An Almost Emergency

Greetings all, What an interesting day yesterday was. We thought we were going to have to visit the emergency room. Let me back up here and fill you in on what happened. My Hubby and I were discussing supper and what I might want him to fix and what he might want. We had come to an agreement, chicken wings, and he was about to get up to go start cooking. He had during the conversation teased that supper would be ready about 8:00. Way too late for me. Anyway, about that time the beeper alert alarm went off on my wound vac device. That was annoying to say the least. I had the instructions for thr device in my walker pocket and gave it to him. There was a yellow triangle lit up with an exclamation point so he read that it was an alert to possible leak. We could not find a leak that we could see or feel. I had noticed the drainage in sponge bandage over the incision had started turning a pretty shade of purple. Also the blister next to the bandage was getting bigger. We had not seen any drainage in the tube going from the bandage to the device all day either. We called the surgeons number and got an answering service and told them what was happening. She said she would page the doctor and call us back. In the meantime we called the hospital and tried to get connected to the surgical unit. No answer, I was not surprised as it was hospital patient supper time. The operator did connect us to the head nurse and she told chuck to turn it off and then back on. He had already done that once but he tried it again. She said to take me to the E.R. So a doctor could look at it. So hubby is getting me dressed to head to the hospital and saying maybe supper really would be at 8:00 when the phone rang. It was my surgeon. He spoke with hubby about what all was happening and what he had already tried and my surgeon said it was time to come off. The device is disposable an only good for 4 to 7 days. It was scheduled to come off on this monday at my rqehb appt. So hubby got instructions on what to do and then my hubby became my personal Dr. LOL! First a caretaker/nurse and now a doctor. I love my hubby so much for being willing to do whatever it takes to take care of me. I thought it would create a bloody mess but it did not. It pulled a bit at the skin but did not pull on the incision at all. The blister did pop so he let it drain and lightly pushed on it with a tissue to get it to drain a bit more and that was that. It was off! I expected pain and torture taking that thing off and really there wasn'nt much to it. Hubby just went slow and easy and took his time about it. We left it open to air out the rest of the evening while he fixed supper. I think I counted 38 staples but I could be wrong. I got to take a shower twice in the hospital and a sponge bath and at home I had a sponge bath but last night I got to take a shower and wash my hair. Woo Hoo! That sure makes a person feel so much better. Getting me into the bathtub is a whole different sturdy I will share sometime. In the meantime, Be Happy, Be Healthy, Be Safe, Tess