Praying for you guys, Brenda. Good luck with the surgery, and for finding good strategies to get it healed. Hoping the antibiotics help a lot and the surgery gives you something realistic to work with. Check that blood sugar often, too Payers for a healthy foot!
Are there any strategies for increasing circulation by massage or a device for that? I sure hope this resolves soon. It must be agonizing for your husband to have to walk on sores like this.
I'm not sure if there are devices to increase his circulation (I know there aren't in the province). I should look into it
I'm thinking that here, the doctor might put him in the hyperbaric chamber to increase the healing oxygen in his blood, and therefore to the wound. I had to do that when I had scalded toes. And I'm claustrophobic! The first day, I took one look at that thing and declared I was not going in there without GOOD drugs! So they gave me some sort of tiny pill and I not only went into the chamber, I SLEPT for two days!! Apparently, I'm also very susceptible to nerve pills! because they told me it was a "normal" dose they gave me... Would such a thing be available where you live? I'm so sorry you have to deal with such a nurse. Some people think the R in RN means "Rottweiler". It's all okay - maybe one day soon when you are an RN you'll be in charge of her care in the nursing home!
I know they don't do the hyperbaric chamber around here anymore.... not sure if they do it anywhere in Canada actually. A couple years ago when he had flesh eating disease the surgeon wanted to try maggot therapy (gross!) but that isn't done here either. This province is so far behind in medical stuff it's unreal.
Tracy's surgery is booked for this coming Wednesday. Normally, insulin dependent diabetics are booked earlier in the day but because he is still MRSA positive (super infection which is hard to treat), he'll be one of the last cases of the day. We met with the anesthesiologist on Friday morning and he told Tracy to take his insulin as usual on Tuesday morning but not to take any on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. He is to be at the hospital at noon. Because he has sleep apnea and scar tissue around an old trach site, he'll have a spinal done instead of the general anesthetic (which means we'll be there later in the day while it wears off). It's going to be a long day. Anxious to have this done and for the healing to (finally) begin. Pray that this all goes well (we have tickets to go to Fredericton the day after his surgery to see Building 429 in concert - my husband hasn't been to a concert in years and his spiritual walk has been lacking - this concert would be a HUGE turn around for him).
Got it on the calendar, Brenda. Will be sending prayers your way. Also put your hubby's foot in our church's "prayer pool" as well
Just had a call from our family doctor who swabbed Tracy's foot wound when we were in his office. He has gram positive staph aureus bacteria in his wound (the same bacteria that can cause flesh eating disease - I don't want to go there again). It could also be active MRSA again (he has never been cleared of that infection - need 3 consecutive negative swabs, he's never had the 3 consecutive negatives). They're sending the report to the surgeon and called us to see if the wound had been debrided yet (tomorrow). He has been on antibiotics for 10 days now - 4 more to go and his OR is booked for tomorrow. Up until now I was chill about it knowing the OR was booked and it would be dealt with, now I feel sick to my stomach. Pray that God's healing hands will be at work in this and for calm nerves. What a battle this has been!
Oye...that's scary. I'm glad you're moving ahead aggressively. That, itself, gives his foot a fighting chance. Definitely praying for you both and for good healing.
When DH was in the hospital after his big accident in 2000, they put him on IV antibiotics until he was cleared of MRSA. I don't remember the name, but it was very strong stuff. Might they do that with your DH?
They haven't yet but I wish they would - especially after 2 swabs come back negative and the third comes back positive - they never treat him when that happens. On the flip side, even if he was ever cleared of the MRSA, he would be re-infected the minute he walked into the ER again (and he would alert as MRSA past which means they isolate him automatically, swab him and when that set comes back negative THEN they take him off isolation). I'm hoping given the bacteria in his wound that they'll give him something else for an antibiotic. 10 days into it, the infection should be clearing with what he's on but when I changed the dressing last night, all indications tell otherwise. He's on his way into the OR now.
Praying for an attentive experienced anesthetist, an excellent surgeon who makes good choices, attentive caring nurses, and the best outcome possible.
We're home to recover!! The surgeon was in to see Tracy before he left for the day and he said his foot didn't look as bad as it did when we first went up to see him PRAISE THE LORD!! Tracy said it didn't take 5 minutes once the spinal anesthetic was working. BEST YET: Yes he has some nasty bacteria in his wound HOWEVER it is NOT MRSA (which means the wound won't be slowed by that miserable bug). The spinal anesthetic is still wearing off and Tracy is a little tipsy on his feet but he's home and I'm a happy woman.
For the past who knows how long, I have been changing dressings on Tracy's foot every two days battling a foot ulcer. He's been into the OR in the past with it (haha then we went to the Building429 concert the next night) and it was starting to heal. And then this week.... I noticed a slight change Tuesday night. The extra mural nurse (who oversees what I'm doing) was in yesterday to change his dressing (she pokes in once a week to check on it) and saw a significant change. It was supposed to be changed again this morning but I had to change it last night (and saw more change than what she saw yesterday morning). 12 hours later, the EMH nurse was back to see how it was doing and there is still MORE (not good) change! And so she has called the surgeon's office (again - twice in two days). This NEEDS to be looked after.... yesterday! (Prior to this I had been saying repeatedly it needed to be debrided again - it fell on deaf ears) We've fought with flesh eating bacteria in the past and given the changes that are happening so rapidly, I can't help but worry this is a possibility again right now (the one good thing about it is I don't see any necrotic tissue.... but then again I can't see into the "pocket" of the wound because of the callous that has grown over it (again). I wish they would take him into the OR this weekend when it isn't as busy. Him being MRSA positive really throws everything into a tail spin. Normally, he would have to have surgeries done in the morning because he's insulin dependent, recover in the day surgery unit and then go home but the MRSA makes him one of the last cases of the day and then he has to go into CCU to recover from the spinal anesthetic (because of the old trach site and it takes longer for the spinal to wear off). Am I discouraged? You really have no idea how true that is. Foot care is NOT my forté but I have been busting my gut for the past several months (feels like an eternity) trying to get this thing to heal. And all I can ask of you (if you've made it this far) is to pray about this. This is beyond discouraging. Pray that the surgeon will see him sooner than later (like today) and we can get this looked after before it gets any worse than it already is.
