One, two, three, four, pressure.
I have my doctors appointment tomorrow, and I'm going to talk to him about pressure sores.
I wouldn't look that term up if you have a weak stomach by the way.
Pressure sores start out like what I have, inflammation, bruising, redness, feeling like it's on fire, then over time, they turn into bed sores which are huge nasty open wounds on the skin.
Why am I going to talk to him about it?
My shoulder area is still messed up, it is still red and inflamed, hot to the touch, and small eraser sized black and blue spots around the left shoulder blade, the scar line, and a few on the right shoulder blade.
With these titanium rods in, I can only sleep on my back, any other position hurts.
Stomach is not recommended at all by the doctors, it puts too much pressure on the rods, and sleeping on my sides is painful on my hips and rib cage, so I sleep on my back every single night.
The injections he did didn't help at all, the flector patches made me itch, and the bio-freeze, while it numbs the skin's surface, it doesn't get down into the muscle where it's really sore.
I believe after doing some reading, that I have a pressure sore on that area.
I am concerned that it's going to turn into a bed sore.
I need help from my doc with this, I don't want a bed sore, and that may not be what this is, but this thing isn't going away, and honestly, I'm scared that it is turning into a bed sore.
A pressure ulcer is an area of skin that breaks down when you stay in one position for too long without shifting your weight. This often happens if you use a wheelchair or you are bedridden, even for a short period of time (for example, after surgery or an injury). The constant pressure against the skin reduces the blood supply to that area, and the affected tissue dies.A pressure ulcer starts as reddened skin but gets progressively worse, forming a blister, then an open sore, and finally a crater. The most common places for pressure ulcers are over bony prominences (bones close to the skin) like the elbow, heels, hips, ankles, shoulders, back, and the back of the head.
I need to know what to do to heal this before it gets worse, if I need to get a special pillow or padding to put under my shoulders at night, medicine to rub into it to heal it, get the tissue "living" again.
I'll do whatever it takes because I really am scared, after seeing pictures of bed sores and reading about them, I am sorta freaking out here.
The CT scan and xrays showed no problems with the bones or screws and rods, but the CT scan did show that part of muscle was torn.
I've been doing exactly as I was told, keep my arm in the sling when just sitting or not doing stuff like cooking, cleaning etc, wear it at night, and use the pain patches.
The injections he gave me should have helped with the pain, but they didn't even touch the pain.
This should be healing by now, it's been like this since April 10th, it should be getting better, but it's not.
Each and every morning when I get up, it feels worse and worse, it burns, getting out of bed is just so ugh.
Even wearing the sling over night so my arm is not mobile, unable to move it around, it is just on fire in the morning, like keeping it completely immobile all night, is actually making it worse.
Bah.
This is just all so frustrating, but I'm over it.
If he says I need a foam pillow or a big sheep skin woolly thing to sleep on, I will.
If he says rub on bag balm every day, I will.
This pain has just got to stop.




Comments
Isn't it awful when we have to research what's wrong with us? I do hope you don't have a pressure sore and if you do, that you get the treatment you need ASAP. If you can get a referral to ET nurse I'd suggest that. They're the ones that know how to handle pressure sores most often better than doctors do. Feel better.
Posted by: Connie | May 13, 2008 11:20 PM
I don't have the extreme problem you do, but I do have fibromyalgia and I know about pain when I lay in any position in bed for any period of time. My only help right now is the 3 inch memory foam layer I have on top of my mattress. It reduces the pressure somewhat. More so than a regular mattress, that's for sure!
Posted by: Carol | May 13, 2008 11:29 PM
I wonder if you are having a local skin reaction to the pain patches (apart from the main muscle problem)? It seems unlikely to me that you would get a pressure sore from lying on your back at night if you are up in the daytime. Either way, I would agree that a memory foam topper would probably help alot.
Posted by: Chris (Singer) | May 14, 2008 8:07 AM