Just Kidding

12/12/2007
They (Drs Layton & Reiley) took Calamity into surgery where they were going to make 2 small "tension releasing" incisions, where they could then pull the skin over the screws to close the wound. When they cut her splint off on the surgery table, they looked at her wound & decided it was begining to granulate at the edges (a good sign, meaning the antibiotics are finally working!) and making 2 more incisions might only create a new opening for a different bacteria to enter. So they decided on a different course of treatment.

Dr Layton (the soft tissue specialist) has had a lot of luck with a topical product & an antibiotic impregnanted gauze combination, so they opted for that course of treatment right now. She still needs daily dressing changes.

Dr Reiley also got another confirmation of a different bacteria growing on her culture, so added a sulfa drug to her antibiotic cocktail. The culture has grown all it can now & we are taking the appropriate antibiotics.

I saw the wound today at dressing time & the edges are actually looking much better than they have, but the screws are still visable well, the bottom 2 anyway. I'm not sure how they will deal with that situation in the future weeks, I'll ask Dr Reiley tomorrow as he is her orthopod. I'm sure the skin can not completely granulate over those screws.

All in all, the wound looks better & we feel better. It's still going to be a long heal & more procedures may need to be done, but I actually see heaing and don't feel like every day is "groundhog day" anymore. :-)