18 replies to this topic

[Kevin613]

Hey everyone,
I have a small pressure ulcer on my butt (near my tailbone) and the wound specialist that I am seeing wants me to use a wound VAC. I've never used it in the past and am curious about what everyone's impressions are of VAC therapy. I've seen some posts of people praising the wound VAC, but has anyone had bad experiences with it? Or has anyone else needed to use it for a ulcer in a similar area?

Kevin

By the way, when I ask what your impressions are, I don't mean for people to respond by writing "slurrrrp, slurrrp, slurrrrp."

[hooplady]

Hi Kevin,
My boyfriend has a pressure sore in the same place...it had gone to Stage IV. He was on a wound vac for several weeks and it did heal it quite a bit. They thought he would need flap surgery but now they are satisfied that it will eventually close on its own. The only issues that I'm aware of were that it interfered with his rehab (it's always in the way!) and he got a little skin irritation from the pad.

The theory behind it seems to makes sense - pulls moisture out of the wound and stimulates circulation.

Hope you have good luck with it!

[Illinois Boy]

Sometimes they work great, other times they do more harm than good.........

Just make sure the nurse knows what the hell she is doing..........

Jim

[Kevin613]

hooplady, on Sep 8 2008, 09:17 PM, said:

Hi Kevin,
My boyfriend has a pressure sore in the same place...it had gone to Stage IV. He was on a wound vac for several weeks and it did heal it quite a bit. They thought he would need flap surgery but now they are satisfied that it will eventually close on its own. The only issues that I'm aware of were that it interfered with his rehab (it's always in the way!) and he got a little skin irritation from the pad.

The theory behind it seems to makes sense - pulls moisture out of the wound and stimulates circulation.

Hope you have good luck with it!

Did the VAC affect his spasticity? Also, was your boyfriend still able to get up into his chair with the VAC?

Illinois Boy, on Sep 8 2008, 10:05 PM, said:

Sometimes they work great, other times they do more harm than good.........

Just make sure the nurse knows what the hell she is doing..........

Jim

Thanks; I'll keep an eye on my caretaker (or at least, as much as I can).

[Meredith]

Illinois Boy, on Sep 8 2008, 06:05 PM, said:

Sometimes they work great, other times they do more harm than good.........

Just make sure the nurse knows what the hell she is doing..........

Jim

AMEN!

[edlee]

I used one,, and it worked very well once I found someone who was adept at applying the dressing properly.

IT'S NOT THE WOUND VAC YOU NEED TO WORRY ABOUT!!!!!!!!

As for getting around while using it,,,,I went to the driving range,,,, played a round of golf ( poorly but it was fun) and went about my normal routines. The secret is in how well the dressing is applied,,, the rest is just logistics.

The slurp-slurp-slurp is louder to you than to others and is not very pronounced as long as the seal is intact. That is actually one of the ways you can tell the seal is broken.

Hope this helps.
ed

[hooplady]

Kevin613, on Sep 12 2008, 08:46 PM, said:

Did the VAC affect his spasticity? Also, was your boyfriend still able to get up into his chair with the VAC?

His injury is so new (3 months) that his spasticity is very unpredictable; I can't really say whether the VAC affected it. And because of the sore itself he has never learned to transfer himself - he can't take any "shearing" pressure so he has to be lifted. While he had the VAC it was tricky but they always managed to get him in and out of the chair.

[schanz0]

Kevin,

Hi my name is Dave and I'm a T-2 Para that had a large stage 4 sore on my tail bone. After 5 or 6 (you lose count after while) debridement, one month of pulse la-vague (spelling ?) it's like a water pick to clean dead tissue from two tunnels I had going up my spine, a diverting colostomy to keep my stool out of the wound bed, which is the key to keeping your wound clean and healthy and not to get a bad blood or bone infection, which is what killed Christopher Reeves. They placed the wound-vac on me and it instantly started blood circulation and aided in rapid removal of drainage, thus keeping dressing changes obsolete. I was not able to slideboard transfer due to the patch like dressing that is used but I did keep going to rehab while using it (I used a lift). The power supply has a 6 hour battery back-up or I would just unplug from the vac for my 2 hour rehabs and rehook the hose after I returned. Your wound care nurse should go over all this, but now you now to ask if they don't. I can't say that my wound would not have healed with out it but the doctors told me I would need skin grafting to heal the wound and it's been gone for about 6 months and I didn't graft any skin. Let me give you one HUGE key to wound care, (PROTEIN) I ate egg whites everyday about 25gm each meal and would drink 2 EAS protein drinks 42gm each (GNC store) and drink lots of water to keep to protein moving and not hanging out in your joint's (which will give you the gout) At this point not seeing you wound size, mine was 8.5cm X 9cm X 3.5cm deep and took 13 months to heal, so don’t look for a short term wound, they take there time and with proper pressure relief and bed turning you will speed up the time it takes, but only can make sure you staying off the wound bed. I also used a Roho 4" air cushion on my chair that worked great when I was sitting.
I hoped I helped you a little in your choosing of wound care, I'm glad I did it.

Dave

Edited by schanz0, 16 September 2008 - 03:14 AM.

[Kevin613]

Thanks everyone for replying to my question. I started on it today and it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I appreciate all of your insights and advice. Hopefully, everything will turn out well.

[Tash]

Hello, Im Tasha

My bf who's a C5/6 incomplete used a Wound Vac he had a pressure ulcer I describe it as the size of the lip of a frying pan it was so deep that you could see his pelvic bone tissue and muscle. Anyway, the wound vac saved his life in addition to me treating it 2 to 3 times a day after the wound vac came off. It is now the size of a quarter. "I did that," - only with the help of the Lord though. When I 1st saw the wound I almost buckeld to my knees however in front of him to do that was not needed. However when he asked me I told him the truth. This man has been truthful with me since day and I was going to keep that going. He never said anything. Thank GOD he could not feel at that time. He can now feel it but the pain is under control with pain meds. Becasue of the pressure ulcer. We have a long way to go now for him to try to tregain his upper body strength but I know if the Lord got us this far there is no stopping him now. Thank You Jesus - We Love You!

I say go with the wound vac. It helped my man.

[StillFingers]

Hi Keven,

After 30yrs of no major pressure sores I managed to get several in a very short time...getting old I guess. Of the eight that appeared only two are left, r/l ishium areas healed, r/l butt cheek/tailbone on wound-vac now and doing great. Its been 8 weeks for my tailbone area and my sores have shrunk from 7x6x4cm and 5x4x2cm to 5x3x1.5cm and 4x2x.5cm. Keep a good protein rich diet, lots of fluids and laughter in your daily life. The wound-vac is great, a friend mine just got his big-toe 1st knuckle removed due to infection, he is able-bodied, and after three days on a wound-vac he already sees progress...

I have 3/4 more months to go then I can start wheeling around again...I hope. My strength level is low, entered hospital late march, back home 7 weeks ago, I almost feel as weak as I did after finishing rehab in 78', but I'm home now and life' much better!

Best healing to you...Jerry

[StillFingers]

Kevin...oops, apologies for the name misspelling, its late, my sleep patterns are screwed up. Seeya, Jerry

[MAMA]

Kevin613, on Sep 8 2008, 12:42 PM, said:

Hey everyone,
I have a small pressure ulcer on my butt (near my tailbone) and the wound specialist that I am seeing wants me to use a wound VAC. I've never used it in the past and am curious about what everyone's impressions are of VAC therapy. I've seen some posts of people praising the wound VAC, but has anyone had bad experiences with it? Or has anyone else needed to use it for a ulcer in a similar area?

Kevin

By the way, when I ask what your impressions are, I don't mean for people to respond by writing "slurrrrp, slurrrp, slurrrrp."

Kevin,

My husband has a stage V in the same spot and has been on woundvac for about 4 months now. Next week he will be on a new machine but I tell you what..it is saving his life. Without it he would already be dead. Doctors say another 4-6 months and the sore will be healed completely...I say what do you have to lose by trying it

Chelle

[Salih]

Also can a person get out of bed using woundvac?- i.e. wheelchair

[Soryfam]

I've had awesome results with the wound vac. I was able to go anywhere. It's pretty easy to use as long as the dressing is put on properly. My husband also had to use it for a LARGE wound in is abdomen from necrotizing pancreatitus. It took awhile, but it did heal nicely.

Good luck.

Sandy

[physiotherapist]

I worked on the only state-run spinal unit in South Africa for a couple of years where the range of dressings available for pressure sores was small. However, they were able to provide vac dressings and were therefore used more readily than in the UK I would say because they were often the only option. I saw some great results which seems to indicate that they work well but I can't say for sure whether it's the best thing for you, you need to be guided by the professionals who can actually see your specific wound and hope that their judgement is correct. Are you getting the wound care advice from a specialist spinal unit??

[edlee]

You can certainly get out of bed with them on, In fact,, my unit was made to be portable, and I went where ever I wanted,, including to the gym. My wanderings may have prolonged the time it took to heal,, but staying in bed ,,, simply was NOT an option for me.
ed

[WMWBM]

I was on wound vac last November after my debride surgery. As its sucking force is keeping everything together, I can go a lot of places with it. But it's leaking most of the time. That attracts a lot of attention as the alarm will go off when it leaks and the only way to turn off the alarm for my vac is to shut down the entire thing. Which will make it pointless.

I think going for a flap surgery is kind of a better option. (Rotation flap for my case). Less dressing to deal with and lesser chance of infection.

[edlee]

It's all about the proper installation of the dressing. If it's done right,, there is NO leakage,, and no alarms. As it turns out,, my wife was better at it than any of the many nurses who tried,, and ,, trust me on this,,, she is NOT nurse material. You need to be meticulous about shaping the foam,, exacting on the application of the adhesive layer,, that is,, making quite sure that there are NO wrinkles. No easy task,, and one that nurses don't seem to want to take the time needed to do correctly.

Well,, enough of my ranting about the quality of home nurses around here.

Suffice it to say that I was extremely active while wearing the Wound Vac,, and equally happy with it's results.
ed