My most recent leg hole is finally closing up. It has been three weeks since the bloodthirsty door corner of T-Hoe gouged out some flesh while I was getting out to put air in the left rear tire. There's some thanks for ya!
The most recent course of treatment has been to cover the hole with a triple-antibiotic-ed bandaid, and then wrap it with a velcro elastic wrap that The Pony had holding the temporary brace on his broken ankle for two weeks. The combination of the ointment/bandaid and pressure seem to have done the trick. Let's not forget that the original Grand-Canyon-sized gouge took six weeks to heal! This one is three weeks in.
This wound, too, is in an unfortunate location, high up on the left calf, just under my knee bend. I can't get a good view of it, and have to feel like Helen Keller to discern where the hole is when trying to line up a fresh bandaid. For the past week, I've been leaving the bandaid on after the shower, and then letting Farmer H apply a knew one after supper. He also takes a picture with his phone, so I can compare how much it heals.
For a while, the moisture kept seeping out, and Farmer H would have to dab at the area with a paper towel before putting on the new bandaid so it would stick. That has not been a problem for the past five or six days. This bandaid is the Country Mart store brand. It still causes a little itch, but nothing like that flesh-eating brand name that Farmer H brought home.
Anyhoo... on Tuesday night, the area was not so itchy, but the bandaid was hard to remove. It hadn't loosened during the shower that afternoon. Farmer H took the picture, then spent a while putting on that new bandaid.
"Why are you touching it? What are you doing? You got a wrinkle in it again, didn't you? That's what you're trying to fix!"
"Yeah. I got a little wrinkle..."
I sat down and got my wrap ready. Reached back to see if I could smooth out the wrinkle first. I didn't feel it. As I pulled my hand away to grab the wrap, I saw BLOOD! Blood smeared on the fingers I had been using to smooth my bandaid!
"What's THIS? Why didn't you tell me it was bleeding?"
"You scratched it!"
"No... let me see the picture! That's where you keep putting the bandaid. The skin peeled off. That's why I told you to change the angle a little every night."
There it was, plain as day. On the left side, where the bandaid had been peeled off, were two drops of blood. Evenly spaced. As if a miniature vampire had sunk his fangs in. Two drippy drops of blood.
"You wiped that off, didn't you? Before putting on the bandaid?"
"Yes, HM. I wiped it off."
"With WHAT? I didn't give you a paper towel. It hasn't been moist. The bandaid has been sticking."
"With my hand."
"EWW! Who does that? Wipes blood with a bare hand? That's just wrong! And now you put the bandaid over it, and it's obviously leaked through. So now my wrap will get blood on it. I guess I'll try to hold a tissue on there with the wrap..."
Seriously. The treatment is worse than the affliction with Caregiver H.
2 comments:
Why are you still putting bandaids on it? Once the wound hasn't been seeping for a day or two it's best to just leave it alone to dry up and heal, and it certainly shouldn't still be needing antibiotic cream.
River,
For two weeks, it did not heal at all. Kept seeping. Covering it and applying outside pressure made it start healing. If I leave off the pressure, it will seep again. If I put the wrap on without a bandaid, that's not very sanitary. Thus the bandaid with ointment, and pressure from the wrap. You can see daily progress, with a little more closing up each time. I'm not going to leave it open and risk taking SIX weeks to heal like the last one. The middle of the deepest part of the gouge does not have a hard scab. It's still moist flesh. The ointment keeps the bandaid from sticking to it and ripping off the newly healed part every day.
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