Hi, you are “face to face with Shell”.
I hope you have enjoyed this series. I hope that it has shown you that it is ok to speak out if you feel that something is not right about your treatment. I hope that it has also shown you that you can speak out but you might not win all the time and for good reason…lol.
I am going to finish with a couple of stories that are not related to my burn injury but happened quite a few years after the explosion.
I just wanted to tell them to you, to show that these situations can arise in “everyday” situations, not just when a large injury has taken place.
First of all though; below are links to the other pages in this series:
BURN SURVIVOR AND HEALTH CARERS (PART 1)
BURN SURVIVOR AND HEALTH CARERS (PART 2)
BURN SURVIVOR AND HEALTH CARERS (PART 3)
BURN SURVIVOR AND HEALTH CARERS (PART 4)
BURN SURVIVOR AND HEALTH CARERS (PART 5)
BURN SURVIVOR AND HEALTH CARERS (PART 6)
Please watch the video below and/or read on:
The first story I want to tell you happened when I was probably in my early thirties, so quite a long time after I was burned. I had a wart on my left hand (the hand that didn’t receive fourth degree burns). It was treated at the “Wart Clinic” for quite a while but it was quite stubborn and it kept coming back.
Eventually my GP told me that he thought that it was scar tissue, that was why it wasn’t going away! OK, first up; if my GP thought it was scar tissue, why was he treating it as a wart? Secondly; scar tissue wouldn’t just appear YEARS after the initial burn injury.
I told him this but he kept insisting that it was scar tissue. He also said that warts only have a certain lifespan, so if it was a wart, which it was, it would probably go away by itself.
The wart must have heard this because a few days later, it started to decrease in size and it disappeared quite quickly…never to return.
Another story happened not that long ago (2019). I have had a mole on my lower shoulder for as long as I can remember. Then one day, I noticed that it had changed. Now we ALL should get stuff like this checked-out.
So, I made an appointment with my GP, who said that she was not worried about it but would send me to the hospital, just to make sure.
I attend my hospital appointment and the doctor asked me the usual; why was I here, etc? I started explaining that I had a mole that had changed, in that it had gotten more raised. The doctor retorted: “I will decide whether it is a mole or not”. I looked at her and slowly said: “OK”. I then showed her my mole and she said: “Yes, it is a mole”. Yeah, I knew that!
It was nothing to worry about, which was great but I was in and out in less than a minute. I remember when I first had this mole looked at, as it had changed in size, I would probably have been in my late twenties and the doctor could not have been any nicer. When he told me that it was nothing to worry about, I got ready to leave but he asked me to wait and told me that he would explain why he was not worried. Total difference!
Anyway, I hope this series has in some way helped you, in whatever form; whether you are having difficulties with your health care staff, feel that things are just not quite right, or that I just gave you at little laugh.
Stay strong and we’ll chat soon.