My boyfriend and I continued to treat his wound with the Bactroban ointment and a gauze pad and just as the surgeon predicted, it continued to do very well. When we went back to the wound care center the following week even I was pleased with how small it had gotten. The surgeon was also happy with its progress and told us that we should continue using the ointment for a week and then after that just to cover it to provide some protection, by that point it would probably be closed. The surgeon said that he wouldn’t be able to see us for a few weeks but to make an appointment for three weeks later. We made the appointment for three weeks later and left.
It has now been a little over eight weeks since I have been discharged from the wound care center and approximately three weeks since my visiting nurses have stopped. I am still diligent about making sure that I do not stay in one position for very long and still periodically have my boyfriend check to make sure that my wound is closed. It was still closed after seven weeks so I decided that my dad’s birthday was when I was going to officially tell him the good news. I wrote the dates that I had been discharged, in his birthday card. He was incredibly happy to hear that I had been discharged, and while I suspect that he knew already, he did not say anything. My family and I were just starting to adjust to me being fully discharged when a few days ago I started to get a bad feeling.
I cannot explain what I felt, other than to call it a “gut feeling” I feared that my wound had reopened. I tried to remind myself that I had had that feeling before since I had been discharged and each time my wound had remained closed so I was probably just overreacting. When my boyfriend was here two days ago, I asked him if he would please check for me because I was really nervous, because the day before I thought I may have seen a little bit of drainage in my clothing.
As soon as my boyfriend saw my wound he said, “Yeah, it’s opened”. I was not surprised by what he said but I still needed to see it for myself. He showed me a picture of it and sure enough, a tiny portion, the same part that had opened previously was open again. I took a minute to just stare at the photo in disbelief that this had happened again. I was so upset that I could hardly form coherent thoughts to have a conversation with my boyfriend. At that point, admittedly I got a little more emotional than I usually do; all my boyfriend could do was hold me.
After a few minutes I needed some insight from someone that was a little more removed from the situation so I sent my best friend a text message. Explaining that it was open again and I had no more coping skills left and needed her suggestions. After she got over the initial shock, she suggested that I call the wound care center and see if someone could see me. She also told me that I should try to relax and zone out and forget about things for a while.
I was really upset that my wound had reopened; I also could not believe that it had happened just a few days after telling my family that I was fine. I realize it was just a coincidence but I couldn’t help but think that my making the announcement had somehow caused it to open again. By that point, I knew a decision had to be made about whom I was going to call. I decided to take my friend’s advice and call the wound care center and explain the situation. I did not want to call my visiting nurses because I knew that if one of them appeared it would instantly cause drama in my family and I could not put them through that again. When I called the wound care center the receptionist originally thought I was playing an early April Fool’s joke on them, once I explained that I was serious she began to check the schedule to see what could be done about getting me seen. She was able to make an appointment for me for the week before the surgeon comes back, with the doctor that I had seen when he was out of town before. She then asked me to hold on while she spoke to the nurse that I was most comfortable with at the wound care center. When she came back to the phone she told me that the nurse had suggested I just cover the wound with a clean dry dressing until I could get to the appointment.
My boyfriend covered my wound with one of the few dressings I have left, a Tegaderm Foam Adhesive and we just tried to relax and not worry too much. I go back to the wound care center next week so I am just trying to remain positive, until I get told just what is going on; if the part that reopened is just superficial or if it has depth and will therefore need more treatment.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
What The Hell is Happening Now?
I know it has been a long time since my last post. I apologize; it is just that my boyfriend and I do not live together and I haven’t actually been able to see his wound in person very often.
His wound was doing incredibly well; it was appearing much smaller and had no signs of infection. Just as I was beginning to relax, he threw me a curve ball. He sent me a text message two weeks ago on the day that he had an appointment at the wound care center. He told me that when he woke up, he discovered a blood blister directly above the wound and asked me what he should do to cover it because he was worried that the dressings he was using would cause it to pop. At first I thought he was just messing with my head and trying to get a reaction out of me by claiming to have a blood blister so I told him to prove it. Minutes later I received a picture of what in fact was a blood blister.
I took a breath and picked up the phone and called him. I asked what size dressings he had, hoping against hope that he had one that would be big enough and loose enough to cover the entire wound, including the blood blister, without being so tight that it would pop. Of course he did not have any of the type of dressing that I wanted him to use. I told him to just carefully cover the wound itself, avoiding the blister as best he could and then get to my house as soon as he was able so that I could put a more substantial dressing on it prior to his appointment that afternoon.
When he arrived at my house about an hour later I looked at his leg and saw that he had a weird shaped blister, more like one large one and then a small one directly next to it. The smaller one appeared to have ruptured but the big one was still intact and the primary wound did seem to be doing very well. I then loosely covered the entire “situation” with 4x4 gauze, knowing that it would be sufficient until his appointment a couple hours later.
When we got to the wound care center we told the nurse that the wound had been doing well until that morning when a blood blister was discovered. The nurse uncovered the wound and told us that the doctor would be in soon. We waited and when the doctor came into the room we explained what was going on and my boyfriend’s thoughts on what caused the blister in the first place.
The surgeon then said that he was going to test the fluid in the blister to make sure that it wasn’t showing any bacteria that would need to be treated. He poked a tiny hole in the blister with a small needle and aspirated some of the fluid. He then said that the wound should continue to be treated the same way we had been, with the Bactroban ointment and just a small piece of gauze to cover. He said that if the culture came back showing anything that needed to be treated he would call to let us know but that he wanted to see him again in two weeks.
My boyfriend took care of his wound for himself for almost the entire two weeks and kept telling me that he thought it looked like it was doing well. I was happy to hear that he thought it was fine, but I was also a little bit nervous that he would minimize it if things weren’t going well. I hoped though that he was aware of just how quickly things like this can go downhill and would at the very least tell me if it began to change. Two days before his appointment at the wound care center I asked if I could please see another picture, so that I could reassure myself that he really was “fine”. My boyfriend sent me the picture he had taken that morning and I was disturbed by what I saw. When I had last seen it in person, I noticed that the blister appeared to be flattened out and was looking more callous than blister. The picture he sent me showed even more of the dark calloused area. Admittedly, I flipped out when I saw the picture. In hindsight, I realize that most of my reaction was caused by not being able to clearly see what was going on. My boyfriend tried to explain to me that it “wasn’t that bad” and that it was only the blister that looked “kind of gross”. I wanted no part of his explanation and shut down the conversation. Not the best idea in that situation, but being that nothing could be done about his wound at that point, it was really not worth it to discuss it anymore.
A couple of days later we went to his appointment at the wound care center and I explained to the nurse that I personally hadn’t seen it in a few days but that I did not feel comfortable with how it looked. The nurse took the dressing off and said that the blister had flattened out and was now a callous. I took the opportunity to look at the wound in person for the first time since I had flipped out about the picture I had seen. When I saw the wound I was happy to see that it was not nearly as bad as it had appeared in the picture. When the nurse left I told my boyfriend that it was not as bad as I originally thought, but that it still, “wasn’t pretty”. A few minutes later the surgeon walked into the room and when he looked at the wound a really funny look appeared on his face. His face seemed to say, “What the hell happened, what do you want me to do about that and how am I supposed to work with that” all rolled into one facial expression. He then asked when it had become calloused and I stopped laughing so that I could tell him that it had begun about five days prior. The doctor then began to scrape away the calloused area and when he did he was pleased with how it looked underneath. He said that he was also really happy with how the primary wound looked. The doctor told us to continue treating it the same way we had been and that he wanted to see the wound in a week. My boyfriend and I left the appointment happy with how things were going and admittedly I personally, was still somewhat giggly because I still had the look of the doctor’s face in my head.
His wound was doing incredibly well; it was appearing much smaller and had no signs of infection. Just as I was beginning to relax, he threw me a curve ball. He sent me a text message two weeks ago on the day that he had an appointment at the wound care center. He told me that when he woke up, he discovered a blood blister directly above the wound and asked me what he should do to cover it because he was worried that the dressings he was using would cause it to pop. At first I thought he was just messing with my head and trying to get a reaction out of me by claiming to have a blood blister so I told him to prove it. Minutes later I received a picture of what in fact was a blood blister.
I took a breath and picked up the phone and called him. I asked what size dressings he had, hoping against hope that he had one that would be big enough and loose enough to cover the entire wound, including the blood blister, without being so tight that it would pop. Of course he did not have any of the type of dressing that I wanted him to use. I told him to just carefully cover the wound itself, avoiding the blister as best he could and then get to my house as soon as he was able so that I could put a more substantial dressing on it prior to his appointment that afternoon.
When he arrived at my house about an hour later I looked at his leg and saw that he had a weird shaped blister, more like one large one and then a small one directly next to it. The smaller one appeared to have ruptured but the big one was still intact and the primary wound did seem to be doing very well. I then loosely covered the entire “situation” with 4x4 gauze, knowing that it would be sufficient until his appointment a couple hours later.
When we got to the wound care center we told the nurse that the wound had been doing well until that morning when a blood blister was discovered. The nurse uncovered the wound and told us that the doctor would be in soon. We waited and when the doctor came into the room we explained what was going on and my boyfriend’s thoughts on what caused the blister in the first place.
The surgeon then said that he was going to test the fluid in the blister to make sure that it wasn’t showing any bacteria that would need to be treated. He poked a tiny hole in the blister with a small needle and aspirated some of the fluid. He then said that the wound should continue to be treated the same way we had been, with the Bactroban ointment and just a small piece of gauze to cover. He said that if the culture came back showing anything that needed to be treated he would call to let us know but that he wanted to see him again in two weeks.
My boyfriend took care of his wound for himself for almost the entire two weeks and kept telling me that he thought it looked like it was doing well. I was happy to hear that he thought it was fine, but I was also a little bit nervous that he would minimize it if things weren’t going well. I hoped though that he was aware of just how quickly things like this can go downhill and would at the very least tell me if it began to change. Two days before his appointment at the wound care center I asked if I could please see another picture, so that I could reassure myself that he really was “fine”. My boyfriend sent me the picture he had taken that morning and I was disturbed by what I saw. When I had last seen it in person, I noticed that the blister appeared to be flattened out and was looking more callous than blister. The picture he sent me showed even more of the dark calloused area. Admittedly, I flipped out when I saw the picture. In hindsight, I realize that most of my reaction was caused by not being able to clearly see what was going on. My boyfriend tried to explain to me that it “wasn’t that bad” and that it was only the blister that looked “kind of gross”. I wanted no part of his explanation and shut down the conversation. Not the best idea in that situation, but being that nothing could be done about his wound at that point, it was really not worth it to discuss it anymore.
A couple of days later we went to his appointment at the wound care center and I explained to the nurse that I personally hadn’t seen it in a few days but that I did not feel comfortable with how it looked. The nurse took the dressing off and said that the blister had flattened out and was now a callous. I took the opportunity to look at the wound in person for the first time since I had flipped out about the picture I had seen. When I saw the wound I was happy to see that it was not nearly as bad as it had appeared in the picture. When the nurse left I told my boyfriend that it was not as bad as I originally thought, but that it still, “wasn’t pretty”. A few minutes later the surgeon walked into the room and when he looked at the wound a really funny look appeared on his face. His face seemed to say, “What the hell happened, what do you want me to do about that and how am I supposed to work with that” all rolled into one facial expression. He then asked when it had become calloused and I stopped laughing so that I could tell him that it had begun about five days prior. The doctor then began to scrape away the calloused area and when he did he was pleased with how it looked underneath. He said that he was also really happy with how the primary wound looked. The doctor told us to continue treating it the same way we had been and that he wanted to see the wound in a week. My boyfriend and I left the appointment happy with how things were going and admittedly I personally, was still somewhat giggly because I still had the look of the doctor’s face in my head.
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