When a love one goes into the hospital we trust that the doctors and nurses will not only take care of the issue they were admitted for but also watch for any new issues that may occur. That’s not always the case. They tend to get focused on just the current issues and may overlook any new ones that arise.
This happened with Chris’s port. He has had this port in his chest since 2018. They put it in to administer his high dose chemo medications. A few months ago it appeared to developed a blood blister over it. They stopped using and kept an eye on it for a few weeks. It never healed.
The other day I was cleaning some places on his chest that the tellipatch adhesive caused and noticed the port appeared to be exposed. The skin over the port has opened up where the blister was previously. I pointed this out to his nurse and his doctor. They didn’t seem too concerned about it until the area above it became red and started to swell.
Tomorrow they will remove this port.
This is just the most recent example of why it’s important to be an active advocate. Things get overlooked. We are all human. No one will ever be on the lookout for issues like a love one. We know the patients, what’s normal, what’s not normal and when there’s something wrong.
Never assume the doctors and/or nurse will notice the little things. If you notice something be sure to call it to their attention. It might turn out to be nothing but it could be something that catching it early will make a huge difference.