[Tippy]

I received my Airpulse PK cushion and I have tried it twice. The first time I used the company settings (as to my specific needs) with the left ischium air cell disconnected and the overall pressure set to 3. I sat for about 5 hours and I ended up with a bleeding spot. After letting that heal, I e-mailed the company and they told me to reconnect the air cell and try it again. I did, and I stayed up about 4 hours and ended up with a bloody spot again. I'm not sure, but I probably bottomed out each time. About a month later, I had an area to open up again -- same left ischium area. So, I'm back in bed waiting to heal up again. I haven't given up on the $3500 cushion yet. Once I'm completely healed, I'll try it again with less sitting time to start. The cushion seems to be very well engineered and may work for some people. It's just a gamble to spend that much money. I will repost again when I'm able to try a different setting. My next step will be to purchase a tilt/recline wheelchair. If no cushion will work, hopefully pressure relief every few hours will.

[Somebody]

That's alot of damage to your bottom trying it out.
I'd sit like 30 mins & get off & see it the red spots leaves in a few minutes.
Never sit that long trying it out.

Try $300 on a roho & get the tilt chair.
Did you sit 4 hrs without pressure relief?

[Tippy]

Somebody, on Dec 28 2007, 04:53 PM, said:

That's alot of damage to your bottom trying it out.
I'd sit like 30 mins & get off & see it the red spots leaves in a few minutes.
Never sit that long trying it out.

Try $300 on a roho & get the tilt chair.
Did you sit 4 hrs without pressure relief?

You're right about sitting 30 minutes and then checking for red spots. I had very high hopes for this cushion, with promises that it would heal, not cause pressure sores. All of that is hindsight now. Once I'm healed again, I will take a more cautious approach. I do have a prescription for a tilt/recline chair, but a faulty ROHO was the start of all the problems I'm having now. I used to sit up 12 to 14 hours a day without pressure releases. Those were the good days! Now, or before I got this sore, I had to do pressure releases every 2 or 3 hours. Thanks for your response!

[Brad]

My mom has been on a Airpulse PK for over a year. For that first year we had absolutely no tissue problems whatsoever. We got the cushion shortly after her flap surgery which amazingly reconstructed a devastated ischial region after a stage IV DU. It was a godsend even at the hefty price. Mom was staying up on the new cushion for about 12 hours straight with no pressure release regime necessary. Incidentally, I find it fascinating that she too left a ROHO cushion for the Airpluse PK. The ROHO served well in one version or another for more than a decade. But things changed in 2004 and ROHO became risky business for her. Not all together the cushion's fault but even after surgery we just couldn't stop the stage I & II breakdown. Mom got onto her Airpluse PK with only a stage II sore and was able to make full recovery in short order.

Now, perhaps it was because we became complacent or maybe it was to keep us humble, I'm not sure. But at the anniversary mark after 12 months of carefree time up in her wheelchair, the charger for the battery pack went on the fritz. Additionally I discovered a couple of apertures on the cushion substrate which concerned me. I didn't understand the independent and self-contained construction of the individual bladders on the substrate. Anyway the company asked me to send up the entire unit with all parts for troubleshooting. I wish I had never mentioned the two little holes which turned out to be nothing of importance. Mom's equipment was gone for about a week and during the interim she used a replacement cushion. We do not understand what happened or how it happened but she bruised her bottom in particular the surgical area of the ischial region. An infection ensued and rather than a "pressure ulcer" developing per se, a 9.5 cm tunnel was opened from a bony part under the flap straight to a point on the surgical line. What a shock! It happened so quickly. Subsequently the wound site (where the tunnel opened on the line) was cultured and she had a serious staph infection. The staph was not a shock since she had already had a bout with a hospital MRSA and we supposed that the bacteria had colonized somehow. At any rate - I am rambling. Mom has been recovering since November 9 and the tunnel is down to 5 cm. She is back in her Airpulse PK now for 8 hours a day split up 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours from late afternoon. She seems to be on course for full time sometime in February. I doubt she could enjoy 8 hours up at this point if it weren't for the Airpluse PK.

ADDITIONAL THINGS I'VE LEARNED AS A CAREGIVER FROM THIS LATEST EPISODE:

1.) I cannot afford the luxury of complacency
2.) Insisting on a loaner cushion from the company was a mistake. The problem began as soon as mom got on the loaner equipment. Either it was customized for somebody else or the cushion was contaminated with staph or neither. It could haven been an untreated UTI (mom's on a catheter) that triggered the staph and subsequent breakdown. I should have used her own ROHO with extra care in short intervals and perhaps we could have gotten through the troubleshooting period unscathed. I guess we'll never know.
3.) More preventative measures in terms of catheter cleanliness, hand washing/sanitizing/gloving,
4.) Better awareness of and swifter reaction to UTI symptoms.
5.)The company is not staffed with medical personal. I cannot expect competent advice about the treatment and care of pressure ulcers. They are well versed of course on the use and function of their alternating pressure cushion. It was unfair of me to place any other expectations on them during this troubling time.

I still believe you made a good choice with the Airpulse PK. Good luck!

This post has been edited by Brad: 03 January 2008 - 04:32 PM

[Tippy]

Brad, on Jan 3 2008, 09:59 AM, said:

My mom has been on a Airpulse PK for over a year. For that first year we had absolutely no tissue problems whatsoever. We got the cushion shortly after her flap surgery which amazingly reconstructed a devastated ischial region after a stage IV DU. It was a godsend even at the hefty price. Mom was staying up on the new cushion for about 12 hours straight with no pressure release regime necessary. Incidentally, I find it fascinating that she too left a ROHO cushion for the Airpluse PK. The ROHO served well in one version or another for more than a decade. But things changed in 2004 and ROHO became risky business for her. Not all together the cushion's fault but even after surgery we just couldn't stop the stage I & II breakdown. Mom got onto her Airpluse PK with only a stage II sore and was able to make full recovery in short order.

Now, perhaps it was because we became complacent or maybe it was to keep us humble, I'm not sure. But at the anniversary mark after 12 months of carefree time up in her wheelchair, the charger for the battery pack went on the fritz. Additionally I discovered a couple of apertures on the cushion substrate which concerned me. I didn't understand the independent and self-contained construction of the individual bladders on the substrate. Anyway the company asked me to send up the entire unit with all parts for troubleshooting. I wish I had never mentioned the two little holes which turned out to be nothing of importance. Mom's equipment was gone for about a week and during the interim she used a replacement cushion. We do not understand what happened or how it happened but she bruised her bottom in particular the surgical area of the ischial region. An infection ensued and rather than a "pressure ulcer" developing per se, a 9.5 cm tunnel was opened from a bony part under the flap straight to a point on the surgical line. What a shock! It happened so quickly. Subsequently the wound site (where the tunnel opened on the line) was cultured and she had a serious staph infection. The staph was not a shock since she had already had a bout with a hospital MRSA and we supposed that the bacteria had colonized somehow. At any rate - I am rambling. Mom has been recovering since November 9 and the tunnel is down to 5 cm. She is back in her Airpulse PK now for 8 hours a day split up 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours from late afternoon. She seems to be on course for full time sometime in February. I doubt she could enjoy 8 hours up at this point if it weren't for the Airpluse PK.

ADDITIONAL THINGS I'VE LEARNED AS A CAREGIVER FROM THIS LATEST EPISODE:

1.) I cannot afford the luxury of complacency
2.) Insisting on a loaner cushion from the company was a mistake. The problem began as soon as mom got on the loaner equipment. Either it was customized for somebody else or the cushion was contaminated with staph or neither. It could haven been an untreated UTI (mom's on a catheter) that triggered the staph and subsequent breakdown. I should have used her own ROHO with extra care in short intervals and perhaps we could have gotten through the troubleshooting period unscathed. I guess we'll never know.
3.) More preventative measures in terms of catheter cleanliness, hand washing/sanitizing/gloving,
4.) Better awareness of and swifter reaction to UTI symptoms.
5.)The company is not staffed with medical personal. I cannot expect competent advice about the treatment and care of pressure ulcers. They are well versed of course on the use and function of their alternating pressure cushion. It was unfair of me to place any other expectations on them during this troubling time.

I still believe you made a good choice with the Airpulse PK. Good luck!

I'm glad your mom is recovering. It is very difficult to get rid of most staph infections -- specially with a deep pressure sore.

I really hope I can make the Airpulse PK work. I don't agree with you with the issue of the company not been staffed with medical personnel. They are selling a product which makes many claims and is so designed to heal and prevent pressure sores. A company selling a cushion like this should have medical personnel so they can give competent advice to their customers. For what I paid, $3500, a company representative should have been sent to pressure map and adjust the cushion so any problems could be avoided. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but if you go to their web site and read what they claim about the Airpulse PK, it can certainly make one's expectations high. I hope I can repost with positive results after using the cushion again.

Thanks for responding. We need more input like this so everyone can get a better idea of a product before purchasing.

Tippy

[Brad]

Tippy, on Jan 3 2008, 05:12 PM, said:

Brad, on Jan 3 2008, 09:59 AM, said:

5.)The company is not staffed with medical personal. I cannot expect competent advice about the treatment and care of pressure ulcers. They are well versed of course on the use and function of their alternating pressure cushion. It was unfair of me to place any other expectations on them during this troubling time.

I still believe you made a good choice with the Airpulse PK. Good luck!

I really hope I can make the Airpulse PK work. I don't agree with you with the issue of the company not been staffed with medical personnel. They are selling a product which makes many claims and is so designed to heal and prevent pressure sores. A company selling a cushion like this should have medical personnel so they can give competent advice to their customers. For what I paid, $3500, a company representative should have been sent to pressure map and adjust the cushion so any problems could be avoided. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but if you go to their web site and read what they claim about the Airpulse PK, it can certainly make one's expectations high. I hope I can repost with positive results after using the cushion again.

Thanks for responding. We need more input like this so everyone can get a better idea of a product before purchasing.

Tippy

You know something - how you feel is how I felt from the outset. It was a bit unsettling that such a delicately intricate and expensive device can be sold to patients without ever actually seeing anybody in person. I did send pictures of my mom before the cushion was sent to us mostly because mom has a noticeable list to the left when sitting. Mom suffers from scoliosis and they seemed interested in this fact.

Please indulge me one little rant though. This is probably an issue with a young company and training of personnel. During the most stressful part of this episode, I was talking with the company often. We were beside ourselves that mom should suffer a tissue breakdown while on any Airpulse PK equipment loaner or not. This was a hard time for mom and me. You would think that the company rep would have already pulled the customer file by now to get re-acquainted with our details. This would have helped to maintain a certain calm and confidence during these telephone exchanges. What I got was somebody who thought they could wing it speaking from generalities. My prodding finally required her to go pull the file. Then of course she's got to quickly read through it while on the phone. It felt so impersonal. My complaint during the height of this distress was a nauseous feeling of being left on my own to figure things out. Now in retrospect I suppose the company did a pretty good job. They were willing to send out a loaner cushion which they admitted later was against their policy. I must have really sounded desperate! Anyway as the conversations continued, it dawned on me that I had to keep my head because nobody from the company was going to swoop down and save the day. So essentially I agree with you. For $3500 I think there should be more personal in person interaction with the patient. But if they staffed accordingly, I suppose the price tag would jump skyhigh too. The principle behind this technology is solid. In mom's case it works. I can only imagine that there's some kind of customization the company can perform to make the cushion work for you. I really hope they hang in there with you until you can spend your time on the cushion without worries. Thanks for your kind words.

Brad

This post has been edited by Brad: 06 January 2008 - 12:45 PM