Here’s a weird one for you. Consider yourself warned, as there is talk of wound care ahead. I’m not offended if you stop reading here, I promise. You can catch the next one. No hard feelings.
So. Brady has two wounds on his back, right? A pressure sore in the centre, and cellulitis ulcer off to the left side. With the IV antibiotic treatment, the infection started to lift on the third day, and once his body wasn’t producing any more pus (I warned you!) it became clear that his ulcer had tunnelled under the skin. Our doctor asked for a picture and immediately knew we would need help. It needed packing, which means home care visits every single day, including weekends, until it was healed.
What I mean by tunnelling is that its not just the sore thats visible, but it has a whole pocked underneath the skin. It can’t just close up normally, and we don’t want to leave that open pocket in there to breed further infection and all that fun stuff. What I mean by packing is filling it with something safe that keeps it nice and clean, and slowly slowly, it will start to heal on the inside, and we will need less and less packing, until finally its only the visible opening left, and then it can close up properly. Its a lot of work to get it closed, but its working 💜 Thank you, Lord!
Fun fact! Or, possibly not fun, but, fact! If you’ve ever had dry socket in your gums after having teeth pulled, they pack it with the same stuff. It tastes awful, I can confirm 🤮 Horrible.
But!
It smells CLEAN!
These days, when we’re laying in bed, and Brady leans forward, I catch a whiff of the packing. Its coated in iodine, and its a pretty strong smell, but it smells SO clean. It smells like success! Lol! Its so odd, I know this, but when I smell that smell, I know he’s getting better, and it brings me so much comfort and relief!
Triggers are weird.
Anyway, for you nurses out there, Bradys packing has gone from 45 cm down to 20 cm!! That is HUGE victory!! Over halfway there!!