# Get Into A Wound Center



## moore2me (Aug 12, 2014)

Wound Centers are fairly new departments hospitals have created. As usual, I was skeptical of new enterprises of the healthcare system, but this one is good, necessary and may save lives, our mobility, our legs, and our self image.

I was sent to my local wound center by my dermatologist because a sore that came up on my hip would not heal. The dermatologist said it was a "pressure sore" from sitting or from contact, (like a bedsore).

The learning curve I ran into the first day I was at the center was steep and fast. I was impressed by the knowledge the nurses & doctors had. They were very kind to me and treated me courteously. Here's some of the stuff they had . . . . 

1. Exams were conducted on a modern, large, big hydraulic chair that they could adjust while I was in the chair. They also offered a bed for the exam if I needed one.

2. They had electric lifts handy, hyperbaric chambers, new bandage solutions that were just designed, photographic equipment that documented the wounds changes.

3. Ability to handle many different wounds. In the waiting room there were people who were on dialysis (diabetic) and had developed leg, toe, or port of dialysis. There were law enforcement officers who were injured on-the-job and they lost a foot or arm, etc. People came on crutches, in wheelchairs, I came on a rolling walker - most of us walking wounded.

4. If you need compression garments, they can make you some or get you exactly what you need. They can also have supplies sent to your home within 24 hours. They handle infections (staph), systemic health issues (diabetes or edema), trauma or accidents, etc.

5.* And God bless their hides -they took one look at my previously diagnosed "pressure sore" and told me "you have have been burned by an electrical short". They went further to ask me if during my recent surgery (one day before the sore showed up), the doctor had used an electric cauterizing knife. They then suspected that an electrical grounding plate was placed under my hip in that position? I said "yes." They further suggested the grounding plate had a short in it & I got electrocuted during my surgery. I was relieved to be cleared of having a bedsore, but the wound is slow to heal - six months so far. It is because I have poor blood circulation in my pannus & hip area. The wound and burn came from the inside and went out.
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## Ruby Ripples (Aug 12, 2014)

Very best of luck with your wound healing Moore, it sounds like you've found the perfect place for treatment. Shocking though that you were electrocuted during surgery. Good on the staff at the wound centre telling you though, they would often clam up and not say anything.


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## moore2me (Aug 13, 2014)

Ruby Ripples said:


> Very best of luck with your wound healing Moore, it sounds like you've found the perfect place for treatment. Shocking though that you were electrocuted during surgery. Good on the staff at the wound centre telling you though, they would often clam up and not say anything.



I agree with you Ruby, usually docs stick together and will not "rat" on one another. However. I had a strange medical history of wound complications that consisted of them evolving into pyoderma gangrenosum. This required me to take thalidomide pills for over a year to get the wounds to heal. This would have been a very serious and expensive route. I think they were so proud to "pull me out of that pit" and they had to have a clear explanation. (The head of the wound center made the call and his assistance backed it up.)

I thanked them immensely for spotting this and making the call. It was a load off my shoulders and their therapy is working (my body is just slow in responding). [What made me post this story was Russell's discussion about Louise wanting to get maggot therapy for her wounds.]


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## BigBeautifulMe (Aug 13, 2014)

Ironically it was multiple doctors at two different wound centers that misdiagnosed me and told me my issue was completely due to being fat and would keep happening until I lost weight, resulting in four hospitalizations that didn't have to happen. It wasn't until a nurse (during my last hospitalization) brought in an expert dermatologist that I was properly diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder. That dermatologist probably saved my life. I'm very, very wary of wound centers now.


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## moore2me (Aug 13, 2014)

I am sorry to hear that you were treated improperly. I hope you are doing better now. Lord knows, I have been thru some medical "malfunctions" myself and know what it feels like. It really makes us appreciate the good people working in the field.

(I have one story about the time a doctor almost got my dogs shot. I think I told it here years ago. But, when things go wrong . . . )


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