Sunday 13 January 2013

Dressings Day

Each pin on my leg, goes through the bone and out the other side. As the pin goes in, there's a sucker and underneath the sucker there's a dressing which protects the open wound from infection. These dressings have to be changed and the pin cleaned weekly.

The pin nurse came before I went home to show my mother how to change and clean everything correctly (seeing as I was still in denial about the pins going through the skin). A word to anyone who is having the fixator and is having the dressings changed the first time; it hurts. a lot. Imagine ripping off a scab, the pain is somewhat like that when the dressings are taken off. After the dressings are off, a 70% alcohol solution is applied, which burns, to the leg before new dressings are applied.

The nurse who changed my dressings had no mercy and I screamed as each was changed. She explained to my mother that no matter the noises I made, it's essential to continue the dressing change. Now that I'm looking back and have had four changes, I realise the nurse was in a hurry and that it is less painful if you have a shower before hand to wet the dressings as it makes them easier to take off.

No comments:

Post a Comment