This is a photo of what I look like daily.
I have not left my house since the surgery on 9/13/2010. I have a hard time just managing going to the bathroom, getting sponge baths, shampoo every other day and making it to bed.
I must admit when I am in pain I do manage to get to my computer in the kitchen. This blog has occupied my mind and helped me focus on other than the pain.
The outfit that I wear is a swimsuit cover as the tape from the graph wound on my leg tends to stick to shorts. Also the swimsuit cover is forgiving to my underarm area where the Vac is.
You can notice the swelling of my feet, hands and legs. My blood pressure has been high due to pain and I did have to take blood pressure meds and water pills again. My diet is high in fiber and I am taking stool softeners to avoid constipation.
Constipation is common with pain medictions.

The wound Vac machine.

This is the wound Vac machine.

It has a permanent place of residence with me now.

I am thinking of naming it, but there are no names that I can think of for it that young ears can hear!

The cord is attatched to my would vac sealed under my left arm.

I watch my blood go through the line across the floor and into a cannister that is attatched to the right side of the machine itself.

I carry the machine in the black pouch around my neck or hang near me when I am not mobile.

The machine has alarms that warn you if the "seal" to the vac on the wound has been broken. I have been careful and successful at avoiding an alarm thus far.

 I have been through one canister of blood from the wound. It has been five days since the vac was placed.

It comes with a charger.

Therefore I now have limited mobility by the charger cord and by the tubing that transfers blood from my wound to the machines canister.

The Wound Vac

This wound Vac was put on overtop of the skin graft on my last date of surgery.
It is supposed to make the healing process faster and with minimal risks of infection.
The skin graft and the wound Vac was done all in the same day 9/13/2010.
The range of motion of my left arm is now minimal and I apologize that I could not lift it entirely to show you the entire wound and wound Vac.

The "Donor" site.

I call this skin graft the "donor" site. It is where the surgeon removed layers of skin to be placed in the axis. (armpit) to close the open wound. It is a much larger skin graft than I ever anticipated and the pain of the graft site is about as painful as the open wound itself. There is much to be said about the healing of this portion of my experience as well.. for now I will just upload the picture and get into the gory details later.
This is on my left leg thigh from near the groin area to almost the knee. I will take measurements as my home health care nurse arrives again tomorrow.

Graphic video. Third day nurse visit.

This is video of the nurse actually unpacking and repacking my wound. 

Yes! Ouch!

 The home health care nurse does this daily. This was my most painful day as of yet, due to going to my Uncle's funeral. I overdid it. Lesson learned!  

Click on the the next line below to see the video.

Youtube video of nurse unpacking and repacking wound

WARNING:

Do not watch this if you are squeamish!

This video is very graphic!

The first day after surgery, after wound was unpacked

The day after surgery.
This is after the nurse unpacked the wound.
The dark spots were from "bleeds" that I had during surgery.
He had to cauterise the bleed.
Cauterise means to burn or sear.

The day after surgery before unpacked.

The day after surgery.
This is a picture of my left arm before the nurse unpacked it.
Now you can see why I have been afraid all along!

Finally surgery was done.

My surgery was rescheduled for September 1st, 2010. Again I mentally prepared myself.
We packed a bag and off to the hospital to check in  at 6 a.m. again after fasting for another 24 hours. I found myself again in a gown on a gurney with I.V.'s of gatoraid (or close to that) and antibiotics flowing through my veins. I spoke with the anesthesiologist and all set to go. After my third hour I was informed that my surgeon had an emergency and my surgery will be late. After my fourth hour waiting I was informed that the surgery will be rescheduled due to my doctors emergencies that came up that day. I was there for six hours. They took the I.V.'s out. I got dressed and now had another week of dread for yet another scheduled surgery.
I almost chickened out. Remember the pictures and experiences that I had read of testimonials before me. I could not believe that I had CHOSEN to go through the pain and risks that I would endure for this surgery and still be brave enough to decide to carry on.
I could only recall the days when my disease made my life unbearable and no one could understand. I just want an end to the suffering even though I knew it meant a lot of pain to endure for what I was told in the beginning.... near 15 days.
Finally, I went to Samaritan North on September 8th, 2010 surgery that was finally performed!
The surgeon said that he is opting to do only my left arm due to the amount of pain and risks of infection. I will have to come back for surgery on the right arm after healing.
Although I was looking forward to getting it all done and over at once, I am now VERY happy about his decision. The pain is nearly intolerable!
I have Home health care nurses now that will come daily. They will take off my bandaging( painful) Unpack the open wound (more painful!) and repack the open wound ( I thought I may pass out each time!) Then they would be back again tomorrow to do the same thing.
I now realize that there are several types of pain.
There is a constant burning pain as if it is on fire. There is surging pain that pierces through the wound only occasionally. There is a dulling (my favorite) pain that lets you feel the pain but feels also numb. AND THEN..... there is the pain that I feel when the nurse unpacks and repacks the wound!
I have no words to describe that pain. I can only say that I get hot,things turn dark and hazy and my mind wants to erase what is happening.
The nurse is a home health care nurse and I already know that these woman are wonderful angel's sent to me by amazing fate!
As usual I find Lori very tolerant, understanding and comforting through this whole process.
Here are some gory details and pictures.
Warning! The images and descriptions of what you are about to see are "graphic" and not for intended for viewing by young children and the squeamish!
It is funny now that I feel like I should come with a warning label!
The open wound measures 13 centimeters wide, 6.5 centimeters long, and 3 centimeters deep.
The measurements and pictures are very important to evaluate the healing process.