"Unimpressed with ER treatment"

I injured my foot recently while swimming in the river. I suspect I kicked a piece of glass or metal and ended up with a puncture wound and laceration on the bottom of my foot. Being the day before a public holiday I didn’t fancy my chances at the Emergency Department (ER) so I went home, flushed it thoroughly and went to the ER in the morning.

By then, my foot was starting to swell and the pain was excruciating - not from the wound, but the brewing infection. I was a vet nurse for several years and I have a relative who  is a human nurse so I have a pretty good understanding of wound care and infection.

I was lucky to be taken through very quickly and the nurse was very kind. I was sent for an X-ray which found no fractures. But the infection was spreading up my foot and the pain was getting worse. The doctor informed me it didn’t need to be stitched and just needed glue and steri-strips. They then proceeded to push down on my foot repeatedly very firmly while applying the steri-strips, despite me asking them to be gentle and almost leaping off the bed several times. The doctor then told me I had no pain tolerance and I feel, implied I was being a sook. I have a very high pain tolerance but was in absolute agony. When I went to hobble out of the treatment room the doctor told me I was fine to walk on it because there were no fractures, again making out I was being a sook.

The infection has continued to spread up my foot and when I got home I realised they did no obs on me at all, despite having signs of infection. And to top it off, they forgot to give me the tetanus shot they said they would. The doctor told me to take nurofen for the pain which I feel has done nothing. I’m in agony and the pain just keeps getting worse. I understand that ER doctors and nurses are run off their feet, but I feel spending five minutes with me and labeling me a sook while ignoring my pain is just nasty in my opinion. I’m not a sook but I feel perhaps next time I should walk in bawling my eyes out and see if I get better treatment.