Is It Infected or Not?

Last night while I was with Heather one of the wound care nurses came in and looked at Heather's abdominal area (without taking the dressing off). She said that she did not think the wound was infected, but that the film the nurses had seen in the wound earlier that day was perfectly normal when you take the wound vac off. She said it was just "sluff." This was nice to hear and frustrating at the same time because that likely meant that Heather didn't need to take the antibiotic that had caused the allergic reaction.

The doctor came in today (Tuesday), and he and the nurses looked at the wound without the dressing on it. They all agreed that it was not infected but just sluff as the wound nurse had suspected last night. However, they still want to keep Heather in the hospital until Friday to see what the cultures show. We'll see.

Heather has been in considerable pain because of her back. She just can't seem to get it to heal. It appears today that she is having a reaction to the cream (bacitracin) they have been using to keep it moist and from getting infected. Bacitracin is an antibiotic, vaseline-like ointment. They told us today that many people begin to have a reaction to it after using it for an extended period. We have tried several other lotions, but they all really sting. They are going to begin using plain vaseline tomorrow. Hopefully that will calm the irritation and pain. She is really tired of having a hurting back.