sorry it has been a while in coming, but there has been some issues with my wound.
As you are aware after the amputation the compression bandages where supposed to stay on for 3 weeks before my first wound check. After two weeks the compression bandage on my right stump fell off when I was transferring. We rang the out of hours doctors who after a few calls passed it on to the emergency nursing team, who did come out and dress the wound. Unfortunately within the space of a few hours that bandage also fell off. The next day we contacted the doctors who told us to contact the district nurses which we did. They passed us onto the ward that discharged us who told me that they would only put a normal dressing on and it should be the dressing room. After being told by the dressing room at the hospital that they didnt have me booked in and it would be up to the district nurse at the GP's. So once again I rang the district nurse who then asked if we had bandages and told us to dress it ourselves, which we did.
A week later I attended my usual hospital appointment to find out to my horror that wound had opened and looked infected. I was rushed straight back into hospital that day to receive antibiotics via IV. Due to the ward house officer being busy, these where administered late on the second day of being admitted. I was informed however that if the wound didnt start healing that there was a good chance of ending back in surgery for it to be cleaned out or even re amputated! at this stage it was safe to say I was scared stiff !! luckily on the Saturday after assessment the wound looked to be clean and all tests came back clear for infection, so i was given antibiotics orally and discharged from hospital.
Thursday last week I saw the doctor again . The wound is still open but looking clean still and does seem to be healing, all though slowly. Fingers crossed it does other wise it could be surgery again. The hospital are happy to move me on to the next stage which is to physio and fittings for my new legs with the Freemans. The problem now is getting physio to agree to let me start my re hab with the wound still being open and being so slow to heal. The picture above was when bandage fell off 2 weeks post op if you look carefully you can see the beginning of the wound opening , it is much bigger now.
I have the appointment from physio for re hab.It starts on the 27th of July. keep fingers crossed!
Mood wise, not good I am afraid. The main issue is boredom. All of a sudden my life has gone from a million miles an hour, from working, housework, shopping, running a business and running after the kids, to full stop. This is something you need to be prepared for...I wasn't. Another thing is I cannot bring myself to look at the scars, they revolt me. I am hoping that this is something that will change in time, touching them however does not bother me. I don't feel any different then i did before, no grieving, no sense of loss, no feeling of being less of a person which I think is good. However my world feels dark. Things at the moment seem to have come to a standstill for me, even more so now with the wound issue. I have become practicably house bound due to the fact that i can not transfer into our car, which is an i800 8 seater, to high for me to transfer into. Even though it is a mobility car we cant get the money to have it adapted to enable me to use it. There fore every time we wish to go some where we have to use a disabled/wheelchair accessible taxi, so just to get to the town center and back is £14 before any thing else! Still waiting for a decision from the DLA regarding higher rate care. If we get that then we can apply for carers allowance for David, which he will be entitled to for looking after me. We have requested help from Adult services for a ramp to make it easier to get in and out of the house and for bathing but still nothing yet. Have also applied for Direct payments to help with the housebound issue but they wont help!The system in this country for the disabled and the vulnerable is a joke !
However on a brighter note. My faith in human kind and the human spirit has being restored by a beautiful gesture . Having mentioned in one of the news articles that I did a few month ago that I wanted to take my family on a break, a lady from North East press at the Echo in Sunderland knows the girl in the press office at Legoland, so a few days ago we received in the post tickets for the whole family to visit Legoland!!!
So now am busy planning and saving for that. And to add another glimmer of hope David and I have decided to renew our wedding vows...in Florida!! so something for us all to look forward too, we are trying to book that for October 2012.
So light they may be a light at the end of the tunnel after all, who knows?
Now if I could only get back to work..............
As you are aware after the amputation the compression bandages where supposed to stay on for 3 weeks before my first wound check. After two weeks the compression bandage on my right stump fell off when I was transferring. We rang the out of hours doctors who after a few calls passed it on to the emergency nursing team, who did come out and dress the wound. Unfortunately within the space of a few hours that bandage also fell off. The next day we contacted the doctors who told us to contact the district nurses which we did. They passed us onto the ward that discharged us who told me that they would only put a normal dressing on and it should be the dressing room. After being told by the dressing room at the hospital that they didnt have me booked in and it would be up to the district nurse at the GP's. So once again I rang the district nurse who then asked if we had bandages and told us to dress it ourselves, which we did.
Thursday last week I saw the doctor again . The wound is still open but looking clean still and does seem to be healing, all though slowly. Fingers crossed it does other wise it could be surgery again. The hospital are happy to move me on to the next stage which is to physio and fittings for my new legs with the Freemans. The problem now is getting physio to agree to let me start my re hab with the wound still being open and being so slow to heal. The picture above was when bandage fell off 2 weeks post op if you look carefully you can see the beginning of the wound opening , it is much bigger now.
Mood wise, not good I am afraid. The main issue is boredom. All of a sudden my life has gone from a million miles an hour, from working, housework, shopping, running a business and running after the kids, to full stop. This is something you need to be prepared for...I wasn't. Another thing is I cannot bring myself to look at the scars, they revolt me. I am hoping that this is something that will change in time, touching them however does not bother me. I don't feel any different then i did before, no grieving, no sense of loss, no feeling of being less of a person which I think is good. However my world feels dark. Things at the moment seem to have come to a standstill for me, even more so now with the wound issue. I have become practicably house bound due to the fact that i can not transfer into our car, which is an i800 8 seater, to high for me to transfer into. Even though it is a mobility car we cant get the money to have it adapted to enable me to use it. There fore every time we wish to go some where we have to use a disabled/wheelchair accessible taxi, so just to get to the town center and back is £14 before any thing else! Still waiting for a decision from the DLA regarding higher rate care. If we get that then we can apply for carers allowance for David, which he will be entitled to for looking after me. We have requested help from Adult services for a ramp to make it easier to get in and out of the house and for bathing but still nothing yet. Have also applied for Direct payments to help with the housebound issue but they wont help!The system in this country for the disabled and the vulnerable is a joke !
However on a brighter note. My faith in human kind and the human spirit has being restored by a beautiful gesture . Having mentioned in one of the news articles that I did a few month ago that I wanted to take my family on a break, a lady from North East press at the Echo in Sunderland knows the girl in the press office at Legoland, so a few days ago we received in the post tickets for the whole family to visit Legoland!!!
So now am busy planning and saving for that. And to add another glimmer of hope David and I have decided to renew our wedding vows...in Florida!! so something for us all to look forward too, we are trying to book that for October 2012.
So light they may be a light at the end of the tunnel after all, who knows?
Now if I could only get back to work..............
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