The Wound Vacuum

Warning: this post is going to be pretty ugly. Literally. We decided to track the healing progress over the 6+ weeks. Yes, it's raw... but it's a fascinating up-close look at how the body heals. We're typically sewn up after surgery, and we don't get to observe what's going on in there. So.... here it is.

They surgically removed a big chunk of inflected flesh out of John's left hip -- about the size of a smallish lemon -- leaving the wound open to monitor the infection. It will heal from the inside out.
This photo is one week after surgery...
that ridge you see along the inside edge is new growth in just one week's time. The day after surgery, this wound was completely scooped out -- a clean hole. That first week's growth was amazing.

They stuffed the wound with sponge to soak up all the fluid. A plastic tube sucks the fluid from the sponge into this portable machine attached to John... the "wound vacuum" (that's really the name).





















Every M/W/F a wound specialist comes to our house. She gives John lots of local pain meds. She pulls the old sponge out of his wound, cleans the wound, and stuffs a new sponge back in. The white one goes into the deep tunnels & the black one fills in the surface area.















When she's all done, she attaches the plastic tubing and seals up the wound.





When the wound-vac is turned on, it compresses, air-tight, and continually sucks 24-7.




Ummmm, can we give a little shout out to the pain meds!!! After viewing this, you may need some pain meds yourself! John's all about good drugs these days. Sorry if this was a bit much visually... but it's what we're living & breathing these days... our routine until March 15th.