I got a wound vac this week

[rybread]

I've had this little tiny sore on my right butt cheek for quite a while now. It started one day from having diarrhea. It just ate through a fresh scar that I've had since July and caused a 1 x 2 x 1 cm sore on my butt back in December. I finally saw a picture of it today thinking it would be something huge but it's a little tiny thing. Hopefully the wound vac while help it heal really soon because I'm honestly tired of being on bed rest. Between the sore I had last year that put me into surgery in July and this little thing, which I can actually feel, I'm going crazy. I feel like I've spent the past year on bed rest. The worst part about this one is like I said, I can feel the damn thing and it hurts like hell. My neuro pain all the way down my leg is amplified and of course nothing really helps it. Then to top that off, because of all the time I spend in bed, my back is killing me. I imagine I'm getting feeling back because it never felt like this before nor have I ever been able to feel a sore before. I have a caregiver that helps me once in awhile whose help with lots of quads, even some with injuries lower than mine and she says I have the most function out of all of them. She thinks I'm incomplete and I'm starting to wonder myself. I can feel when people do bowel care, not normal like, but I can feel it. I've been going through the Mayo Clinic here in Scottsdale for a long time and they've never checked me for being complete/incomplete, just placed my function as a C-5/6 quad. Who knows, maybe I'm incomplete after all but never really worked out any of the muscles that might work. I've always felt confident I had some muscles in my back, but nobody else could verify it for me. Anyways, I guess that's all I have the say right now and I wanted to get out the fact that I have this little wound and I can feel it.

[Tiger Racing]

Originally Posted by rybread

Hopefully the wound vac while help it heal really soon because I'm honestly tired of being on bed rest. Between the sore I had last year that put me into surgery in July and this little thing, which I can actually feel, I'm going crazy. I feel like I've spent the past year on bed rest. The worst part about this one is like I said, I can feel the damn thing and it hurts like hell.

Sorry you're in more pain. I understand how frustrating these things are. It feels like your whole life is on hold and it will never end. Just keep reminding yourself that it will.

Who knows, maybe I'm incomplete after all but never really worked out any of the muscles that might work. I've always felt confident I had some muscles in my back, but nobody else could verify it for me.

I can't count how many times I've complained of pain and had people ask if that is a "good sign" that I am recovering function. Don't I wish. If only sensation and motor function were the same thing. Hel, if only the ability to feel pain was the same as the ability to feel... anything else. That being said, have you ever tried biofeedback?

In any case, I hope that you recover soon and completely and that your pain is shortlived from here on out.

C.

[RAFS]

Originally Posted by rybread

I've had this little tiny sore on my right butt cheek for quite a while now. It started one day from having diarrhea. It just ate through a fresh scar that I've had since July and caused a 1 x 2 x 1 cm sore on my butt back in December. I finally saw a picture of it today thinking it would be something huge but it's a little tiny thing. Hopefully the wound vac while help it heal really soon because I'm honestly tired of being on bed rest. Between the sore I had last year that put me into surgery in July and this little thing, which I can actually feel, I'm going crazy. I feel like I've spent the past year on bed rest. The worst part about this one is like I said, I can feel the damn thing and it hurts like hell. My neuro pain all the way down my leg is amplified and of course nothing really helps it. Then to top that off, because of all the time I spend in bed, my back is killing me. I imagine I'm getting feeling back because it never felt like this before nor have I ever been able to feel a sore before. I have a caregiver that helps me once in awhile whose help with lots of quads, even some with injuries lower than mine and she says I have the most function out of all of them. She thinks I'm incomplete and I'm starting to wonder myself. I can feel when people do bowel care, not normal like, but I can feel it. I've been going through the Mayo Clinic here in Scottsdale for a long time and they've never checked me for being complete/incomplete, just placed my function as a C-5/6 quad. Who knows, maybe I'm incomplete after all but never really worked out any of the muscles that might work. I've always felt confident I had some muscles in my back, but nobody else could verify it for me. Anyways, I guess that's all I have the say right now and I wanted to get out the fact that I have this little wound and I can feel it.

Hey Ryebread,
I'm so, so sorry to hear that your laid up again ! What a bummer. I hope that little sore heals quickly on the wound vac. I hope you will be able to get on with life real soon. Your say your back is killing you? Have you asked any body to give you a massage to help you feel better? What works real good for me when my back bothers me is rubbing it with mineral ice that is blue & smells like eucalyptus. There is also a product called Bio-Freeze which smells the same. It comes in gel form or roll on form.
Hope you will start feeling like yourself real soon.

Wishing you a speedy recovery !

Regards,
Bob
Fellow CC member

[SCI-Nurse]

Rye, you should be on intermittent (not continuous) suction with the VAC right now, and the amount of suction can be adjusted down a little. This has helped a lot of our patients who get pain or AD with the VAC. Ask your KCI consultant or wound care nurse to do this for you if OK with your physician.

(KLD)

[wtf]

Rye,

Sorry to hear this, its a bummer for sure. Can you go outside at all? The weather's been kick ass except for yesterday when the wind kicked up. I dunno the warmth from the sun always makes me feel better. Take care and especially that sore.

[thehipcrip]

Hey Rybread...you have my sympathies -- bed rest bites. Hopefully the wound vac will prompt rapid healing so you can get back to your real life asap. I'll be thinking of you.

KLD, why do you think the wound vac should be used intermittently instead of continuously?

[SCI-Nurse]

KCI's Clinical Therapy VAC guidelines for use for pressure ulcers indicate that the normally it is recommended to use the continuous mode for the first 48 hours and then the intermittent mode (5 min. on, 2 min. off) should be used after that.

(KLD)

[trainman]

Didn't know that KLD, thanks. Sorry to hear about the wound, at least it isn't growing and you're able to have feeling.

[brocko]

Ryebread. Bad news, not much for it but patience I guess. Fucking things always take their own time. Hope you can de-stress while you're waiting. I find tv makes it worse; music & books are good, radio too, & drugs of course.
best of luck.

[rybread]

I just hope this thing is healed and I'm able to be up long enough to go to Day on the Lake on May 31. I've missed the past six years and really want to go get on a jet ski for a change or maybe waterski even know I'm terrified of water. After all, I broke my neck in a swimming pool. One of the local rehab centers here, Barrows rehab, throws a thing every summer to get people out waterskiing or jet skiing or just getting in the water. I kept forgetting about it but this year ran into my recreational therapist from rehab who I was pretty good friends with back when I was in rehab, and for a short while after. I really want to get this fear over with as part of getting on with my life. Thank you everybody for your encouragement. I would post a picture but I need to get a new one with my balls not in it. ;-). It will be kind of hard to ignore it or block it out without covering up the whole sore, but it's really not big at all so hopefully I will make it.
WTF, I wish I could get outside. I'm going to be completely white again here soon. Like I've always said in the family has said, I'm the whitest Mexican you would ever meet. :-)