Saturday, June 11, 2011

can you smell me now?

my new high tech shower
Being a patient of home heath care nursing is kinda like being in jail. No vacations, no swimming, no beach, you get the idea! Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the fact that the wound care nurses are highly skilled and will ultimately get my leg healed quicker than if I just went to the doctor every Monday.They are the nicest ladies too! They came on Thursday for paperwork and Friday to set up my wound vac (Negative Pressure Wound Therapy). They will come to my house regularly on Monday and Wednesday's and Fridays until my doctor discontinues the treatment.

After doing all the medical necessities they attach this foam thingie that placed over my wound (it's literally a vacuum seal over the wound). There's a tube that carries beads of moisture from my leg  to the actual pump/vacuum that I have to wear over my shoulder or around my waist in a carry case. The purpose is to keep the wound dry so it grows healthy tissue and heals faster. I have to wear it 24/7.

Little did I know when my doctor ordered this therapy which he added to the traditional weekly therapy that I cannot take a shower except on Monday's. Can you smell me now? Every Monday after my doctor's appointment when he removes the vac to check my leg I can come home and shower, then the nurses  come and put it back on :(

Last night I was at my friend Becky's house with some other girl friends. We had a wonderful dinner pool side in the gazebo. Lovely cool salads, good wine, spirited conversation with good friends. Anyway we got to talking about my leg, being that they're my friends they are concerned about my health. And being that they're my friends their were of course a few giggles about the whole topic of how fragrant I might be by the end of the week since I can't shower until Monday. Sponge baths are not the type of bathing that really does it for me; but I guess I'll have to make the sacrifice to get this thing healed. So the wine was flowing and we got to talking about the different names that one might call a 'sponge bath'. A few possibilities that were mentioned were  a 'bird bath' and a 'whores bath'.

Do you have a funny name for 'sponge bath' that you want to share? Believe me I could use a laugh.....

4 comments:

  1. Sponge baths?
    My mother used to say: -
    Wash up as far as possible and wash down as far as possible - then wash possible.


    Your vacuum dressing sounds intriguing and I wish you speedy healing.


    LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH

    Reading about your wound reminds me of a technique which uses specially bred maggots to clean wounds. Apparently these "microsurgeons" are very effective - as are the medical leeches, sometimes used to improve blood flow after tissue grafting.
    Whodathought!

    FW

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  2. FW,
    I got a little confused, I thought this was two different comments and started to write two different responses....not quite finished with my morning coffee yet!

    Thanks for the good wishes; love that possible saying- very cute.

    Not loving the vacuum carrying the dumb thing around on my waist is a pain; but I'd would HATE maggots even more YUCK.

    Now lets pray I heal and I don't need that graft.

    Glad to hear from you FW, hope your well.

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  3. The vacuum thing sounds painful. Does it hurt?

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  4. It feels a bit like the stinging of a paper cut once in a while- but that's about it. It's healing so much quicker with it on;technology is amazing!

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I'd love to hear what you have to say, so go ahead and leave a comment. I'll get back with a response as soon as possible.