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Ertl Amputation Week 5

Thursday, June 12 2008 - health

Week 4 update is here.

This week hasn't been all that good. We saw Dr. Ertl on Monday and he was disappointed that the wound vac had caused some good skin to be removed. The sponge on the wound vac is not supposed to be on good skin and the last time it was changed it overlapped one side of the wound by about 1/2 inch. She lost probably 1/4 - 1/2 inch of good skin down to about 1/8 of an inch deep. That might not sound like much, but it makes a huge difference.

He removed us from the vac, which we took as a blessing. It turns out that the vac, though causing pain, also prevented a lot. Or, more likely, the new wound caused by the vac, was causing the pain. This week has been a tough one. From Carol's stand point she isn't making progress. It is hard to look at the wound and see any good progress (from her viewing angle). Also, the amount and frequency of pain just hasn't subsided as we expected.

When you combine that with boredom you start to get some serious mental fatigue. She's frustrated, angry, and probably a little scared that maybe this wasn't the correct decision. None of these feelings are unusual ( at least not from what I've read ), but they do make it tough for her being alone most of the day.

I will getting my RN license soon (joke). I am changing the bandages on the wound every night. We are putting a silicon based strip that helps pull fluids. It has the odd effect of making the wound look very pincushion like. The process of changing the bandage takes about an hour from start to finish. Carol takes a shower to remove most of the bandage and once she is done I use tweezers to remove any remaining pieces. Then I clean the wound with saline and reapply the strip and gauze.

I've added a couple of pictures from last night. If you compare the pictures to some from a week ago there is definitely improvement. If it weren't for the added wound from the vac it would be mostly closed except for the large areas. Carol has yet another appointment with Dr. Ertl on Wednesday of next week. In all likelihood there will be another follow-up the next week.