I've been asked to give a presentation about pressure ulcers on Friday. My session is titled "A patient's perspective" and it's part of the wonderfully named PTO (Please Turn Over) campaign being run by Salisbury Hospital. My audience will be a heady mix of consultants, physiotherapists, nurses and others. I have 30 minutes.
So I'm putting together a slide show. Yes, that is a picture of my bottom. And yes, that's how a small 1cm by 2cm pressure sore was finally healed - by rotating a large flap of skin over it. You don't want to know the details, albeit to say the surgeon did a great job.
It's shocking to look at the pictures of the ulcer. It started from a small scar and grew to a deep hole. I got it sometime between falling out of the tree, lying on the ground for an hour, being flown to the hospital and lying in intensive care. Yet I was more concerned about getting it healed than how I got it. And that was a slow process that must have added at least five months to my stay, most of which I was on full-time bed-rest. I missed the chance to learn proper wheelchair skills. I missed Griffin's tenth birthday. I had two of my own birthdays in the Unit. My skin is now far more vulnerable around the flap.
My parting message to the staff on Friday will be "please ensure you turn your patients over". And to anyone else at risk (wheelchair users, people who are less mobile and spend a lot of time sitting down or lying in bed), I'd say "check your skin. Every day. If there are marks, stay in bed for the day. Yes, it may be tedious. But losing five months of your life is a lot worse".
