A stitch in time...medical mishaps?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A couple of months ago I had minor surgery to remove two skin cancers (non-melanomas), one on my face and one on the back of my hand. The surgery itself went well, but within a week or so they had both developed infections, being red/inflamed and SORE. Went to my GP, he prescribed antibiotics both oral and topical, and they seemed to be getting a bit better…

Two weeks after the surgery I was due to go back to get the stitches removed, but alerted the specialist that, as they were still quite sore, I’d like to delay the removal. HE KICKED UP A STINK AND DEMANDED I COME BACK TO GET THEM CHECKED, and that I should have gone to HIM when the infection first appeared, not my GP. Yeah, whatevs mate.

Aaaanyway, back to the specialist, he hunts around on my face and cannot find the internal stitch holding my cheek together. Asks me if I took it out (??) then claims that the GP must have removed it (??) and THAT is why I had an infection. When I told him that nobody had been within coo-ee of my face since he chopped it open, he looked at me askance as if I was either a moron or a lying cur. I left his building vowing never to go back THERE again, such was my humiliation. :o

That was around 6 weeks ago. The infection managed to heal without any major cosmetic repercussions.

TODAY, I felt a little ‘scab’ at the bottom of the original scar and gave it a scratch. And another one because it was annoying the fuck out of me. And lo…next thing I have a 2" blue suture crawling out of the side of my face…gah!

Da fuq?? The thing was there the whole time, and the dermatologist not only managed to miss it, but accused me of having somehow ‘removed’ it? Da fuq indeed.

No great dramas, my cancers have been removed, the infection has cleared and the suture is now sitting in a baggie on my desk…about to be sent off with a PLEASE EXPLAIN to the dermatologist as to how he could have been a) so unobservant, and b) such a dick about the whole thing.

You got stories??

2

Thirty some years ago I was married and my wife had fertility issues. In ruling out any contribution from me, a laboratory test showed that I had antibodies to my own sperm. My doctor started me on an immunosuppressive dose of prednisone to see if the number of antibodies could be reduced.

We went on a camping vacation on Assateague Island as I began the medication. The drug caused some major side effects. I couldn’t sleep, which was kind of ok since I had to pee every hour or so. Additionally, I was depressed. We were on vacation and I was miserable.

When we returned home from that hideous vacation, I had follow up blood work done. The test was negative, which my doctor explained was impossible. Further testing showed that the initial test was “laboratory error”. My doctor assumed I was going to sue, but I was just relieved to be ok

3

Sorry to be the Voice of Doom, kambuckta, but I’d have those looked at again by your GP, at least, if not a second dermatologist. If 1st dermatologist screwed up the sutures (then copped an attitude), what else might he have botched? Better safe than sorry?

4

BTW, DON’T send those sutures to first derma, they could be evidence in a future malpractice suit. Send a pic, instead.

5

When my second child was born the hospital my OB used was under renovation. I get to the hospital on a Sunday morning in late stage labor. The doctor was at church and can’t be beeped. When they finally get him I am ready to push that baby girl out. He walks in the labor room just in time to see an OB nurse catch the baby. It was a big funny joke that the nurse allowed the doctor to cut the umbilical cord. I didn’t need stitches, so the Doctor did nothing, I never made to the delivery room, so no need for that. When I got the insurance itemization of my hospital charges I was surprised to see the high price of the delivery room charges and the OBs fee. I called the insurance company and explained what happened, they sent guy out to have me sign a affidavit to the effect. I don’t know what ended up happening with their payout on this. Needles to say I went somewhere else to have my last baby.

6

About five years ago, I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my face. It was just below the right-hand corner of my mouth.

At no time did anyone tell me to try to keep my mouth as still as possible for a week or two following surgery. I ate and talked as usual, and this normal stretching pulled apart the wound and sutures. I went back to the dermatologist twice, and they put on those little ineffectual crazy glue bandaid thingys, which typically popped off a couple of hours after application.

The wound could not be closed and healed as a much more pronounced scar than it should have, and I have a big ugly scar next to my mouth as a result.

Oh, yeah, and the codeine he prescribed caused me to have oddi sphincter spasming that night, which felt like pancreatitis and I had to go to the ER. He couldn’t have foreseen that, but it just helped to make the whole thing more of a clusterfuck.