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C Section 'Recovery'- cant see light at end of tunnel :(

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  • Oh Lilbean you set me off crying again. Its disgraceful that we can be dumped like this. I know that the midwives discharged me far too early & when I feel up to it I will definitely be complaining about my 'care'.

    It is interesting that you found you were allergic to certain dressings. Over the weekend my wound has been so itchy & the nurse said it was looking angry yesterday- I darent look at it myself as it makes me feel so ill just the thought of it. Im very squeamish. I have also been advised not to shower & just wash in sink- was this the case with you?

    I can believe that the hospital did not have your dressings. When I went to the walk in centre last week she had to go & check their stock before agreeing to treat me. I was then given a prescription for dressings- which the pharmacy did not stock! One big cock-up!

    How long did it take you to heal if you dont mind me asking? It is going to be 6 weeks on Thurs for me & I was lookin forward to getting back to normal after my 6 week check. Were u told to avoid pushing pram, carrying car-seat etc? That is the only reason that im struggling getting to docs- I actually only live 5mins walk away from the docs but have been needing family members to fetch LO or sit with him.

    If you dont mind I might email you tomorrow after my doctors appointment. Im just hoping that the GP will redress my wound after theyve looked at it- receptionists informed me that GPs dont know how to do dressings WTF!!!

    Thanks again for sharing your story. Really appreciated. I just hope I get to enjoy time with my DS soon!!

    xxx
  • que me crying again too.I'll try to turn this into huge rant, there were so many mistakes made in my care...

    I am more than happy for you to email me, i think we probably need to talk a lot anyway.When you do let me know where your from, never know we might be same area.

    I've heard of at least 2 other women in my community that this has happened to. It is that bad that someone has started an audit by the local health authority. This is something that is obviously kept quiet amongst the maternity circle (and don't get me wrong it's for good reason) but there is no care or help for people like us on the other side of birth who have 'to get on with it' with a new baby and it's soul destroying. (could take a while to write this through tears so apologies for sp)

    I too was discharged way too early. Had they spoken to me i'd could of told them i was not feeling well at all, but at that time i assumed being a first time mum, thats just how you feel. I learnt after repeated infections that i was really ill! no one examied me or checked my notes properly before leaving (i know this cos the idiots sent them ALL inc baby's home with me in bounty pack!!) i was seen by my lovely midwife who didn't see anything wrong and after good sleep i felt little better for one day. The next day we had the most vile midwife who was pissed off with us (another story) and didn't exmine me. If she had i might never had been in this mess. Fast forward to stich removal and it's the same as your story.

    My allergy to the bandages were 'unusual' i was told, but when your sticking something on your skin and pulling it off again regularly it's not nice. The only positive was that it helped relieve the itch for few seconds. I had hives where the glue was. Most of the nurses (&yes i was falling over in shock that docs can't do dressings!?) were happy to carry on with same materials. It was a joke i was in so much pain! please if you feel you need them changing to something else tell them and don't take no for an answer. Take someone for back up if you feel unable to, which is totally understandable as they should be doing everything in their power to make you feel better emotionally as well as physically but they aren't. I know i found this hard and fought tears every time someone said 'ah this isn't what you need with new baby' it wasn't and all i wanted to do was ball my eyes out and beg them to do more to help, when i tried it mostly fell on deaf ears.

    I started on Alevin (sp?) with sorbsan for packing, but it hurt like hell when it was dry, i had to slide down walls of surgery to walk out. (as im writing this i can't believe the district nurses were refusing to see me at this point) so we switched to aquacel which was much nicer (im no doctor so this may have been when depth reduced a bit) like you i couldn't bring myself to look at the wound, just ask if it was any better. (until later anyway) we then tried easy border bandages, but they didn't stick well and still made me itch like hell. Lastly we went onto Tegaderm, best thing ever for me. Light, stuck well and had thinnest border so pulling off was as gentle as it possibly could be.
    Most chemists and surgeries won't have what we need in, they can however order them in within 24 hours so long as requested before certain time. Handy to remember when getting repeats.

    I too was told off for carrying stuff or trying to do too much as i'd had a C-section many times. Yet because i had to get to surgery all of sudden this was thrown out window to fit them. I was frightening my family by how ill i was and there were times i seriously concidered i might never get better. i bonded with LO late about 8 weeks old because of this, i had to give up breat feeding too as my milk just wasn't good enough for him, my body couldn't cope. It did all get too much on regular basis, but talking to OH and showing him post i wrote on here let him know exactly how low i felt. It really helped us stay strong and get through it. i also requested a councellor, but im still on waiting list now, months later. Can't get it on NHS, which is bloody anooying cos if i had an addiction it would be different!

    Sorry i haven't caught you before docs, but i was told in hospital that the team who look after wound care reccomend if infection is present or leaking no longer than 48 hour period with same dressing. I don't know how big / size of yours so might not apply, but it helped when they tried to drop my dressing changes when i still had infections. I also never presented with red skin when infected so they would try and talk me out of going to doc for more tablets. I was never wrong an all 10 occasions, but every visit was a battle. you know your body and if you feel ill and it's returned go with you instincts. i started to get the speeches about how i couldn't just keep taking antibiotics as if i had a serious accident and required them it may not work. Not sure what they were hoping to achieve, maybe i'd suddenly develop ability to get rid of infection as obviously i hadn't really put the effort in before?!

    Im not sure if your on meds but i found that Codene Phosphate was the best thing to help me get through the day as it lasted for ages and helped sleep when i was so uncomfortable. Took them with paracetamol too when really needed it. Diclofenec might as well of been smarties for all god they did. Still have no idea why only hospital in my area will do oramorph, they don't have it in community, which is rediculous as i know other areas do. That would of helped so much on nights sleeping on sofa.

    ok now for the bit i was avoiding until you asked. I was told when they first started to book 3 weeks of appointments for packing and dressing. That was a shock and though it would be gone in a week. so lots of tears then i accepted it. after 3 weeks, 6 weeks... i still never got a straight answer. I was eventually told by someone talking sense expect the longest time and if it's quicker then it's a bonus. that way there are no hopes being squashed all time. Had they been honest with me earlier i think i'd of handled the time better rather than waiting 2 1/2 months to tell me this. (Again i have no idea the size of your wound or serousness) but a dehist wound can take anything up to 3 months to heal and im sorry in my case it took 4 months to the day. so i really do know how your feeling. i hope im not doing the wrong thing here and being honest with you as we don't know each other, so if i have im truly sorry. It does get a lot easier as each little bit heals.

    Please take each day as it comes, do as little as possible house wise (not easy i know) and spend any energy you have with LO. the quicker you heal the quicker you can do things with LO your planning. the cuddles and quality time are what's important to them and it's what we can give.although im healed i have binned any idea of getting to gym etc as it's basically like i've just healed from section like was supposed to after the normal time frame. But after everything i went / going through, i can live with it.

    I would say get lots of picture of the two/three of you togther as i did find being so ill made it hard to concentrate and remember moments i really wanted to. (there's the tears again) i managed to start making bottles, changing nappies sometimes all the way up to shuffling round tesco for 10min with OH then driving and out with friends for short periods.

    I really do promise no matter how far away it feels and no matter how many set backs you get it will be over soon. you will be able to go out and do all the things you planned. My LO is 18 weeks now and my proudest mummy moment was taking him for a little swim 2 weeks ago. & soon it will be you too.x

    Hope your docs trip goes ok, will be thinking of you.x
  • Thanks for that Lilbean. Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I was at the doctors for a good hour yesterday and saw a lovely female GP & two nurses. They all said that my wound was looking less angry & should hopefully be healing up in next few weeks. (I wont get my hopes up though just in case)

    I have been prescribed another course of Flucoxacillin, Diclofenac & Co-codamol. The GP thinks that the infection should be shifted hopefully by the end of this next course. I have been advised to continue to keep it dry which seems to have helped lots. It is frustrating not being able to jump in shower but I have to remember that it is only for the short term. I am also going to be getting my dressings changed every other day for next couple of weeks at least.

    The GP also tried to persuade me to try some antidepressants but I really dont think they would help at all. It is just this awful situation that has been getting me down. I also had bad SPD from around 20 weeks so have not been active for months & months. She wants me to go see her again in a months time to review my situation & also discuss contraception!! I think all this hassle is all the contraception I need.

    I will definitely be making a complaint about my care once Im back to normal- (Im in Lancashire area- dont know where you are from). I am just keeing my fingers crossed that things are starting to mend,.

    I am so pleased for you getting to take him swimming. i cannot wait to take LO to baby massage eventually!! I just keep trying to keep spirits up by thinking of the things we will be able to do.

    xx
  • Hi, im really glad to hear that your ok (as well as can be). I was wondering if maybe they had addmitted you for anti biotics on iv, either that or i'd scared shit out of you :\(.

    It sounds like you have had a more positive trip to the docs this time, which is great and it sounds like good news. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that your infection goes asap. I know not having a shower or being able to wash is so hard, at a time when you really want to feel 'clean'. I got so fed up of using baby wipes :roll:. I was allowed to have a shower on the morning of my dressing change when district nurses were coming out, so long as i took tegaderm off after washing. Im still ejoying having one when ever i want (well baby permitting.lol)

    The amount of similarities between our stories is quite freaky, yet we live on opposite side of the country. i too had the anti depressant talk and had to decline treatment. HCP's kept asking how i was coping as i was high risk for PND as i'd been stuck in th house for most of pregnancy too. They never actually stopped to chat to me though, im just lucky i have a wonderful OH and a best friend who were ther for me otherwise i'd of been in a bad way. Going for the councelling intake session really helped me too. Like you i felt that it was my situation and that would change as i got better, i just needed to be taken seriously rather than going down the medication route.

    Your contraception comment made me smile, it's an interesting question to be asked isn't it? I have a hole in my abdomen, yet your worried i may not be being careful enough during bedroom sessions?! :lol:

    I still haven't written my letter of complaint. but have just seen on someone elses post that we have 6 months in which to do it, so i better get writing! i also have an application form to request my medical notes from delivery as i remember so little i'd like to know what was happening. This too will take ages as every single person involved has to give their permission if they wrote in our notes, for them to be released. then we pay for each sheet of copied paper. apparently we can ask for things like BP monitor and basic stuff to be left out to make it cheaper image

    I hope you have had a good day, i know some are ok and some are not so good. If you want to it would be nice to stay in touch and see how your getting on, maybe on email so we're not bumping up the post all time? :lol:

    Take care.
    Lilbean.x




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