5 replies to this topic

[HelpAppreciated]

Hey everyone,

This website is great, I wish I found it earlier. My father has been a paraplegic for >25 years. He has 2 skin ulcers on his backside, which recently became badly infected, and spread to the blood. He's been hospitalized for a few days now and is being treated with broad spectrum antibiotics to take care of the infection. I have a few questions about what's next:

1) The hospital has done 1 debridement already where they took out the majority of the infected/dead tissue. Right after the procedure he seemed a LOT better. I guess that stuff was just attacking his body. How many more of these are typical to clear the area of infection?

2) They are then going to perform a reversible colostomy to prevent future infection while this heals. Any watchouts with this?

3) Finally, the hard part. The wounds are pretty sizeable and probably going to be bigger once the other debridements are complete. They are rinsing with saline every so often then packing the holes with gauze. Are there any additional treatments to speed up the process?

4) They said flap surgery will be needed. Can anyone recommend a top hospital to perform this (preferably in PA)? He's had issues with healing in his ankle and I expect the same now, so I want to make sure these doctors have experience and success with paraplegics.

5) How long does this take and how long will he need to be hospitalized for all of this?

Any insight is appreciated. I just want to get him home healthy and back to his normal life.

Thanks.

[McTavish]

Welcome H/A can't help you with any of your questions, but just want to say you have come to the right place and I know someone will have some answers for you. You will find this site invaluable, take care and

[airart1]

welcome, start with the search button and go from there, we all have had some of these problems in our lives, some more than others, but most have been discussed, good luck and wish your dad a speedy recovery..........

[qbounce]

Welcome to the forum Help,
Like airart said, those are all great, but LOADED questions, in need of a very long answer, that which can be found through the website's search engine.

Look up reverse colostomy and pressure sores. All your questions have been covered extensively on pressure sores in other threads. There are other methods used to heal the sores as well, such as wound vacuum, but this process does take time, patience, and proper treatment in order to work right.

Good luck with everything, and get your Dad on here if other questions arise!

[Millard]

HelpAppreciated, on 09 May 2011 - 02:35 PM, said:

Hey everyone,

This website is great, I wish I found it earlier. My father has been a paraplegic for >25 years. He has 2 skin ulcers on his backside, which recently became badly infected, and spread to the blood. He's been hospitalized for a few days now and is being treated with broad spectrum antibiotics to take care of the infection. I have a few questions about what's next:

1) The hospital has done 1 debridement already where they took out the majority of the infected/dead tissue. Right after the procedure he seemed a LOT better. I guess that stuff was just attacking his body. How many more of these are typical to clear the area of infection?

2) They are then going to perform a reversible colostomy to prevent future infection while this heals. Any watchouts with this?

3) Finally, the hard part. The wounds are pretty sizeable and probably going to be bigger once the other debridements are complete. They are rinsing with saline every so often then packing the holes with gauze. Are there any additional treatments to speed up the process?

4) They said flap surgery will be needed. Can anyone recommend a top hospital to perform this (preferably in PA)? He's had issues with healing in his ankle and I expect the same now, so I want to make sure these doctors have experience and success with paraplegics.

5) How long does this take and how long will he need to be hospitalized for all of this?

Any insight is appreciated. I just want to get him home healthy and back to his normal life.

Thanks.

Hello HA,


I would urge you to look into Microcyn Wound & Infection treatment. The speed it works on healing is remarkable. You can read about it at www.oculusis.com. I do not have any stock in this company but I use their products and are almost miraculous in the speed it works.

Good luck.

[rickt11]

Hi there, seems to me they are doing the right treatment. I had this same experience about a year ago. I was in the hospital for a week. They took care of the infection with iv strong antibotics. I had two flaps done on two sores. Was in the hospital for two days. I had to stay in bed for two months in order for the wound to heal. My bed is a pressure relief, for parapalegics. I was stiched from nee to my buttucks, both legs. Plastic surgeon used musles from my thighs for the flaps. I healed up finaly. The hospital is Arlington Doctors hospital in Arlington VA. Hope you can some comfort from this.