Come on, own up, who's the accident prone one in your family? There is always one! I feel rather lucky, I have never broken a bone or suffered an injury - my only hospital stays have been a bad bout of food poisoning back in 2000 and to have my babies.
My husband on the other hand - sheesh! Don't get me started. He's had motorbike accidents, his calf got sliced open by panel of glass that he was helping to carry at work, he has fractured bones and damaged tendons......
Thankfully all have been treated effectively - except once. Medical negligence happens - sometimes symptoms slip through the net.
Here's his story:
Now where do I begin, oh yes, he was working as a delivery rider for Pizza Hut at the time and was about 20 years old...and not a very mature one either :)
He and his colleagues used to play tricks on each other, which included messing about with other peoples motorcycles (not the Pizza Huts ones, their own). Well as you can imagine, my illustrious other half managed to injure himself as a result of one of these idiotic pranks...his bike was on its centre stand and Lee started it up in a hurry and moved it of the stand and the bike whizzed out from underneath him...one of his colleagues had put the bike in gear without his knowledge.
Anyway, Lee scraped his hand pretty badly, but being the "hero" that he was at the time, he didn't seek medical attention straight away, he just went home and cleaned it himself....and not very well it seems as he woke the next day with an infection in the graze and a (in his own words) "a funny red line" up his arm.
Lee at the time also worked a day job in the local caring facility, upon starting work he spoke to colleagues about what happened and showed his arm, they advised to seek a doctor straight away, to which he did and was told it was quite a bad infection and got prescribed some antibiotics.
Later that day Lee returned home and showed his mother (who had worked for over 20 years in the caring industry) as the "red line" had got further up his up, and she rushed him to 24 hour NHS clinic to seek a 2nd opinion. Now this is where we had issues, the doctor who saw him was as uninterested as they come, poking and prodding Lee's arm (making him squeal quite a bit) and said not to worry, just carry on using the pills, it will be OK.
Well, Lee's mother wasn't very happy about this and decided to take him to the nearest A&E...to which he was told he had about 3 hours to live as this was septicaemia and the "funny red line" had reached near his armpit and that if it did then the infection would only take a short time to the heart.
Lee was given high dose antibiotics and monitored till the early hours...luckily all went well and he was back at work the following day, with a few choice words for his colleagues.
Needless to say we were glade he came away with only grazed hand and a good telling off by his mum, but things could've been so much worse if it wasn't for the instincts and knowledge of his colleagues at the caring position, his mother and the doctors and nurses of the A&E department. If Lee and his parents had listened to the doctor at the 24 hour clinic, it is not exaggerating in saying that Lee could've been in a much worse position the following day.
My advice to anyone who would listen, you guys know your bodies, know how loved ones are and how they behave...if you have any lingering doubts or something doesn't feel right, always get a second (or a third) opinion....it cant hurt but can save a life.
*This is collaborative post - but the story is ours*