More medical woes

We went back to the foot doctor yesterday and he cut some more dead tissue away from DH's heel. The wound is growing in circumference but not getting deep, although this morning there was quite a bit of necrotic tissue that I hadn't noticed before. He’s been on Bactrim for about a week but the doctor didn’t culture it (which I didn’t even question until today – more on that later). Last week he referred DH to the wound care clinic at a local hospital and their first opening was this morning. Yesterday the foot doctor asked when his wound center appointment was, did a bit more trimming, and put him in a “cam walker” boot to help keep the pressure off the heel.

This morning at the wound center, they asked more than once if the doctor had done a culture. They were surprised that he had not done anything but prescribe the Bactrim but said he was probably in the mindset that DH had some sort of staph infection on his foot. They’re going to do a culture on Friday morning as the Bactrim has to be out of his system for 48 hours in order to get an accurate reading of any bacteria in the wound.

They also did a test to check his circulation to his toes on his right foot and said that he has some early stages of some circulatory changes. There’s nothing serious going on right now because he has good pulses to his feet but that he definitely has some changes happening. They were very happy that his sugars are doing so well.

The dressing they put on his foot has silver in it to help promote healing. It also contains calcium alginate (which we’ve used before on his neck when it was opened due to a staph infection from neck surgery). I watched her do the type of wrap they want on his foot so I can do it at home. I’ll change his dressing tomorrow morning and Thursday morning and then they’ll look at it Friday morning to see how it’s progressing.

I'm just really worn out with this. I know that God has a handle on things but this earthly body is sure tired. DH has trouble doing most things for himself so although he goes to work (most of the time), he's unable to put on his shoes and socks, can't fasten his coat, can't walk very far without difficulty (in fact, he's not supposed to be walking at all right now), can't unload or load his scooter into the car, has some basic hygiene problems, etc., etc., etc. There are times when I'm cleaning stuff up that I'm not sure if it was caused by the dogs, my grandson, or my hubby. I try really hard to not complain but I have no outlet. I don't have anyone to pick up the slack if I need it (my daughter also lives with us but she works full-time, is a full-time student, and has a developmentally delayed son - age 4 - to deal with). DD will jump in if I need her to but most of the time the responsibility for things falls on my shoulders.

Right now, we have a flat tire - clear to the rim flat. It's been flat for nearly a week. I can't change it, DD can't change it, and DH surely can't change it. I will have to call AAA on Saturday to see if they'll come change it. I don't know if they'll do any more than air it up for us.