won't heal.
I do have a referral to the Vascular Unit but no idea how long that will be.
We are starting a new treatment today of trimovate cream which has to be applied every day for the first 5 days so I have to get to the surgery every day (about 3 miles away).
I've been going to the surgery initially twice a week since January and three times a week since beginning of June.
Lots of troubles with dressings slipping away from wound and bandages falling down or unravelling.
Although I'm told they're using the most absorbent dressings, within hours of a dressing change, fluids from the wounds have seeped through 3 layers of dressings and pads & the stockinette. .The volume is so great that it starts to pool around my ankle and the weight pulls the dressings down my leg. It look like I've got a tyre around my ankle - if this makes sense.
Once I get dressed it seeps through the trouser leg and often onto my shoe. If I get the angle slightly wrong, than even getting my knickers off can mean the knickers get pulled over the wet bandage and I then have wet knickers for the rest of the day. I can't go out as everything moves down my leg and anyway, it looks as if I've wet myself as the fluid seeps through my trousers.
I've just entered the next three weeks appointments with the nurse in my calendar and out of interest, I looked back to see when I actually went out socially. I've been out twice since the end of February.
Despite agreeing with one of the senior practice nurses that continuity of care and treatment by qualified nurses only is number 1 priority, I will be seeing 4 different people over the next couple of weeks, one of whom is a Health Care Assistant.
So I'm basically stuck at home staring at the walls sitting with a wet, cold, soggy mess of dressings and bandages around my leg and ankle. In considerable pain as the fluid is toxic and burns my skin as it collects in the dressing and rests on my leg for two or three days. I haven't been able to shower properly for months. The leg cover that you can get for showering is no good for my dressings.
I've now got to go through the rigmarole of trying to get myself dressed and into the surgery - having to go via the chemist to pick up the trimovate cream as they didn't deliver it to me on Friday and can't deliver until late this afternoon.
So my question is, am I being unreasonable to expect a better quality of life? I'm quite down in the dumps about it this morning as I've had this soggy mess of dressings, pads and bandage bunches up around my lower leg and ankle since Friday lunchtime. I'm not sure how much longer I can live like this.
Honest opinions please, if you think I should just suck it up then please say so. I genuinely would like to know if I really am being unreaonable.
