bif awareness month: Day 21! Todays topic: burns, sleeping blisters, pressure sores, skin checks, wound care. Many people that sit in wheelchairs all day have a pretty constant problem with pressure sores. We are taught very young that you should shift your weight in your chair as often as possible. I, thankfully, have never had a problem with this, but I have plenty of friends who have. Often, because of poor circulation or because of the site of the pressure sore having constant pressure, they dont heal well. When this happens, many people get placed on wound vacs for various lengths of time and it can also lead to skin grafts in severe cases. Other types of wounds can be blisters from not changing sleeping positions or burns from neglect of paralyzed areas. I have learned NEVER to go to sleep without something covering my feet because chances are very high that I will wake up with blisters from my feet rubbing together and I couldnt feel it. I have also burned my legs on numerous occasions taking things out of the oven, or taking things out of the microwave and I set it on my legs to stir, not realizing how hot it was. One time I was outside without socks on and burned the side of my foot just because it was up against the side of my chair and it was a hot day out so my chair was hot. Once I burned the top of my butt on a heating pad, and Ive also burned the top of my leg on a heating pad. When I was very small (preschool age) I was sitting on the counter mixing my dads coffee and didnt know my knee was pressed up against the cup and ended up with a blister. Even though I have not had the problem of healing, that doesnt mean it will always be that way. The older I get, my circulation could decrease. It is still extremely important for me to perform skin checks on all of my paralyzed areas to be as sure as I can that nothing is out of sorts and to catch something as early as possible, if it is. This is where it becomes a bit of a hindrance to me that I am so independent. Most people have aides that check on them at least every other day or so. I do not have any type of assistance that comes to help me for anything and I live on my own. So, it is extra important without an extra set of eyes for me to check myself over very well. Several months ago I switched massage therapists and thankfully the one I switched to used to be a counselor at a disability camp I attended AND she had a brother with nonverbal CP. So, she instinctively sees things and checks for things even without really trying or being asked to. It just so happened that I had a very small open wound at the bottom of my scar that she spotted. It was just on the surface, and I got it healed up in under 2 weeks but it was right on the curve of the lower back that gets the most pressure when sitting and if she hadnt have caught it when she did, I could have been in BIG trouble.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 13:24:56 +0000
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