Karen's story

 

"I went to stay with my daughter for the weekend and left my husband at home. Although he had been in ill health, I thought everything would be okay. But when I arrived home on the Sunday night, I found he had fallen earlier that day in the bathroom. He hadn’t been able to get up and he had been incontinent. I picked him up and found he had marks on his feet and hips from where he had been lying on the wet floor.

He didn’t want to go to hospital, so I put him into bed. The marks on his skin wouldn't go away, although I did my best by massaging and rubbing the skin to get some circulation back. But the redness became worse.

Later that week my husband was admitted to hospital and then moved into residential aged care. By then his skin had broken, and he had developed what the staff told me were pressure ulcers. They took months to get better.

The staff were wonderful and explained how the ulcers had occurred, but I felt terribly guilty. I should have requested help much sooner."

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