Amen. Whenever my caregiver spots a red spot, we first try turning me on my side for a few minutes to see if it diminishes the redness. We check for the ability to blanch.
If it appears like it might develop, I scrap all other plans. I end up staying in bed until it goes away. Of course, I do try DuoDERM or some of the other things like that if I think it's not in any danger of becoming a sore. I had one spot pop up one morning and scrap everything. The next morning the wound was open and I ended up spending 10 days in bed. Then it was sufficiently healed for me to get back up. I discovered the cause of this one was an over inflated cushion in combination with my body being positioned a little bit different than it used to be. I have some problems around my tailbone. In fact, this morning we saw a red spot, which thankfully went away after lying on my side for about 30 minutes. I was concerned, so I put a real thin DuoDERM on the area and will check it again shortly. I've had too many people tell me that ignoring problem areas has led to them spending a significant amount of time trying to heal ulcers. On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:08 PM, Danny Espinoza <[email protected]>wrote: > Buy a smart stick and whack her upside the head with it**** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Wednesday, April 25, 2012 7:35 PM > *To:* [email protected]; [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [QUAD-L] Stage 4 pressure sore**** > > ** ** > > You can drag a dead horse to the trough, but ya still can't make them > drink the water............**** > > I would never wish a pressure sore on anyone. An ounce of prevention is > worth more then a year in bed and all that is necessary to heal one.**** > > **** > > Best Wishes**** > > **** > > In a message dated 4/25/2012 9:26:15 P.M. Central Daylight Time, > [email protected] writes:**** > > Hi All, > I have a neighbor upstairs, Dawn, who is C - 6,7 21 years post at 17 > She has never had a sore .… until now - a stage 4 Pete and I can not seam > to get her to take it seriously. It's located under her thigh where her > seat cushion meets her leg (obviously). Dawn told us about 6 months ago > that she had a red spot on her leg, but she didn't do anything about it the > beginning of March when she went to a wound center. They told her that she > needed a wound-vac, keep her leg elevated and to get a new cushion. I'll > bet you anything, they told her to stay in bed too … but she would never > tell us that. She also told us that the Doctor said "…by using the > wound-vac that the sore will heal within 1 1/2 months." > Her insurance wouldn't pay for the wound-vac or wheelchair clinic so she > could get a new cushion. By doing an appeal she now has the wound-vacn, > after a 4 week delay. To date she has not gotten a new cushion. We keep > telling her "… forget about insurance, go out and buy yourself a cushion." > she can afford it. BTW ~ her nutrition is hideous and she said her other > thigh is now getting red too. > I want to ask you guys, what can we do to convince her just how serious > this is? Isn't stage 4 to the bone? She actually had a neighbor across the > hall from her, quad C - 4,5 who lost his leg due to a pressure sore on his > leg. > Bobbie > > > > > > > > > Sent from my iPad**** > > =**** > >
