A Week with Jackson-Pratt
OK, well, "A week with a surgical drain tube and suction device sticking out of my leg"... sure does sound less poetic than the title of this post, doesn't it?
As I reported in a previous post last Tuesday, I had the surgical drain implanted. Since then, it has been doing its job: keeping the fluid from building back up in the tissues. It has allowed the dermal layer (the layer under your skin) to lay down to the tissues underneath, and to begin the process of permantly adhering to those tissues. Literally overnight, the color of my skin around the suture line improved, showing that perfusion of the tissues was happening again. This is really good! Healing happens when blood supply is returned to tissues. Otherwise, it is very possible that a section of the skin might have not survived, or would have taken a very long time to heal. It has also had a nice secondary effect... the fluid that was building in my lower leg since the first surgery was also removed via gravity and suction. I kept my leg elevated most of the week to encourage it to drain. It was a little disconcerting when the amount of fluid removed increased, but it made sense.
My surgeon has kept close tabs on me during this last week. We have used a form of telemedicine to do this. Simply, I email him status updates daily, along with a link to pictures of my leg that I place on my domain. You can see these at http://www.portable-essentials.com/pics/knee if you wish. Warning: They aren't pretty. He then replies to my email, with any changes he wants me to make, or lets me know to continue doing what I am doing. And he answers any questions I have. I've been very impressed by his care and caring. Even this week, he is on vacation; however, he is continuing to read my email, and saw me this morning in clinic. He could have passed this off to someone else to deal with this week, but he didn't. For those of you who remember when my late husband Rory ruptured his patellar tendon, it was this doctor that was able to repair it so that Rory was able to continue to walk, until a few days before his death. He is very well respected, and I fully understand why.
On to this morning's appointment... things look good. Everything is healing, and the dermal layers are staying down. The drain is still putting out fluid, and although was briefly clotted off Saturday and Sunday, I was able to get it unclotted so it worked again. Took a bit of work, but it seems to be behaving again. With any luck, it might be out on Wednesday this week. This is a day-by-day thing, with no set date for it to be removed. This is just a plan at this point. Every day it is in, though, my risk of developing an infection is there. So the faster my body stops producing fluid around my knee, the better. If it comes out too soon, then fluid will build up again, and another drain will need to be placed. It wasn't fun the first time. I'd much rather not have to do that again. If I have to, of course I will, but lets hope I don't.
As I reported in a previous post last Tuesday, I had the surgical drain implanted. Since then, it has been doing its job: keeping the fluid from building back up in the tissues. It has allowed the dermal layer (the layer under your skin) to lay down to the tissues underneath, and to begin the process of permantly adhering to those tissues. Literally overnight, the color of my skin around the suture line improved, showing that perfusion of the tissues was happening again. This is really good! Healing happens when blood supply is returned to tissues. Otherwise, it is very possible that a section of the skin might have not survived, or would have taken a very long time to heal. It has also had a nice secondary effect... the fluid that was building in my lower leg since the first surgery was also removed via gravity and suction. I kept my leg elevated most of the week to encourage it to drain. It was a little disconcerting when the amount of fluid removed increased, but it made sense.
My surgeon has kept close tabs on me during this last week. We have used a form of telemedicine to do this. Simply, I email him status updates daily, along with a link to pictures of my leg that I place on my domain. You can see these at http://www.portable-essentials.com/pics/knee if you wish. Warning: They aren't pretty. He then replies to my email, with any changes he wants me to make, or lets me know to continue doing what I am doing. And he answers any questions I have. I've been very impressed by his care and caring. Even this week, he is on vacation; however, he is continuing to read my email, and saw me this morning in clinic. He could have passed this off to someone else to deal with this week, but he didn't. For those of you who remember when my late husband Rory ruptured his patellar tendon, it was this doctor that was able to repair it so that Rory was able to continue to walk, until a few days before his death. He is very well respected, and I fully understand why.
On to this morning's appointment... things look good. Everything is healing, and the dermal layers are staying down. The drain is still putting out fluid, and although was briefly clotted off Saturday and Sunday, I was able to get it unclotted so it worked again. Took a bit of work, but it seems to be behaving again. With any luck, it might be out on Wednesday this week. This is a day-by-day thing, with no set date for it to be removed. This is just a plan at this point. Every day it is in, though, my risk of developing an infection is there. So the faster my body stops producing fluid around my knee, the better. If it comes out too soon, then fluid will build up again, and another drain will need to be placed. It wasn't fun the first time. I'd much rather not have to do that again. If I have to, of course I will, but lets hope I don't.
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