6 replies to this topic

[deedee10]

Hi everyone!

Has anyone ever had any of the following treatments for their pressure sore:

Skin Substitutes
Negative Pressure Therapy
Hyperbaric and Topical Oxygen
Growth Factor Therapy

I have a stage III-IV pressure sore and have an appointment with a wound care clinic that offers the above treatments. I'm really curious to know if anyone has used the hyperbaric oxygen chamber for their sore and, if so, did it work.

Thanks:)
Deedee10

[Gabi&George]

deedee10, on 18 May 2011 - 02:54 AM, said:

Hi everyone!

Has anyone ever had any of the following treatments for their pressure sore:

Skin Substitutes
Negative Pressure Therapy
Hyperbaric and Topical Oxygen
Growth Factor Therapy

I have a stage III-IV pressure sore and have an appointment with a wound care clinic that offers the above treatments. I'm really curious to know if anyone has used the hyperbaric oxygen chamber for their sore and, if so, did it work.

Thanks:)
Deedee10

No personal experience but did a ton of reading on Hyperbaric Oxygen and discussed same with hubby's wound nurse & PCP. They described it as "top of the line" treatment. Found a few used chambers for sale online and came very close to buying one. Then suddenly his Stage 111 sores started to improve. I'm still considering it for the future though because we're told bedsores will be a continuing problem for him.

He had surgery about a year ago on a Stage IV on his coccyx. The surgery was super successful and he healed in a month in hospital on one of those special oval beds that move some kind of granules around in air all the time.

FWIW, have noticed that when he doesn't smoke he heals faster. It makes quite a difference. (I'm a smoker, BTW, so no antismoke bias.) Good luck with your decision, Gabi

[deedee10]

Gabi, what kind of surgery was it? Flap surgery?

Gabi&George, on 18 May 2011 - 07:31 AM, said:

deedee10, on 18 May 2011 - 02:54 AM, said:

Hi everyone!

Has anyone ever had any of the following treatments for their pressure sore:

Skin Substitutes
Negative Pressure Therapy
Hyperbaric and Topical Oxygen
Growth Factor Therapy

I have a stage III-IV pressure sore and have an appointment with a wound care clinic that offers the above treatments. I'm really curious to know if anyone has used the hyperbaric oxygen chamber for their sore and, if so, did it work.

Thanks:)
Deedee10

No personal experience but did a ton of reading on Hyperbaric Oxygen and discussed same with hubby's wound nurse & PCP. They described it as "top of the line" treatment. Found a few used chambers for sale online and came very close to buying one. Then suddenly his Stage 111 sores started to improve. I'm still considering it for the future though because we're told bedsores will be a continuing problem for him.

He had surgery about a year ago on a Stage IV on his coccyx. The surgery was super successful and he healed in a month in hospital on one of those special oval beds that move some kind of granules around in air all the time.

FWIW, have noticed that when he doesn't smoke he heals faster. It makes quite a difference. (I'm a smoker, BTW, so no antismoke bias.) Good luck with your decision, Gabi

[redryder49]

Bout time you get on here.

[Gabi&George]

deedee10, on 18 May 2011 - 08:39 PM, said:

Gabi, what kind of surgery was it? Flap surgery?

No, George wasn't a candidate for Flap surgery according to the surgeon. Having spent most of the previous 7 months in hospital and undergone major surgery 5 times, he was too weak. He had gone from 199.6 lbs on admission to 138 lbs in that period. (He's 6'4" and looked like a concentration camp survivor, literally.)

The surgeon explained to me that the most he felt comfortable putting George through was cleaning out the wound and stapling it up. Sounded to me like debriding but more drastic than the bedside type they'd been doing regularly for months. This surgery was quick, deedee. Over in no more than 20 min. It was the only medical procedure he went thru that year which didn't carry some complication or other.

Expanding a little on our 2009 Hospital Saga: this surgeon specialized in complex burn wounds and George had been sent to him from the 11th ER visit of those months. (That time it was for kidney failure.) Previously, the ER Residents had always placed George in a hospital where the reason for his ER visit could be treated. We were SO lucky this time. Instead this Resident wanted to put the burn wound FIRST. He felt it should be treated at what he said was the "best wound care hospital in the state, maybe the southwest", St. Mary's, Tucson. He said patients were sent there even from out-of-state and kept George overnight and part of the next day in the local ER waiting for a bed to open up at St. Mary's.

In hindsight I'm convinced that the young Resident saved George's life with that decision.

Previously, the cause for an ER visit got the attention and George would quickly end up in whatever ICU had an open bed, there they'd get him "stable" and send him home, (always with a bedsore and each time at a worse Stage). The decubitus wound was always ancillary. I'm thinking now that most, if not all of those ER visits and their varying reasons - sepsis, tachycardia, brachycardia, sodium depletion, hypothermia, kidney failure ++++ - actually had at their root and were brought on by ........ the wretched bedsore! IOW, it was the real culprit and was weakening his entire system. Attacking the bedsore first as the young local hospital Resident and St.Mary's did, brought the first HUGE turnaround for George. From that time on he started to improve.

All the best deedee, hope this helps. Will be interested to know how you're coming along. Gabi

[Gabi&George]

redryder49, on 19 May 2011 - 01:54 AM, said:

Bout time you get on here.

? ?

[redryder49]

Gabi&George, on 19 May 2011 - 04:13 AM, said:

redryder49, on 19 May 2011 - 01:54 AM, said:

Bout time you get on here.

? ?

She is my girlfriend, I have been on here for quite some time and tried to get her to join.