13 replies to this topic

[Terrible Texan]

I've got 2 pressure sores on my butt that i've been fighting for about 3 months since i came back from the hospital having a bad reaction to chlonodine for pain. it burned my outer skin off & made my skin silky smooth & thin causing it to tear & break down easily. I've only had 1 sore on butt in 12 yrs & then all of a sudden , bamn. there 2 1/2" deep w one tunnelling abour 5 cm. i'm in bed about 40 hrs & up around 8 trying to help them heal faster, but its not fast enough. any suggestions
discoiuraged & deppressed

[Irenec]

Terrible Texan, on May 21 2010, 06:42 PM, said:

I've got 2 pressure sores on my butt that i've been fighting for about 3 months since i came back from the hospital having a bad reaction to chlonodine for pain. it burned my outer skin off & made my skin silky smooth & thin causing it to tear & break down easily. I've only had 1 sore on butt in 12 yrs & then all of a sudden , bamn. there 2 1/2" deep w one tunnelling abour 5 cm. i'm in bed about 40 hrs & up around 8 trying to help them heal faster, but its not fast enough. any suggestions
discoiuraged & deppressed

Hava a look at the ICSH DISH cushion, by SPAN AMERICA. Google it,then give them a ring. Laura the girl who had something to do with the designing of it is a para. Hope they can help you.

[Terrible Texan]

Irenec, on May 21 2010, 03:41 PM, said:

Terrible Texan, on May 21 2010, 06:42 PM, said:

I've got 2 pressure sores on my butt that i've been fighting for about 3 months since i came back from the hospital having a bad reaction to chlonodine for pain. it burned my outer skin off & made my skin silky smooth & thin causing it to tear & break down easily. I've only had 1 sore on butt in 12 yrs & then all of a sudden , bamn. there 2 1/2" deep w one tunnelling abour 5 cm. i'm in bed about 40 hrs & up around 8 trying to help them heal faster, but its not fast enough. any suggestions
discoiuraged & deppressed

Hava a look at the ICSH DISH cushion, by SPAN AMERICA. Google it,then give them a ring. Laura the girl who had something to do with the designing of it is a para. Hope they can help you.

Thank u very much 4 the reply. i will look it up

[stillgotswag]

I have had hell with a pressure sore on my sacrum (butt) that I got while transfering. I ended up shearing my skin on the tire.
Dr's and therapist warn of the dangers etc but I'm living proof. I discovered mine in may... of '09! Because of the location Ive had 5 hospitalizations for infections related to the wound. Months of I.V. meds...a mess so 1st things 1st keep that thing clean. In the beggining I didn't care, Im young laying in bed wasnt for me, so my own stubborness has prolonged my healing. DONT LET THIS HAPPEN! I've wasted a yr of my life, but the good news is I've learned alot along the way. Ask your Dr. about medi-honey, its really great stuff. Like you I also have a tunnel. I was using a wound vaccuum which was closing the wound extremely fast until I began sitting up too much and got the tunnel which makes it harder for the wound to close, not to mention all the drainage that collects there. My wound Dr. unroofed the tunnel making the sore much bigger, but now with the wound vac again Im making progress. (since I just had my 30th bday, I figure I can lay in bed a little more lol. good luck. Try to find a Dr. that specializes in wound care. Nutrition is also instrumental. You need 85-120g of protein a day....

Edited by stillgotswag, 21 May 2010 - 10:45 PM.

[Scooby Gimp]

Tex-terror,

I'm in a similar situation with my first pressure wound in 29 years at age 50. Healing is confining and stressful. I also am off my butt 20 hours a day. I did find a great product that has sped my healing. Its called Dermawound and cost $40 a jar, which is cheap. Dermawound.com or progressivedoctors.com are the links. Dermawound protects against all infections and debrides while it helps heal. My 2 cm by 2 cm stage 4 pressure ulcer developed in March and is now less than 1.5 cm by .5 cm and I believe it will be closed by July 25. I'm just trying to sit on my high profile Roho while writing, keeping my mind busy and watching a lot of DVDs and TV. It may take six months of patience and support to heal that wound but we are fighters with fierce grace.


Yours in the Struggle,

Scooby---butt up

PS. B+ Be positive. I too live in Texas. Medina County to be specific. Keep your chin and butt up and use the dermawound as prescribed. It is better than vacuum therapy and much better than flap surgery. Stay away from wound clinics or you'll pick up MRSA in an open wound. You just need to invest time and stay mentally active. Hang tight cowboy.

[StillFingers]

My two cents...
With stage 4 pressure sores; with tunneling, I'd have those wounds using a wound-vac if at all possible. Back in late March of 08, after near 30yrs of few pressure issues, I developed half a dozen, two huge ones on each ischium, then due to infection, four more.

After multiple debridements, I required two surgeries and a wound-vac strapped to my...for nearly 9 months, treatment after was a combination of different bandage configurations and times per day.

Managing wound drainage is critical, if the wound and/or surrounding tissue stays too wet, tissue maceration and often infection will just persist and you will not heal. We used an ointment called Panafil, it promotes tissue growth and also absorbs dead tissue. In addition, to cover the wounds after stopping wound-vac usage, we lightly packed the wound with sterile gauze and or a piece of calcium-alginate; if drainage was excessive, and then covered everything with Tegaderm as it tended to tear my good skin less than tape.

Now that I'm healed, two years later, if I get a skin tear/abrasion, I wash well; with water, and apply a thin layer of Critic-Aid clear cream. If it gets to stage two, a small piece of vasoline gauze and tape. Anything else and I'm off to wound care.

I don't worry about MRSA anymore, as it was a gift I got in hospital...be very careful out there.

As for how I managed thru it all...
- I'm blessed to share life with an amazing, caring and understanding human being, my soulmate of near two decades
- Listened closely to my carers and to some wonderful/knowledgeable wound care professionals...and followed their advice/instructions.
- Kept my studies/professional training going; laptops are great!
- Yes, there were DVDs, computer games and lots of CDs and TV to keep my mind from going bonkers...
- If you look to the left, notice the number of posts I've made, do know, the members here on Apparelyzed ROCK!
- And lastly, to those in chat

Regards,

Jerry

Edited by StillFingers, 22 May 2010 - 03:44 AM.

[Irenec]

Irenec, on May 21 2010, 09:41 PM, said:

Terrible Texan, on May 21 2010, 06:42 PM, said:

I've got 2 pressure sores on my butt that i've been fighting for about 3 months since i came back from the hospital having a bad reaction to chlonodine for pain. it burned my outer skin off & made my skin silky smooth & thin causing it to tear & break down easily. I've only had 1 sore on butt in 12 yrs & then all of a sudden , bamn. there 2 1/2" deep w one tunnelling abour 5 cm. i'm in bed about 40 hrs & up around 8 trying to help them heal faster, but its not fast enough. any suggestions
discoiuraged & deppressed

Hava a look at the ICSH DISH cushion, by SPAN AMERICA. Google it,then give them a ring. Laura the girl who had something to do with the designing of it is a para. Hope they can help you.

The girl at SPAN AMERICA is called Lauri not Lora.

Terrible Texan, on May 21 2010, 06:42 PM, said:

I've got 2 pressure sores on my butt that i've been fighting for about 3 months since i came back from the hospital having a bad reaction to chlonodine for pain. it burned my outer skin off & made my skin silky smooth & thin causing it to tear & break down easily. I've only had 1 sore on butt in 12 yrs & then all of a sudden , bamn. there 2 1/2" deep w one tunnelling abour 5 cm. i'm in bed about 40 hrs & up around 8 trying to help them heal faster, but its not fast enough. any suggestions
discoiuraged & deppressed

The girl at SPAN AMERICA is called lauri not Lauren.

[mellowgator]

i'm wondering if anyone on this site has been able to heal a pressure sore without contacting mrsa. if so were you hopitalized at anytime for the wound?



mellowgator

[guido]

Irenec, on May 21 2010, 09:41 PM, said:

Terrible Texan, on May 21 2010, 06:42 PM, said:

I've got 2 pressure sores on my butt that i've been fighting for about 3 months since i came back from the hospital having a bad reaction to chlonodine for pain. it burned my outer skin off & made my skin silky smooth & thin causing it to tear & break down easily. I've only had 1 sore on butt in 12 yrs & then all of a sudden , bamn. there 2 1/2" deep w one tunnelling abour 5 cm. i'm in bed about 40 hrs & up around 8 trying to help them heal faster, but its not fast enough. any suggestions
discoiuraged & deppressed

Hava a look at the ICSH DISH cushion, by SPAN AMERICA. Google it,then give them a ring. Laura the girl who had something to do with the designing of it is a para. Hope they can help you.

The Isch Dish is a good cushion. bought one from other recommendations on this site. I've also had a sore (though not caused by pressure) which hasn't gone away. Eventually went to doctor who said I might have a small infection that was delaying things, gave me some Fluclox antibiotics and it's been healing nicely since.

Get professional help, do the time and take great care.

Sores are the bane of paralysis. Keep your chin up and take a leaf out of Jerry's books. He's been there and remained calm through most of it.

Best wishes

Guido

[xxm]

Thanks so much to all of you Texan, Irenec, StillGotSwag, Scooby, StillFingers for sharing your bitter experience with sores.
You give a very precious lesson to all of us and it is: if you haven't got a serious pressure sore for 20 or 30 years this doesn't mean that you will never have one. So I used to believe.

Please share what kind of cushion have you used before, did you change to a deferent one after healing ?
What do you do now to prevent pressure sores on the sitting area ?
How many hours did you spend on the chair before getting the sores ?

I'll keep my fingers crossed for all of you.

Regards
Rudy

[Terrible Texan]

i want to thank all of you for your speedy responses to my questions. as of right now i'm using dakins twice a day & have also been rotating evert couple of weeks w/ aqua cell.

[airart1]

roho will also make smaller air bubbles and big ones, i got a cushion that has 3 in cells where my surgeries have been and 4 in everywhere else with seperate valves, i keep my 4 in ones a little over inflated and it takes alot of pressure off the surgical areas.......so far so good and the mapping looks good, it wil explain it all on there web site...

[tyvin]

It was mentioned once so I will hit on it again; nutrition.

Protein is so very important for muscle development and wound healing.

You should know how many grams of protein your body needs per day.

To find out convert your body weight to kilogram and divide by 0.8 -

Convert your body weight from pounds to kilograms; so you take your weight # in lbs and divide the number by 2.2 that gives you your weight in Kilograms.

Then take your weight in Kilograms and multiply by 0.8 and that number is the amount of protein you should be taking in. Kidney patients are another matter and they know or should know their protein restrictions.

Now you know how many grams per day you need but these formulas can be altered to accommodate athletes and the like but 0.8 is the standard to multiply by.

For the rest of it I maintain high body awareness. I am a para who is able to turn, transfer etc... So my insurance won't pay for all the nice pressure cushions and pads. My doctor fudged to get me a geo-mat and that's a joke. The geo-matt I have is ridiculous, caving in in the middle, hard to do out of bed transfers etc... so I'll be looking for another mattress soon. I did order myself some really neat ankle protectors. They are like feet pillows (big and ugly but they work).

In my diet I do whole grains, lots of fresh fruit, lots of fiber, salads and my big thing is my smoothies I do 3 a day. The protein powder I use is Spiru-tein which is a soy based powder with spirulina and a whole bunch of other goodies. Most of my friends from before use to swear by Whey protein. There are many types and flavors to choose from. I make smoothies with milk, yogurt, fruit, a dash of honey (blend) and then add protein powder so it doesn't stick to the sides of the blender (a little crushed ice is also good.). The smoothies I make average 22 grams of protein per serving (milk=5,yogurt=5, powder=12).

Everyone heals differently but I tell you the moment you see red skin do not hesitate to thoroughly investigate. Even if the redness goes away stay off of it a little bit more longer. Move, re-position and tell the CNA or whomever to turn you more frequently. Alternating air mattress for everyone (ya know, the one that looks like you could fly to the moon on it). Now wouldn't that be nice. Prophylactic duoderm treatments and other non-contemporary ideas to stop the sores before they start. And the fighters with fierce grace attitude is outstanding. Presents with an understanding, knowledge and patience to get it done.

[kiwiquad]

Terrible Texan, on May 22 2010, 05:42 AM, said:

I've got 2 pressure sores on my butt that i've been fighting for about 3 months since i came back from the hospital having a bad reaction to chlonodine for pain. it burned my outer skin off & made my skin silky smooth & thin causing it to tear & break down easily. I've only had 1 sore on butt in 12 yrs & then all of a sudden , bamn. there 2 1/2" deep w one tunnelling abour 5 cm. i'm in bed about 40 hrs & up around 8 trying to help them heal faster, but its not fast enough. any suggestions
discoiuraged & deppressed

ABSOLUTE bedrest, period! Every 8hrs that you are up, will probably put your sores back a week.