I am feeling a bit sad and frustrated this morning. As occurs every Tuesday and Thursday, Nurse Darina called to announce her arrival in ten minutes to change my leg bandages. Honestly, I don’t really need anyone to help change my bandages, as I do it by myself on all the other days. I have perfected my technique after many months, and now change my bandages quickly and with ease.
People dress wounds differently. For me, it begins with cleansing the wound with disinfectant soap, followed by a disinfectant spray. I then place a thin cloth screen over the wound. This is done to protect the wound with a permeable membrane. I have applied many different types of screens over the months, but I have decidedly selected a brand that is permeated with petroleum jelly and is large enough to cover the entire wound. Following the screen, I place a large absorbent pad over the screen, and secure everything to my leg with a stretchy cloth bandage. Voila! Darina, on the other hand, in addition to the cloth screen uses multiple absorbent pads, followed by some kind of diaper-like cloth over the absorbent pad.
In my opinion, her method is overkill. But in addition to supplies, Darina brings the ability to professionally evaluate my wounds as they heal.
This morning when I received her telephone call, I began to remove the bandages. But upon removing the absorbent pad, I suddenly had a fine jet stream of blood shoot out from a wound and onto the wall. Blood began pooling on the floor as I desperately tried to stop the bleeding. Darina arrived to see a huge mess on the floor.
This was not the first occurrence. It had also happened two months ago, with blood squirting onto the bedroom cabinet and staining a rug. My wounds are deep. Infections eat away at the tissue. I have deep holes where tissue once was, and I don’t know whether my body will ever refill the holes. But I do expect the wounds to heal at least so that there is some protective skin over the wounds and the blood vessels are no longer close to the surface.
Five weeks ago, I told my physician I suspected a leg infection. My legs just felt a bit “tingly.” While the nurse assured me that the wounds looked much better, she humored me and took a swab for analysis. It came back positive for an infection. Just as I had said.
I was put on an antibiotic appropriate for this type of bacteria and finished my regimen. Although I asked for another test, the nurse warned that I had to wait two weeks for another test. After two weeks, I returned to the office. My bacterial level (which is something I don’t fully understand, although the doctor told me that people who are bacteria-free have a count of 5), which had previously been 70, was now at 90. They put me on a stronger antibiotic and told me to return Friday. So, I wait.
The importance of being one’s own health care advocate is crystal clear. The health care system in Slovakia is more focused on treatment rather than on prevention. Had I understood this in the beginning, I would not be in the situation I find myself today.