Something seems to have gone wrong with the wound dressing I had on since yesterday's clinic visit as it slipped off rather too easily. When I inspected the new surgical incision using a mirror I was shocked to see that it was gaping open, not superficial as I'd thought, but quite deep. I wondered if I had done myself some damage by not lying carefully in bed, or getting in and out. The incision was not secured by staples or stitches, just like the previous one. As I'd not seen the surgeon after the op and not received a promised phone call. I had no idea of what had been done or what to expect. This I found worrying enough to phone and ask for a District Nurse home visit to ask for advice.
The nurse arrived just after lunch, inspected the wound, and changed the dressing done earlier by Clare, but was unable to pass an opinion on how it was meant to be post surgery. She'd not seen the surgeon's referral letter, though I had, so I recounted to her what it said, which wasn't much. She said that if I was worried I should go to A&E at UHW and ask to be seen, since Llandough's out-patient surgical ward closed over the weekend.
The thought of spending 4-6 hours on a Saturday afternoon waiting to be seen in A&E, was as far as I'm concerned, out of the question when I knew I wouldn't be able to sit for any length of time, and couldn't guarantee that a colorectal surgical consultant would be on call - learned from experience of waiting on previous occasions in A&E. To stressful by half, the same as phoning the on-call GP service and having to repeat one's story thrice in order to get an appointment to be seen. As it didn't hurt much, and showed no sign of infection, lie low, be extra careful and do nothing seemed to be the least worse option. I found the surgeon's work mobile number on my phone from her previous contact with me, and left a message stating my concern. If she's not on weekend duty, I don't expect to hear from her before Monday. Just a little more explanation about what to expect post-op would have spared both Clare and I a lot of worry, and not made an extra nurse call-out necessary.
Owain came over to see us, a belated Mothering Sunday visit, and he brought a nice take-away salad lunch for all of us to share. We walked around Pontcanna Fields afterwards, then he left us to go to a local friend's 20th wedding anniversary party locally before returning to Bristol. We see a little less of him now that he has a place of his own to call home and manage for himself. It's only natural.
This evening's BBC Four scandi-drama was the third in the Danish series 'Follow the Money', about the investigation of crimes which have a particular economic dimension to them'. This series has a few of the same characters as in the previous two, and focuses on the intricacies of narcotics trading international organised crime and money laundering from top to bottom. It's very educational, and does a good job of exploring through personal stories the complex reasons why different people get drawn into the web of exploitation and subterfuge. First class watching.
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