Kristin’s One Footed (Now Two-Footed!) Blog

Hello there crippled family. Well, I never thought the initials NWB would ever disappear next to my name. But, DENNIS…Here ye, Here ye…The ortho told me to put 10-15lbs and lightly tap my foot and slowly bear some weight. So, I have questions for all of you….I’ve looked at several of your pages, but want to make sure I’m walking in the boot correctly. And, what the $*#* is this boot made of?? And, I thought my splint was heavy…lord the boot weighs a ton. Anyway…I’m sure the wound ctr won’t like this..but, I’m trying to be careful and bear some weight on my foot. I don’t want to hurt my wound. Ortho wants me to begin PWB with 10-15 lbs. I’m trying to take it easy. In the boot are you supposed to go heel to toe…or just do it flat footed? Not sure what the proper boot walking technique is. And, I can’t tell if I’m putting 10-15 lbs of weight on it…bottom line..I’m just taking it easy. Anyone have any other advice on how you began to PWB that would be great.

And, I think I have C-diff…it’s an intestinal bacteria that you get when you’ve been on too many antiobiotics…how do you treat it??? After proper diagnosis…MORE antiobiotics will treat it. So, just waiting for results to confirm it then I’ll be on the correct antiobiotics.

So, just getting started in this PWB world, so let me know what you did. And, I will be sleeping in my light weight velcro splint thing. Did you guys sleep with your big ass boot on? Heavy Heavy!

No Dr. appt’s tomorrow for me! Yippee! Then, we’ll see on Friday if my wound vac vacation will be over and I’ll see if they need to hook me up again.

MOOO and good night!

WOUND LOOKS BETTER 6/13/08

Went to Wound Ctr today. Integra graft has adhered to my skin and over time it will take over my DNA. Hopefully the graft won’t slough off, but we’ll see. I have been moo’ing a little lately…but, that must be because of the part-bovine that I am now.  I am on a wound vac vacation as of today! YIPPEE! We may have to put it back on Friday, but right now I don’t need it. SO SO nice to have to not carry around the heavy purse and all the tubing. I’m going to love it while the vaca lasts!

I go to the Ortho tomorrow, but Wound Ctr is having me do no ROM or movement until the wound heals. So, I’ll have to educate the Ortho or “inform” him of this.

My stomach is still messed up…it’s been 4 days…I won’t go into details, but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.  I’m done with all the antiobiotics. I hope that tomorrow my stomach is better. If it’s not better tomorrow then I’ll go to I.D. and ask to be tested for that bacteria that can show up in your stomach after taking lots of antiobiotics. If I have that bacteria (cld C-diff) then more antiobiotics to take care of that. We’ll see. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

So, I’ve attached pics for you. On June 5th you’ll see I don’t have a lot of granulation, nice pink tissue in the wound. On June 10th I had a wound vac hooked up to me, and you’ll see with 4 days with wound vac (June 13th) there is more pink granulation tissue forming. Hope you enjoy the pics. They’re not my best side. I’ll update with more pics when I start growing a tail and spots. MOOOOOOOO.June 6PIC 

Hello fellow gimpers! I’m hanging in there. Dragging my wound vac around. Fun in the night when I have to get up to pee countless times..sometimes I wonder..hmm..what is keeping me from moving..and I’ve realized that I’ve forgotten to pick up my purse to drag my cords with me. I have to re-charge wound vac at night. It stays on all the time. The only bad thing is I feel like such an elderly person..I think folks think it’s a catheter bag or something. So, I try and wear cords on outside of pants so they can see it’s going from my foot to my little purse thing. The only time that I’m real uncomfortable with wound vac is at a restaurant..it’s kinda gross seeing tubing everywhere. Good thing is that there is really nothing being sucked out of the vac. Usually when folks have a wound vac the canister is filled up each week. With mine, nothing is even sloshing around…so that’s a good thing. I think it’s because I was packing it and cleaning it in the bleach agents for so long it really dried it out.

Anyway, on to the good part. Last Tuesday I got the wound vac, and they took new pics on Friday and you’ll see I’ve got more granulated tissue forming…and all of it is because the wound vac.  And, last Friday the 13th they also put an integra graft on the wound. So, I’m not part of the bovine family. The integra graft is made up of cow cells. It melts into the wound and they are thinking that the graft with the wound vac will really speed up my healing.

On the PT front, the wound ctr wants me doing no ROM or any movement right now because if I move my foot a lot it will unseal the wound vac. So, that’s on hold for now.

So, each week I go to the Wound Ctr twice a week. They remove the wound vac dressing. And, oh my…it’s like getting my leg waxed when they remove the tape. It literally pulls some skin off when they take it off. NOT FUN! They clean the wound then attach the wound vac again.

I am MRSA-free and am on my last 3 days of antiobiotics! I’m looking forward to those being out of my system because for the last 3 days I’ve spent my nights and days hobbling to the bathroom because stomach is so messed up with antiobiotics. I’ve been taking acidophylis and eating yogurt. It’s either a stomach bug or it’s all the drugs catching up to me.

I just wanted to share my lated pics with you. QUESTION- I knew how to post pics to my blog before. But, now when I try and add them I can’t. Pics are on my desktop. When I click on the add pic/image there’s no place to browse to the image. Can someone tell me how to add pics? THANKS! The first pic is on June 5, and the latest is June 13th after being on the wound vac for 4 days there’s a big difference in pink granulated tissue. I know…you’ll look at the pic and think it still looks bad…and it does…but it looks better than it did. So, hopefully it will close on it’s on in the next few weeks.  One day I’ll be weight bearing again. Tomorrow is another day. Had to put that…being from GA and all. We’re all just southern belles around here. …. not.

Happy Father’s Day to all of you dads! Hope you had a relaxing day and got waited on….wait…we’ve all been waited on a lot lately.

Yeah, swabbed wound Friday and today on my wound vac visit I got the results that it’s negative! That’s at 4 days of culture growth…so, not sure if it will grow anything else…but, YIPPEE!!!! MRSA is gone. So, hopefully it won’t show anything else in a few days..I forgot to ask about that. I’m sure one of you nurse-types may know the answer about cultures…like how long they wait to see if culture grows anything.  Guess those 2 strong antiobiotics I’ve been on have been doing their job. I go to I.D. on Friday…so, we’ll see if he wants me to finish the meds or stop them.

Well, I am __________ to say that I am the owner (renter) of a wound vac. I went to Wound Ctr this morning and they hooked it up to me. Fortunately because of all the antiobiotics I’ve been taking, I don’t see a ton of stuff being vac’d out of me. So, the wound vac adheres to the wound 24/7 and constantly sucks stuff out of the wound, thus promoting healing, etc.  I ran the tubing up my pants leg to hide it a little…but people probably think it’s catheter tubing or something. So, for a good 4plus weeks I’ll be lugging this purse-like thing around which weighs about 7 or 8 lbs. It’s heavier than my purse. It stays charged for about 7 hours, then I plug it in to recharge. The only disadvantage to having the vac is that the wound ctr doesn’t want me doing any ROM on the tendon at all for the next say 4 weeks. If I move the foot much it will un-seal the vac then I’ll have to return to wound ctr for re-dressing. I already visit the wound ctr twice a week. So, prior to today I was doing my exercises in hopes of getting into a boot and maybe doing some rehab but that’s put on hold until I’m off wound vac.

This morning at the wound ctr the Dr. was squeezing on and around my wound and different areas of the tendon…man it hurt SO bad! Then, he was pressing in and on the wound…YIKES! It was really painful. Then, when they turned the wound vac on that was painful…s^&*!  I felt like a kid who has been abused today.

On Friday when I visit the wound ctr again and they will put an integra graft on. It’s a non-surgical procedure where they lay the graft on my wound and it sort of melts into my skin. The integra graft is basically a synthetic graft made up of cow cells or something. With the wound vac and the graft…the wound ctr nurse is thinking that we may be able to close this holely mess of a wound in about a month. We’ll see…if everyone can continue the sacrifices, seances and oiji board on my behalf maybe I’ll be wound-free by summer’s end. Any psychic hotline’s would also be beneficial.

Lastly, guess I’m back to bath’s again. Shower’s were good while they lasted. I have this big shower bag like a condom that I wear in the shower, but there is no way to put the vac and tubing in it to keep it dry…so, bath tub here I come again. :(  I will say, the only good thing is not having to clean my wound twice a day…I go to wound ctr twice a week and they do everything…so, that’s nice.

Hubby is leaving town again. It’s a weekly thing these days.  I have a teenage babysitter being the fun committee for me these days so my kids won’t get board and they can get out and run around.  She takes the kids swimming and today they are going to see a real Monster truck. My 4 yr old son is excited. Hope everyone is staying cool! Thanks for reading my little story. I’ve learned a lot in this process. If anyone in my family has a wound…demand a swab! And, had I not gone to all these doc’s I would still be waiting and waiting for my wound to close. My out-of-network plastic surgeon didn’t believe in wound vac therapy. Because of cost I found a new in-network plastic surgeon who referred me to wound ctr. So, I’ve been over the river and through the woods to so many people but finally I think this may work. Only time will tell. If the wound vac and synthetic graft don’t work at closing the wound then the last alternative would be a skin graft. And, I hope with my at least 4 weeks on immobility that I’ll be facing bec of wound vac….I hope it won’t set me back too much in this whole rehab thing. But…set me back….SIGH…April 6th rupture…2nd set of crutches…not sure how much backwards there is to go. Happy Tuesday you guys…and girls too.

Well, it’s ironic because in a way I’m back where it all started……THE WOUND CENTER. I won’t recall my story from the beginning but I’ll just say that when my wound didn’t close I started seeing one sucky hospital’s (ok, I’ll tell you…Kennestone Wound Ctr) wound ctr for 3 weeks and it had gotten worse, etc. After seeing my ortho, 2 plastic surgeons, one infectious disease dr, one urgent care doctor and a partridge in a pair tree….I’m back at a GREAT WOUND CENTER. Yippee. Well, plastic surgeon referred to wound center at St. Joseph’s in Atlanta…if you live in Atlanta and have a wound…go here. It’s like going to Nordstrom’s vs. Dollar Tree for your prom dress. Seriously…just can’t tell you how qualified the folks “seem”….I say “seem” because of course time will tell. WIth the seance’s and my magic 8 ball I gave the wound folks…I think things will maybe be getting better for my wound on the horizon. At the wonderful and improved Wound Ctr the nurse is really qualified AND a dr. see’s you too…and my dr. was the Medical Director. Not that a name means anything, but at this stage I’m grasping for any type of hope for someone to fix me.  So, I’m back to the Wound Ctr’s protocol for treatment…which is they’ll tend to my wound twice a week, therefore…no more me cleaning it…which that’s a great time saver and I like. Also, I’ve been so worried about spreading my MRSA to my hubby and monkeys (2 kids) and now I feel better that I won’t be undressing the wound. So, wound ctr put this white cream around the edge of my wound (about 2 inch in diameter) and then they put iodosorb all in the wound. When they were putting it on they said it looks like baby poop. Yeah. And, yep it really does. Thankfully, without the smell.

Here ye, Here ye….on Monday a wound vac is being delivered to my house. And on Tuesday I’ll trek to the wound ctr for them to hook it up to me. In addition, the wound ctr swabbed me (yes, they swab everyone on their first appt…unlike the lazy a$$es at the OTHER wound ctr who kept saying for 3 weeks “It doesn’t look infected…we don’t need to swab.” Again, my wound was only 1 cm for 2+ weeks…I strongly feel that if I would have been taking strong antiobitics then then my wound wouldn’t be the volcano hole that it is. AARG. ) So, this great wound ctr swabbed me and we’ll see how the infection is looking. It results come back as negative then the wound dr will put an integra synthetic graft on it. He does it in his office and it sort of “melts” into my skin…so they are thinking with the wound vac and the integra graft that will be a double whammy to help my wound fill in. The integra graft is basically all the good protein cells from a cow. I know time will tell. It’s just funny that I began with the wound ctr after my April 15th surgery..and I’m not back with the Wound Ctr. The Wound Ctr doc listens well…he listened to me and he listened to his nurse when she recommended the wound vac in addition to the graft…so, that this guy will listen…that’s a plus.

Ortho appt was this morning. (my weeks are filled with all my doc appts) He assured me my tendon was fine. I was concerned that with my open wound my tendon is exposed and each day parts of it keep dying off. That’s why weekly the plastic surgeon cuts away the dead tendon. Well, I was SO CONCERNED that with all this cutting…and my open wound being open with exposed tendon for so long…that I’ll end up not having much tendon…so, we’d have to do reconstruction surgery on the tendon. So, all of this crap then back to starting point again. The PA at ortho said my tendon (I guess everyone’s tendon) is very thick. So, she better be correct. QUESTION-how wide are most tendons? I know I could google it, but you guys will know. So, ortho today had me point my toe to measure the strength and he said that tendon is doing really well. He gave me a boot to take home. He instructed me not to wear the boot though until I am at 90degrees. So, I’m not there yet, but I’ll try and keep pointing, flexing, ABCing my way to this. I do know that once they put the graft on me. And, again…that’s only if my infection is gone. …that with graft I can’t move my foot alot…they want pretty immobile. So, at least I have the boot. Hopefully I won’t have to use it as a pot for flowers because it will be so long before I’m in it. But, I still won’t be able to be weightbearing for a while..so, not sure what the purpose of going to the boot would be anyway. We’ll see.

Lastly-my crutches were getting so worn out. Despite the crutches falling on my hardwood floors a few times a day…I’ve been on them every day since April 6th and I wore all the padding off the front/back edges. Yep, I know I could have gone to med supply place and bought replacement pads…but I just opted to get new ones at ortho today….what’s more money in the scheme of this expensive injury. It does feel heavenly (ok, too strong a word) being on brand new crutches….or crunches….like a Christmas present. The bottom of the crutches suction really good, so I’ll be able to learn some new tricks on them I’m sure. I’m practicing handstands on the crutches. I would have never thought I would have worn out crutches….guess it’s a representation of my journey. I just hope my achilles and my one leg holds up nicely and doesn’t deteriorate like my crutches.

So, that’s what’s up in my world. Hubby has been working 7 days a week. Is out of town AGAIN this weekend. Oh, 7 year old daughter has beeen running kids baths, so 4 yr old and 7 yr old take a bath without my assistance…yeah! Well, tonight I asked her to wash his hair. When he got out of bath, later when his hair was dry I asked him if he had gel in his hair because it’s all crunchy. Well, she didn’t rinse his hair out at all in the front. Guess I can’t have perfection yet. But, at least she tried.

Night all!

So, out with the old and in with the new. I saw a new plastic surgeon that’s in-network yesterday. He cut away more dead tendon and it hurt this time. He asked how my tendon was functioning and how much of it I have left…like I’m supposed to know that. Anyway, I said my Ortho says “its fine.”  Plastic guy said that he doesn’t want to cut too much away because then I’d be looking at recontructive surgery. 

Tending to wound - I know that every Dr. has their own opinion…but man…each step of the way the different opinions in my wound care is crazy. This plastic surgeon doesn’t want me to use any bleach agents to clean or pack my wound in. (My old plastic guy and infectious disease dr wanted me to use the bleach.) New plastic said that the bleach is killing off my good tendon too. So, I’m now with a new school of thought…and that’s just to clean with soap and water and pack in saline. Interesting. This plastic guy is sending me to a good hospital’s wound ctr. So, tomorrow morning I go there. We’ll see what magic they can work with my wound. I just haven’t seen any progress since a few weeks ago when I began the strong antiobiotics. Wound Ctr said…enjoy your last shower today…so, beginning tomorrow it’s back to baths again cuz they don’t want me getting the wound wet. At this point I’d be willing to do anything or adopt anyone’s beliefs to show some type of progress.  When the plastic guy cuts away the dead stuff…more grows back the next day. If I continue down this road…I could be doing the same thing a few mths from now. So, I hope the new Wound Ctr tomorrow can give me some kind of hope and has some innovative tricks up their sleeves.

On Friday I go to my weekly Ortho appt again. He’s always so non-chalant…always saying..your tendon is fine, your tendon is fine, blah blah blah. I’m going to ask him how we can now FOR SURE that all is well. I guess that would be an MRI or something. Because we’ve been trimming away things for weeks now….and I don’t want to continue down the path if in fact I don’t have much tendon left. I’m doing all this for nothing…waiting for the wound to close if I need another surgery again to reconstruct. If that’s the case…let’s move on to the next phase, reconstructive surgery on the tendon…..and all ‘cuz the wound didn’t close from surgery. SIGH. Anyway, just wanted to keep you posted. I’ll let you know if I find any magic potion at tomorrow’s wound ctr appt.  

Hello everyone. I’ve been readind about all of your blogs and wondering when I’m ever going to be on the “normal” path and maybe be weight bearing at some point. I’m happy for all of you, but sad for myself. Sucks. But, oh well. I continue to clean the wound twice a day with a few things. Since I began taking the antiobitics, the wound looked a little better 2 weeks ago, but since then there’s been no change. I visit all the doc’s again every week. This week I’m switching over to an in-network plastic surgeon. The out-of-network plastic guy was going to cost me tons of money…and the in-network plastic surgeon is equally as qualified. So, that will be good. Also, I must find something different to care for my wound so that I see some progress. Each week the plastic surgeon cuts away the yellow, dead tendon (in the picture that I posted a couple blogs ago that’s what that yellow stuff was) but the next day the dead tissue appears again. And, while I try and use a lot of pressure when I’m cleaning it…it just doesn’t come off by cleaning. It’s gotta be cut off. As long as the dead tissue is there, the pink, nice granulated tissue which is needed to close the wound won’t appear. So, if I don’t figure out something to do different I can see me going mths and mths down this path with no result. I’ll ask the plastic surgeon about a wound vac (adheres to the wound 24×7 and sucks bad stuff out).

Infectious Disease Dr. says as long as wound looks stable that there’s no need to re-swab. I need to ask him how long the MRSA will be in my wound. Some people have MRSA for a long time…like a year or more. Still taking 2 antibiotics a day (Bactrim and Rifampin). I take acidophyllis each day because the antiobiotics are strong as hell.

So, I’m hanging in there. Cleaning my stupid holey wound a couple times a day. I have been trying to get out of the house some. It’s easy to sit here all day. And, my leg only feels good when it’s elevated really high in the bed. I went to my hubby’s soccer game yesterday, and watched my tennis team play their matches yesterday too.

The kids are still helping me, and hubby is being an angel also. When he travels each week it’s rough, but I look forward to his return. My daughter currently holds the #1 Daughter award. See, before we leave the house I make my 4 year old go to the bathroom and get anything out that he nds too. Well, ALWAYS he has to pee or poop wherever we go. Each week when I go to the pharmacist he ALWAYS has to go. It’s in a dr’s office bldg…and bathroom is over the river and through the woods, down the hall, etc. Well….it’s hard for me to crutch for miles…so, my angel girl daughter takes him AND SHE’S EVEN BEEN WIPING HIS BUTT!  So, this week she gets the award. I know…I know…you’re thinking…he’s 4 and should be wiping his own butt. He does most of the time…and then we “check” it. So, just wanted to share with you the extent my kids are helping out.

Have a great Monday everyone!