Marilyn
Marilyn was 66 years old when she burnt her arm after hot cooking fat was accidentally spilt over her. She developed an infection and was an inpatient at a specialist burns unit for four days. Marilyn said the support she received from the doctors and nurses was fantastic.
Marilyn is 68 years old, retired, and lives with her husband. She has 4 children. Before she retired Marilyn worked as a secretary and a cleaner. Her ethnicity is White Scottish.
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Marilyn was staying with family abroad when she was involved in a cooking accident and sustained burns to her arm when hot cooking fat was accidentally spilled over her. Immediately after the accident, Marilyn ran cool, running water over her arm and the burn was wrapped in wet towels and cling film. Her daughter then drove her to the local hospital.
At the hospital, Marilyn was assessed, and her burn was placed under cool, running water again for what she said felt like “hours and hours”. At the time, Marilyn was visiting family abroad. After telling the hospital staff that she was due to fly home tomorrow, they told her to go to local GP’s surgery “as soon as she got home” to have the burn dressings changed.
When Marilyn returned home from visiting her family, she contacted her local GP surgery to have her dressing changed. Unfortunately, Marilyn was told she would need to wait and phone back tomorrow due to staff absences, by which point the burn had already become infected. A few days later, Marilyn visited her local GP surgery again and was instructed to go to hospital because of the infection.
Marilyn spoke about her frustration at having to wait to be seen by a GP, and how if she had got an appointment quicker, her burn may not have become infected. She believes this was caused by staff shortages.
Marilyn was an inpatient at a specialist burns unit for 4 days. She was attached to an IV drip and was taking painkillers to help her manage the pain. She says the staff at the burns unit were “absolutely fantastic” and “utterly dedicated”. Marilyn said she became very dependent on the doctors and nurses because of how vulnerable she was, and that they made the hospital experience “the best that they could”.
Whilst recovering from her burn, Marilyn found it helpful to remain busy to help distract her from the pain and to stop her “feeling sorry” for herself. She says looking after her grandchildren helped her to keep busy.
Marilyn’s daughter accidentally spilt hot fat over Marilyn's arm whilst they were cooking together.
Marilyn’s daughter accidentally spilt hot fat over Marilyn's arm whilst they were cooking together.
I was emptying the potatoes out ready for roasting into the sink. And she was bringing the fat, boiling hot fat out the oven, and she turned rather quickly towards the sink. And the fat spilled over onto my arm, and it was immediately apparent that it was quite a serious burn. And so it was just pure accident really, and I mean, she was so upset about it. But, you know, you try to make light of it. You know yourself when the skin's peeling off. It's not going to fix itself anytime soon. So yeah, that's how it happened. Pure accident really. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You know. Shame.
Marilyn went “back and forth” to hospital for dressing changes twice a week for three months, but found it was better than when she and her husband had tried to do these at home.
Marilyn went “back and forth” to hospital for dressing changes twice a week for three months, but found it was better than when she and her husband had tried to do these at home.
We tried that, and it... it was difficult because, you know, as much as, you know, my husband was putting the gloves on and all the rest of it and he did a wonderful job, you know, a wonderful job and... but it didn’t really work out. we tried it for a couple of weeks, and then we went back. And... and they said, I think you take over because they said that really, the two of us were getting tired, you know, with it. You know, I remember we were getting, you know, all worked up about it. You know, when you knew that dressing change was coming up and they said let us take the stress and the strain of that. If you don’t mind coming in twice a week, we are happy to do this for you and we were happy to let them. So yeah, we, in fairness, we did have a go at that, but it was too stressful, you know.
Although Marilyn found having her burns cleaned to be a “pain”, she told us that the doctors and nurses were “so gentle” and “caring” with her.
Although Marilyn found having her burns cleaned to be a “pain”, she told us that the doctors and nurses were “so gentle” and “caring” with her.
They would send me for a shower, and, you know, tell me to, you know, really try and get all the sludge off it really. And then they would put some kind of cream on it and redress it.
I was just so grateful that they were paying attention to it and they were so gentle. And it was actually a relief to be honest to get the dressing off and have the shower and clean it all down, and they were so gentle when they were cleaning it up, and I found it a relief to be honest just to get it redressed. Even when I was having it redressed in the 12 weeks after, I found that fine absolutely no problem. I mean, it was a pain going into the hospital obviously but, you know, they were so lovely and so caring that no, there was no problem with that.
Marilyn was grateful that staff took the time to get to know her.
Marilyn was grateful that staff took the time to get to know her.
Well, apart from the wonderful food you mean? The food was amazing! When people say that food in hospitals is terrible – absolutely amazing. They couldn't feed you enough, you know. They were always trying to feed you up, you know, and saying you need this, you need this, and that. Yeah, every member of staff, really supportive, really supportive. Not one was awful and they were always- And also another thing they had which I thought was a great idea, they had... [Mobile phone tone] Excuse me, sorry- So they had a board, a whiteboard and they asked me when I was in, you know, as soon as I arrived, “What do you like Marilyn, what do you like doing? what do you-, what's your thoughts and things?”. I said “Oh, I like singing” you know, that kind of thing. And he wrote that on the board, "Marilyn likes singing. Marilyn likes this. Marilyn likes that." And I thought- "What kind of food do you like, Marilyn?" And, you know, whatever, you wrote that, all that up in this board. I just thought it was amazing, so that when someone came in to chat to you, they could look at the board and say “Oh," you know, "Marilyn, you like curries”, you know, that kind of thing. I thought that was a super idea, a great idea.
After a delay in her burn being cleaned and redressed, Marilyn’s burn got infected, and her GP surgery sent her straight to hospital.
After a delay in her burn being cleaned and redressed, Marilyn’s burn got infected, and her GP surgery sent her straight to hospital.
So, they told me that as soon as I get back home, I had to contact my own surgery, and, with a view to having it redressed. So, which I did, but unfortunately, the nurse was off sick, so it couldn't be redressed when it should have been. And I phoned back the next day and she was still off sick. And so, I said to them, well, “I’m just going to have to go to the hospital, and have it redressed because it can't wait any longer”. However, they sent out a nurse. You know, one of these, the nurses that just comes out, and she dressed it, but by that time, an infection had set in. So, it got quite bad after that, and so that was on the Tuesday. The burn had happened on the Sunday, and that was the Tuesday. And by this Thursday, when I did get to see a nurse in the surgery, I was feeling quite ill. My temperature had gone up and things like that. So, they redressed it and told me to come back on Friday. And they were going to leave it over the weekend, but when they saw it on the Friday, they saw, no, this is this is getting worse and worse, it was all foaming and I think this time, I felt really quite ill, so they said I had to go to the hospital immediately. So, I got to the hospital, and I got through to the, you know, the room where they eventually take you, and they were quite horrified with it. By that time, it was down my arm and up my arm, and it was a bit of a mess.
Marilyn felt “terrified” when she was discharged.
Marilyn felt “terrified” when she was discharged.
And when they said that's it, you don't need to come back and they took the final dressing off, I was terrified. And I said “Oh, I don't have a dressing on my arm” because I was so used to it at this point, you know, showering with this thing on your arm all that kind of thing. You know, this big like plastic thing on your arm, oh my goodness, you learn all sorts of ways to do your hair.
How did you feel when like the first few days after the last dressing was removed?
Well, funnily enough I didn't have much time to think about it because my son was getting married, so we immediately went into the wedding thing. So, I didn't, other than don't anybody touch my arm, don't anybody come near my arm, you know, just very protective of the arm, and I really didn't have much time to think of anything other than that, to be honest. So, it was a strange time.