Quick Post- Pressure Sores

I noticed someone came to my site looking for the answer for :

"Can Pressure Sores Kill?"

YES! They are very dangerous because they get infected so easily and they often occur in places that are hard to keep clean or to keep pressure off of.  They also usually occur in the elderly or those with compromised health and mobility like Hubbins (Hubbins has Quadriplegia).  The tunneling pressure sores are really bad because they can go to the bone and cause a bone infection (osteomyelitis). But as in all infections they can go septic (into the blood stream) and kill.

I'm not a doctor or a nurse, just a caregiver for my Hubbins.  There are probably other ways that pressure sores can kill but these are two that I am very aware of.

Please make sure you get a home health nurse or someone to keep an eye on your sores. It's very very very important.

Oh yeah, did I mention how important it is to have treatment for pressure sores? ;-)

Hope this helps. I know how hard it is to find information about these things.

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.

Pressure Sores revisited

I noticed that a lot of people are popping in regarding my post on pressure sores. I just wanted to update about Hubbins' pressure sores. The one on his chest has healed nicely. It is about the size of a quarter now after having been as large as a mango. I am so happy for that. I was afraid it was going to go to the bone. Especially after we tried using silver and found out he is allergic to it and it ate away his skin and tissue.

The second pressure sore that has mostly healed was located on his bottom. It was an existing pressure sore. I don't know when or how because he already had it before I met him and it had healed. This sore heals and then opens. Like a stage 2. It doesn't tunnel. It's flat and basically the skin just breaks open and falls off and then it heals again. We think this is related to his seating system and possibly his bowel program. We will be able to know more after we are able to use the new treatment system for his bowels. I pretty much think that it is the seating system with the bowel program irritating it after the fact.

Lastly, the tunneling sore is still present. It is at 4 cm long and after we started using collagen it became very narrow. The sore for some reason will not heal from the bottom up but likes to try to heal from side to side. I worry about this because of pockets. At this point, the home health nurse thinks there is an infection because of odor. I'm not so sure. I do believe he has a UTI, which is par for the course, so they are treating him with Keflex. The nurse thinks that between the collagen and the antibiotics this sore just might close. I hope she is right. It's been a full year since the sore began. We are ready for it to get the hell out already.

So that's where they stand. I worry because we will have to have a new seating system made and of course, as those of you who have searched this out know...it can be a recipe for disaster. Which would totally suck after healing these sores.

If you are having these problems, I wish for your sores to heal rapidly. I can see the frustration, sadness and at times, anger in my Hubbins and I wish these things didn't exist.

Pressure Sores

This post is going to stray away from the kids and actually talk about something my husband is dealing with as a quadriplegic and that is pressure sores. Quads aren't the only ones who get pressure sores. Anyone can get them. Those who are more prone to get them are the elderly, those who are obese, and the bedridden.

Let me just say I am not a nurse or CNA or anything like that. I'm trained by my husband to meet his needs.

Borrowing from medterms.com- A pressure sore is a sore area of skin that develops when the blood supply to it is cut off for more than two to three hours due to pressure on it and lack of movement. As the skin dies, the pressure sore first appears as a red painful area, which in time turns purple. Left untreated, the skin can break open and become infected. A pressure sore can become deep (ulcerate) and extend into the underlying muscle. Once a bed sore develops, it is often very slow to heal. For more info, click here.


I'll just take this moment to explain how deadly pressure sores can be. Once they get going, they tend to tunnel and kill the tissue inside, with any little pressure it tears the skin or tissue open and keeps it from healing. They get infected easily because they are an open wound and if they don't have proper drainage that stuff collects inside and becomes a serious infection. Sometimes it will tunnel to the bone. Pressure sores can also lead to sepsis, which is when the infection gets into the bloodstream and the person can die. This is what Christopher Reeve died from.


I almost lost Hubs to a bad UTI that went septic while we were waiting three months for his urologist appointment when we first moved here. It was awful. At any rate, one might ask "well why don't they change position before this happens?" and the answer is because they can't feel it or they can't move themselves and have no help.

My husband has no feeling from the shoulders down. He gets something called autonomic dysreflexia(AD). He starts sweating, he gets red blotches on his chest and his blood pressure shoots way high. AD is not good, it can cause a stroke. AD can be caused by a crease in his pants. His body can't tell the difference between that crease in his pants and something serious so his body goes into hyperprotective mode and stays there until whatever is causing it is found and fixed. Not every quad has this and the levels of body response vary.

Hubs has never gotten a pressure sore on my watch, however he had scars from pressure sores (big mean bad pressure sores) from his past when I met him. Last summer, he was being fitted for a new seating system. This was a disaster. The man who came out to our house was trying to save the state a few bucks and ended up screwing Hubs over because the cushion he replaced his old one with reopened two of his pressure sores from the past on opposite sides of his bottom. Once those pressure sores are formed the skin is always compromised and it is easy for them to reopen.

The new seating system also started a sore on his arm. I'm happy to report the sore on his arm is almost gone. But the two sores on his bottom are still there. I think they would have healed mostly by now if we didn't have other issues interferring with their healing process but that is another story.

Another quad was asking about pressure sore prevention and care and I thought it might be good to share some excellent videos I found on youtube. I also didn't think it would hurt to share some info that most people wouldn't really have occasion to know about.

Here is the link to the first part of the video on youtube, there are 4 parts. If you are looking for something to give you a general overview and have dealt with pressure sores but don't know the semantics of it, this is a good video- Pressure Ulcers

For now, Hubs is staying off his butt as much as possible. He hates being stuck in bed, but what can he do? We clean out his wounds twice a day. The one that is tunneling has stopped at 3.5 cm and we pack it with this product called mesalt which is sort of like a tightwoven gauze with chemicals in it that are supposed to promote healing.

Hubs health is stressful on both of us. I think for Hubs the reasons are obvious. In my case, it's probably obvious too, he's my husband. Everyday, I can see him deteriorate. I know we are all dying every single second from the minute we are alive but I can see what would take others years to occur happening with him quicker and it scares me.

The other stressful issue is his family. I liked his family when we met. I thought I was going to get the family I never had. They all used to meet up at Hubs house for dinner and they would go places together.

As I spent more time with Hubs, I saw that everywhere he went he was basically a doormat, he would let people get away with a lot of things and I encouraged him to speak up for himself and I supported him and stood with him. Unfortunately, he had some standing up to do with his family. I was going to step out of that but he wanted my support so I silently stood by him and ended up being blamed by his family for his sudden change.

After that I saw through my rose colored glasses of a new family and realized Hubs needed to do what he was doing and it was a long time coming. I guess I gave him what he needed. He had depended on them for so long and had no other choice but to not rock the boat. Now that he had someone else to lean on...well...he went for it. lol

Even though his family was awful to me in the end, I still feel a strong sense of responsibility to them for Hubs health and care.

I know it is Hubs decision to keep them at the distance that he does. I know he has given them chances to reach out to him because of the guilt trip they tried to lay on him and I know that they haven't tried very hard and that hurts him. It confuses me because on one hand, I understand how he feels about them not contacting him via e-mail after their whole "we aren't ever going to see you again..." deal...but on the other hand I'm like Uh...you wanted them at a distance so how are they supposed to know anything different? LOL! I just try to stay out of it, yet still support Hubs decisions because he has his reasons.

But it still scares me because when Hubs does pass, I know they are going to blame me and I just don't think I am strong enough for that...