Mom Slipped and Fell

Mom had another accident on Monday. She fell in the bathroom at her foot doctor's office. When she came out she had a large gash in her leg. The cut was about 6 or 7 inches long and the skin had spread over an inch. It was pretty scary looking. She didn't even know she had injured herself.

Fortunately we were at the foot doctor's office and they helped get it bandaged up so we could safely transport her to a walk-in clinic. I called her regular doctor's office but they were already booked up for the day - it was 2:30 in the afternoon.

The foot doctor was sure that she would need stitches and steri strips. When we got to the walk-in clinic they said they didn't want to do stitches because her skin is so fragile it would just tear and that would be worse. So they put something called a biocclusive dressing on it to hold it together. It's the kind of bandage that is clear like plastic but the skin can breathe through it. They said it should hold the wound together until it starts healing on its own, and in a few days it would probably come off by itself. But they recommended she be seen in 2 or 3 days to check for potential infection.

I made her an appointment with someone at her doctor's office on Wednesday. On Tuesday morning she called Diega and said her leg had bled and the bandage was getting loose and ready to come off. She wanted Diega to change the bandage for her. Instead I called her doctor's office. They said it sounded like she just needed the dressing changed and Diega could bring her in for a nurse to do that. I made the appointment.

When Diega took Mom in to see the nurse they found that her leg had already started an infection. Her skin was red around the wound indicating infection under the skin. A nurse practitioner prescribed antibiotics. They changed her dressing to something more conventional - a nonadhesive pad with gauze around. Diega would have to change the dressing the next morning (Wednesday) and then on Wednesday afternoon I went to Olympia and took Mom to see the doctor. Diega came too and was able to give more information about how the wound looked the day before than I could since I didn't see it on Tuesday.

The doctor had the same nurse who had seen it the day before take another look. The nurse and Diega agreed that it looked worse. The red area had widened and it now felt hot to the touch. The doctor decided not to change the antibiotics because Mom had less than a day's worth of dose in her and we needed to see if this antibiotic would do the trick.

Diega changed the dressing this morning and my brother-in-law took Mom back to the nurse. Both Diega and the nurse agreed Mom's leg is looking much better. It is no longer hot to the touch and the red area has receded. Yay, the antibiotics are working.

I talked to Mom's neighbor Susan and she graciously agreed to change my mother's dressing each day while her leg gets better. I cannot express how grateful I and my family are that Susan is willing to help in this way. You just don't find such good neighbors every day. Thank you Susan!!

Did I take pictures? You bet. I took a couple photos on Wednesday at the doctor's office while the bandage was off. I wanted something for comparison in case her leg appeared to get worse. I didn't embed the photos here because I know some are squeamish. If you would like to see them the photos are here and here. The first picture is of the actual wound where it was cut. The second photo is of the back side of her leg where the redness was wrapping around.

Let's hope Mom's leg continues to heal and that she can keep from falling any more!