As it was the festive period, the GP surgery was closed, and I knew the ER would be overflowing with people, as well as the 'walk in' centre (that can deal with minor accidents). There was also the Norovirus in full force at the hospital (a pre-recorded message on the hospital phone line stated this) and I really didn't want to subject us to that nasty stomach bug.
So I took the decision to deal with it myself. I have First Aid skills, and felt I could deal with it.
In the days between Christmas and New Year, I made a decision to have the wound looked over by a doctor. It was healing, and had slight redness to the edges, so I wanted to be cautious about infection.
I took him to the 'walk in' centre. We waited around 30 minutes to be seen by the triage nurse. She was lovely. She said we would need to see the doctor, and that she was going to bump us up the queue as J has anxiety problems and doesn't act in a sociable manner with strangers (she understood all about autism and learning difficulties).
The doctor saw us fairly quickly, and mentioned stitches. The intonation of her voice made it clear she knew stitches would not be tolerated by J. The same with steri strips. Even a wound dressing would be removed by J at the earliest opportunity.
So she prescribed him antibiotics as a precautionary measure, and I would have to gently clean the wound daily, keeping it as dirt free as possible.
As I have worked on J and his ability to swallow tablets/capsules, the doctor prescribed it in that form, rather than the foul tasting liquid formula.
J is such a star with taking medicine. I hold the capsule out for him to see, and hand him a cup of water. I tell him, "J, swallow medicine", and he puts the capsule in his mouth, drinks, and swallows it. Superstar! That has taken years to achieve, but is worth the effort - no more cutting and chopping up tablets into powder and adding to yogurt (he hated that and would spit it out), or having liquid medicine that made him gag from the awful taste (even the banana flavoured medicines couldn't hide the taste.
His wound is healing slowly. I was advised that it could take a few months to heal properly, but the skin would eventually meet back together from each side.
The following part of this entry has two photos of the wound, so you can see what I have tried to describe. They are quite 'raw' so please I apologize in advance if you are squeamish.
Soon after the incident.
Day Three, after being cleaned.
