Not delighted at delay

One of the problems with having cancer and being on chemo is that every otherwise simple problem has the potential to become a major issue. So it was with my infected wound on my stomach.

After last Friday's pre-chemo check, which turned out NOT to be pre-chemo after all, I returned to the A&E clinic for them to attend to my injury. After a quick glance the doctor asked a nurse to cover it with an iodine dressing and sterile cover, and suggested I get either the district nurse or my GP's nurse on Monday. I opted for the latter.

When the wound was uncovered on Monday it didn't look much better and was still quite open and still very deep. Having cleaned out the affected area the nurse was in no doubt that it needed "packing". It seems that this type of wound needs to heal from the bottom up. The danger was that skin was already trying to form over it, and if this happened before all the "nasty" had been cleaned out it was certain I'd get further infection. So, I went on my way with the opening stuffed with something impregnated with a seaweed extract that would form a gel and draw out on any infection.

Next visit to nurse was on Wednesday. The packing was withdrawn along with a mass of nasty looking rubbish attached to it, and after cleaning it was repacked with something that stung like a bee sting. The sensation only lasted for a few seconds, but it does make your eyes water! Apparently this material contains a silver salt which is a very good healing aid.

Today visit number three was pretty much the same as Wednesday except that the hole was starting to heal properly from the bottom rather than the top. More stingy stuff has been packed in, but not as much needed this time so not as much sting. The nurse didn't want to leave the wound more than two days so the district nurse will be round on Sunday to give me a little more attention. Hope it's not while I'm watching footy on SKY! Then it's back to the GP clinic on Tuesday.

I have only praise for the way the practice nurse has dealt with this, but am now questioning why A&E didn't give me the same attention and deal with it in the same way. It may be that they didn't consider it important enough for A&E, but had they treated it properly in the first place there's a chance the problem would have been cleared up a week earlier and I could have resumed my chemo a week earlier.

Soapbox time now! I didn't think that what looked like a boil on my stomach was important. I only mentioned to the doctor in passing, but it was immediately identified as a possible source of infection, and the doc was proved correct.

Moral - if you're on chemo, not matter how insignificant something may seem, tell someone!