The Early Days

Wounds can be sneaky.  Wounds that look minor can become serious quickly.  They can develop out of nowhere fast, too.  I heard of one hospital patient who developed a pressure sore after only 3 days in the hospital. 

My wound did not become problematic very quickly, however.  I fooled around with it for a while before it got larger and deeper.  I used DuoDerm (see the Amazon link on the right side of this page) on the wound for a few weeks. It had always healed my superficial wounds in the past, so I thought it would again.  It is a fine product for wound management, one I would recommend in a heartbeat.  People who are prone to getting superficial wounds should always have a few sheets on hand.  But this time it didn't work for me. After realizing that I needed more help with this pressure sore, I went to a Big City Hospital to see the wound care people there.  They recommended some ointments to put on the wound, and told me to stay off my butt as much as I could.  That didn't work, either - the ointments did nothing, and I wasn't very good at spending much time out of my wheelchair, either.  I was working a full-time job at the time, so I didn't have much opportunity to lay down during the day. 

The people I saw at Big City Hospital weren't very aggressive in treating the wound, in my opinion.  So I gave up on them, and started going to a wound care center at my local Small Town Hospital.  I had great confidence in them; they seemed to know what they were doing, and had a plan for me to get rid of the wound.  I tried their treatments for quite a while, and...nothing.  I was spending less time in the wheelchair, and following their directions carefully. The problem was, the wound wasn't getting worse, but it wasn't getting better, either.  Frustration set in.  What do I do now?

By this time roughly 6 months had gone by since I first noticed the sore.  OK, time to get serious.  I talked to the doctor at the wound care center, and we agreed that I needed to go on short term disability from my job so I could spend even less time in my wheelchair, and also to get home nursing care to dress the wound every two days.  I'm sure I will get rid of the wound pretty fast now!