This morning (well, yesterday morning now I suppose) I unwrapped Ben's dressing and his incision infection looked like it was getting worse. Not wanting to risk waiting until clinic on Monday, I called the coordinator and we were told to bring Ben in to the ER just to check it out. The doctor agreed that it wasn't clearing up on it's own and Ben was put on a wound vac. Basically they fill the wound with a dense foam, put another layer of foam on top, tape it all off and attach it to a machine that creates a vacuum. This pulls all the fluid out and usually it makes the wound heal faster. Since this is something a little more complicated, he had to be admitted to the hospital until they can get our insurance to approve a home vac and arrange for a home healthcare nurse to come out and set it all up. Sadly we aren't allowed to change the dressings for this on our own, the nurse will come back out to do that. Just imagine how upset I am at not getting to pull the foam out of his wound and put new foam in *ewww, ewww, ewww*
They also started Ben on an antibiotic and they're monitoring his vitals. Right now the infection is still localized so it's nothing to be too worked up about but it's definately something that needed taking care of and it probably would have gotten worse over the weekend. It seems that we caught it early so let's all hope that it clears up fast. If it also makes the wound heal faster, all the better.
And of course I had to snap a picture of Ben's lovely vacuum sealed belly. The black stuff is the outer foam and the tube runs from an open spot in his wound to the machine that collects the gunk. I'll spare you the "before" picture ;)
Oooooh yuk! So sorry to hear about this, and hope it clears up soon! Thanks for the picture, Lori. If Ben's surgeon was a better artist, Ben would have a perfect, permanent peace sign on his torso. Either we need to get art lessons for the doc, or we need to reposition Ben's belly button.
ReplyDeleteA word about spring: on Thanksgiving day instead of starting the jigsaw puzzle, I went outside and planted some daffodils in honor of Ben. I planted daffodils, Cheerfulness and Fire. Today, March 15, I could see they are beginning to come up and I have them there to remind me of Ben. Cheerfulness to give him love and happiness; Fire to give him strength and courage.
Be well and stay strong. Love to all.
Aunt Cathy had a wound vac put on her infected leg incision after her heart surgery. Hope it works as well and quickly for Ben's incision. It is a great little device - tell Juliet that it sucks out all the bad germs from his skin so it can heal better.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely amazing... it's awesome what medical science can accomplish now... keep healing, Ben!!
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