Jen,
First, I am so sorry to hear of your accident. I hope you start to feel better soon. Cellulitis is not to be messed around with so please keep a close watch on the size of the red area and your temp. Watch closely to see if the area gets bigger. Many times we will mark the area so you can see if it decreases or increases.

Second, I am a Pediatric Nurse Manager and still work the floor and am so sorry to hear that you did not receive compassionate care in a hospital. As a nurse manager, if this occurred on my floor I would want to hear from you. YOU are the patient and YOU are the paying customer. You should have been offered pain medication and asked what your pain score was before, during and after cares. You should have been offered pain medication and not had to ask for it. This is basic nursing and is a JCAHO requirement. Scoring pain is the 5th vital sign (along with your temp, heart rate, resp rate and BP). I would suggest you call and ask to talk to the Nurse Manager and if you receive a survey in the mail asking about your care please feel it out and return it. I take all comments good and bad back to staff and talk to individual nurses about how they are perceived from the patients perpective. I frequently remind them about what is said from the nurses station is frequently heard by the parents and patients.

I hope you feel better soon!!!!