Day 26 – Nappy rash

Sunday 4th October 2009

I was gutted !!!!!!! My wound was leaking, big time… It hadn’t been oozing that much yesterday so I was hoping it had stopped.

Had a slight wee wee disaster early in the morning. I always ask for a bed pan rather than getting up to go to the loo during the night. I was usually pretty stiff with lying in bed, and the nurses don’t mind. They give each of the men a bottle on a night time to save them getting of bed, so it was just the same. The back of my nightshirt got caught in the pan and I didn’t notice until I lay back down and felt something wet. Had to have both my shirt and the bed changed. The nurse thought it was so funny. Thankfully my shirt was red as my wee was turning red because of the antibiotics so if the stain didn’t come out, it wouldn’t matter…

My shoulder, elbow and arm were really aching, and had been all night, so got up just before 5am. I was not sure if it was due to the way I was lying in bed or the way I was walking using the zimmer frame, but something was setting it off.

I found that if I put two pillows on the end of my table it was comfortable enough for me to get some sleep. I had been doing that most morning while waiting for breakfast as they get you up really early.

My side room was next to one of the men’s bays and yesterday a man arrived straight from theatre. Ever since he came onto the ward, he was a pain in the bum. He didn’t talk, he shouted, and he never shut up. He was still talking, or rather shouting, at 2am. One of the nightshift nurses was going to have a word with him tonight as he could be heard right at the end of the ward.

When Christa changed my dressing she remarked that the wound didn’t look very good.
“You’ve got sort of a nappy rash on the back of thigh”, she said, “it’s probably because you’re sensitive there so the dressings have aggravated it”.
My wound wasn’t hurting, though an old scar tissue was a bit tender.

Instead of putting the usual dressings on the wound, she placed an absorbent pad over it then wrapped it in a crape bandage.
“Hopefully that will give your skin a rest”, she said.
My burn, which always gave them quite a bit of amusement when I explained what had happened, was healing ok.

Christa also removed the dressing from my neck where the central line had been.
“I’m not going to put another one on”, she said, “as it looks like the skin is a bit aggravated there as well”.
I had two puncture wounds on my neck so it looked like I had been bitten by a vampire….

It was looking more and more likely that I would have to go to theatre again to have my wound washed out, which was very disheartening. The Russian doctor (couldn’t remember his name) came and told me. Even though it would only take less than 20 minutes I would need a general anaesthetic. I was feeling quite low. I had kept everything crossed and had even asked ‘Him upstairs’ and my Guardian Angel for help but no one was listening.

Had two lunches today. I was given Sunday lunch, which was horrible, so left most of it. Louise, one of the auxiliary nurses, came to write on my food chart how much I had eaten that lunchtime. I explained that I didn’t like ‘dinners’.
“Would you like a salad”, she asked, “there’s one in fridge if you want it”.
“Yes please”, I said.

Christa came into room to give me my afternoon tablets and noticed the two plates on my table. She looked at my food chart.
“I think you can come off”, she said, “as you know what you like and dislike”.

There wasn’t anything on the evening trolley for me so one of the auxiliary nurses went down to the staff canteen and came back with a baked potatoes and grated cheese and coleslaw. It was lovely. So much better than the ones they do for the patients.

John arrived that afternoon with a tape measure so I was able to see exactly how large my legs were. My left knee was 19 inches and my thigh was 23½ inches. The right knee was 15 inches and the thigh was 20 inches. I was told it could take about six months for them to go back to normal size. I was glad I had made some skirts as there was no way I could fit into my trousers.