Finally- Wound Vac Post!

First, I apologize for not doing this much sooner. I know I have quite a bit of traffic from people looking for info regarding tunneling pressure sores...so, without further ado:

Hubbins has had his sore for a year and a half. It was a very tiny sore that tunneled to about 5 cm, which made it not so tiny anymore. It started originally from an old pressure sore he had from decades ago. It reopened here after a new supervisor took it upon himself to try to save the state some money and changed his seating foam.

Anyhow, Hubbins is off the wound vac for now but it looks like he might have to have it put back on and I will tell you why, but first. Like I said, this wound has been on going with no movement after it reached 5 cm for about a year and a half. In about a month the wound vac had closed it to about .03 cm.  He had the wound vac off for about a week before he tried to sit in his chair, there had been no change to the wound. But the day before yesterday he was up in his chair for about an hour for dinner. This started the sore again. As we know, once the skin is compromised, well it's never as strong and we still haven't found the source of pressure which is frustrating.  I've irrigated and cleaned the sore and when the home health nurse comes out we will ask her if the vac should go on. This little machine is a miracle worker.

In the meantime, I was going to take pics and post it. But Hubbins sore is on his bottom. Then I remembered we had come across this video when we were doing research on the vac. This seemed to be the best to show what was what and yes the woman isn't wearing gloves but when you trust your nurse and there are protocols and handwashing, it's just easier to lay the drape and do the wound care that way because of the dressings, etc... Really, I am very conscientious about glove changes, especially when it's other people, etc... but the point is to see what the wound vac does and not judge the nurse who obviously did her job without complication for this boy.

There are many other videos and the wound vac doesn't work for everyone. Sometimes the skin is too delicate. I'm not getting paid by the wound vac place or anything for this. I just wanted to let people know that it is wonderful. We would have had the vac put on much sooner if his doctor at the time wasn't nervous about it because she didn't know about it. But she moved out of the state and his new doctor saw no problems with it. The wound measurement days were so exciting, especially at first because it moves so fast. Then there comes a point where it just stops and that's when you have to test out the waters to see if the skin is really ready.

There are actually plenty of videos on youtube for the wound vac. Some aren't so good, some are very graphic as pressure sores can be ugly.  I love this little machine and I will update again on whether Hubs has to put the vac on again or not. If any one has any questions, feel free to comment and I will answer what I know. lol!

Thanks to the guy who did this video and shared with people, I hope you don't mind me passing it on. It's one of the best out there for demonstrating the wound vac that I have seen.