Wound Worries

So, this morning as I was eating my cereal my wound felt a little sore. I looked down at it and noticed some weeping coming from the underside of my wound, beneath the scab. As it is a difficult place to view from above, I went to find a mirror and some good light so I cold take a better look. 
I originally asked my mum for assistance in doing so, but it made her feel queasy looking at it as I lifted the scab, so I had to look on my own. 
Im not surprised she felt a little queasy, it wasn't very nice. My pulling n my skin from above the scab lifted from the bottom and I could see what was underneath. It was white and moist and looked a little like a gel, it wasn't really fluid and when touched with tissue paper it didn't just wipe away, it was quite stuck to the surface of the wound. 
I gathered from this that the scab was no longer attached this bottom half of the wound and instead this lovely gooey sight existed there. 
It doesn't smell, and isn't swollen. It is a little red, but I think this is no more than normal and is a little tender to the touch. I had no idea if this was normal, but as it is very different to the wound that didn't hold the chest drain (the scab for this one just fell off and underneath was nice new skin) I decided to get it checked out. 

But what a day to choose. A sunday. The only option seemed to be A&E but as I am going to the partners parents this week (a long way down south) I didn't really want to sit there for hours and then have to spend hours in a car. Fortunately I remembered that the ward existed and perhaps I could just phone them. They asked that I come in before lunchtime and someone would take a look. Excellent!

I arrived at the ward and was seen immediately. The nurse asked if I had had a swab taken when I had last asked the nurses to look at the wound on Wednesday. I said they hadn't, but to be honest I wasn't sure if the wound looked as open on Wednesday. So I showed her the scab and pulled the skin to reveal what was underneath. 

What are you doing!!!!??


She had a look and then reached with her fingers to take hold of the scab....AND LIFTED IT UP! In my mind I thought "What are you doing? It's not a trap door!!!!" 
Anyway...my shock was brief (I soon realised it did't actually hurt) and she looked up to tell me that it did look a little fuzzy so she will take a swab, but not before she decided that she would pull on the scab to tell me "oh it's abut ready to fall off isn't it"

"IS IT!!??" I thought "IS IT REALLY!?" They say never pick a scab....so why would you pick my scab!?

She left the room to get a swab whilst I sat in a bit of shock at the fact she had just pulled at the scab I had tried so hard not to pick or catch on anything. 


She returned shortly and swabbed the wound, another unpleasant experience. It wasn't really sore, just tender, and I could see her rubbing the swab against what I new was there. In my mind it looked soft and gooey and like the slightest poke might break the surface. Obviously this is not true, but nevertheless, I really, really didn't like it. Good news is that the results will be in in about three days and it clearly doesn't look bad enough to be of any real concern. I have a dressing on the wound to stop it catching, and am glad for the added protection. 

Fingers crossed all is fine! Glad I got it checked out though, best to be on the safe side!

Now for a 4 hour car journey...wooo! :/

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I hope that these accounts are of some help to those of you out there in the same situation as I was a week ago. Please feel free to leave a comment, whether it is an experience of your own or a question you would like to ask and hopefully we can encourage more people to discuss this issue. Thank you

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