Spasticity and Splints - Part 14: Post Op 4

Two weeks after the operation, on 14 November, I went back to the hospital for a check-up. The consultant was very happy with how my wound was healing and said that I didn’t need anything back on it and he said to leave it open to the air. I went home, and carried on as normally as I could. I still had my arm in the sling to keep it supported and to prevent me from whacking my arm on things at home.

After my cast was taken off, my arm and hand were very swollen. My wrist and fingers were extremely stiff from where I had them in one position for a few weeks; my hand looked like a balloon. I also had a few big blisters on my little finger where the edge of the cast had been rubbing. The blisters were extremely painful, and I had them for a few weeks afterwards. My fingers are still a bit stiff and sore, but getting there.

As I got my cast off, I could shower again, or so we thought…

The side of my shower chair is hard and I wouldn’t say that they are very sharp, but there are some sharp edges where the padded side panels attach to the armrests. I don’t know for sure whether this happened overnight or in the shower but I think it was in the shower. While I was in the shower, we noticed that there was blood dripping down my arm.

The middle of my wound had opened up about an inch. First of all, I stopped everything and phoned my mum. My mum helped my carer finish rinsing me off. My mum also put a bandage on, and then she phoned QA Hospital and they told us to go to the local hospital.

I got dressed, and went to the hospital. We were waiting for Triage for about three hours, then the nurse came and spoke to me and then gave me some more pain relief – I was definitely all drugged up that day; I had Paracetamol, Oramorph and Ibuprofen. We were shown to a quiet waiting room, I like that they said I could go in there because I was extremely overwhelmed that day.

I eventually got seen. First of all, my mum and I explained all the backstory of my operation and taking cast off… They took the bandage and looked at the wound. I was sent back up to QA, but before we went, we went back to my flat to sort ourselves out and get some food to take to eat at the hospital. All I had to eat that morning was a banana.

We went up to the ward D8, and used the same buzzer system as D5. I went in, sat in the waiting room and ate my lunch. It wasn’t long before I was called in. They put some steri strips on the opened part of the wound and dressed it again, then we went back home.

I went for another check-up on Friday 14 November, and I saw a consultant who works with the consultant who did my operation. The nurse who saw me before the consultant took all the bandages and dressings off, and we waited for the consultant to come.