I know it has been entirely too long since I have last written and I apologize for keeping you all waiting. Now, without any further delay is another update.
The weeks that followed the surgery seemed to be going very well. My visiting nurses were pleased with the progress and my surgeon was also rather positive. During each nursing visit, the nurses would measure the length, width and depth of my wound. My nurses would always keep me aware of the measurements so that I knew what was going on. Suddenly, one of my nurses got a measurement that was drastically different then it had been previously. I questioned and she measured it again, getting a slightly smaller number but still a depth that concerned me.
When the visiting nurse left I called the wound care center and asked to speak to the nurse there that I was most comfortable with. Who had been the last person to measure it besides my visiting nurses and my surgeon. I left a message and she called me back the following morning. When she called, I explained what was going on and that suddenly the depth was being reported as a centimeter more than it had been just two days prior. The nurse that I spoke to emphasized, that if I was uncomfortable and felt that my wound should be seen by my surgeon, I should definitely come in. The nurse was able to get me an appointment with my surgeon the following morning.
The next morning I went to my appointment at the wound care center so that my surgeon could look at my wound and make sure that nothing was going wrong. When I got there, the nurse that I had spoken to on the phone came into the exam room with me. First, she asked what my feeling was. I explained that one of my visiting nurses got a measurement that I felt was a very drastic change. I wanted to be sure that nothing was going very wrong very quickly, but that small part of me felt like I was being a little overly paranoid and wasting everyone’s time by making an appointment. The nurse immediately told me that I had nothing to worry about and that if I wasn’t comfortable I had every right to come in to get it checked. The nurse also took the time to explain, that there were many variables that could have contributed to a slightly different measurement. I told her that I knew that and that was partially why I was hesitant to come in, in the first place.
It was then that my surgeon came into the room. When he came in he questioned if this was an actual appointment that he had requested or if I had decided to come in for some reason. I explained that it was because a measurement my visiting nurse had gotten concerned me. When the wound was measured my surgeon got a slightly larger result than he had the last time I had seen him but nothing near what my nurse had gotten. I was relieved to hear that it was not measuring what my nurse was saying.
The next day I had another visit with my visiting nurse, this time the one that I totally trusted, not the one that was sometimes getting the wacky measurements. She had already seen the documentations in my chart that the other visiting nurse had gotten and so she began to question what was going on, almost right away. That was when I explained to her that I had gone to my surgeon the previous day because I personally was concerned. My nurse said that I had made a good decision because if things had changed that much that quickly that it would probably be something not so good. I agreed and basically told her that it was my thinking also. The nurse and I also discussed what had gone on when I was at the wound care center and that the measurements by the other visiting nurse were inaccurate. It was sort of ridiculous that the nurse that, though I did trust, I also sometimes had a personality conflict with was the one that had gotten strange measurements. I decided, that from then on, while I was going to listen to her opinions and suggestions I was going to take her measurements with a grain of salt, at least until she was getting them somewhere in the ballpark of what my other healthcare workers were getting.
Once I decided to only somewhat take what one of my nurses said seriously I was able to calm down and focus on what the other people were telling me. I had decided to side with the majority instead of with the one that was telling me scary numbers. All of this was going well for several weeks, until one day when I went back to have another appointment with my surgeon at the wound care center.
