Gavin's dotage

Cindy said:
Old wives tale....Totally wrong! Been shown many times that moist wound healing is significantly faster (if there is no infection present). Moist is especially helpful for granulation. When Gavin had his surgery on his hip mast cell tumor and his stitches popped, they used wet bandages and actually had to stitch them on. at a certain point when wound was smallish, we did let a scab form but that is because of convenience more than anything else.
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Your probably right…my sister had bad infections last year in her incision after surgery (for months) and they kept it bandaged. Also helps to keep it clean and bacteria out.
 
It is probably not getting significantly because every day there is continued physical stress on that point as Gavin slides/sits/lays down and that leg slides on the ground. Even bandaged and cushioned, I know the wound healing is compromised by continued pressure. I have added a cushioned dog bed where he lays down by the front door, but that only helps so much. It looks pretty much the same, the exudate is a bit more (it will come through the bandaid a little bit in a day). It is definitely granulating in. The little sore by his toe that appeared at the same time, and I left as a scab, is completely healed. so I just get to be patient and change his bandages.
 
Another accident this morning :( So Gavin went pee at 8 AM before we went to the dog park. We get there, he gets into his wheelchair and poops and pees. So he walks around a bit, and he goes into his wagon for about 15-20 minutes. I pull him, so is behind me and I can't see him unless I turn to look. We get down to the sandy area where he gets into his wheelchair again, and I see a wet spot on his dog bed that goes in his wagon. So at some point, after peeing twice in the span of 1-2 hours, he needed to go again and it came on so quickly he couldn't hold it. definitely no whining. This has only happened outside, once when it was my fault in that he hadn't pee'd before that morning, and once when he fell before he could pee first thing in the morning and couldn't hold it to get back up. Both previous times were first pee of the morning. This was the third! He doesn't leak at night, never a sign of indoor accidents. So it doesn't appear to be either a consistent decrease in bladder control, incontinence or dementia.

no observable increase in drinking water and subsequent urination (diabetes). It is possible he does drink more water some days than others, but is sporadic enough that I don't notice (since I take him out to pee, I would notice).

sigh...the journey continues
 
no marking. I am just going to monitor the water more closely. Oddly enough, some mornings I have to wake him up to go pee and he can last until noon if I don't.
It could be the pressure of laying down in the cart gets his bladder stimulated. all of these accidental pee situations have had him laying down on his belly; he normally lays down on his side either fully or partially if he is napping.
 
I read about honey....for wounds. Right now, I am just keeping that clean and letting it do it's thing.

But I assume this is for his interdigital (possible fungal) issue.
I am trying to discourage him from licking as it introduces bacteria, and I can imagine honey would only encourage it!
he really does not like the socks I make him wear, but it's the only way to keep him from licking. He's not obsessive with the licking, but it still happens.
 
So in my lovely google images research on wound healing, looks like there is some slough in his wound. I tried flushing it out but it wasn't moving much. So I am trying hydrogel when it arrives via amazon tomorrow (the honey arrives thursday). Apparently that should aid enzymatic hydrolysis of the slough. Still looks nice and moist and pink with no infection... Gavin can't really feel that foot so seems indifferent to what I am doing anyway.

Side note: some of the pics of slough (mostly from bedsores/ulcers) are gross! Gavin's aren't like that, but slough slows down healing.
 
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So his leg sore is looking a bit better. more healing around the edges. and maybe less slough (maybe I'm just seeing what I want on this one).
We had one bandage with the hydrogel, and I just finished changed the first honey bandage (so we are on our second). Normally, these can go a few days between changes but as he has had a decent amount of exudate I am erring on once every 24-36 hours. I am really learning about wound care!

Gavin is being so good, just laying there as I unwrap, flush the wound with 3x10ML syringes of sterile PBS, and reapply a new bandage with honey.
 
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I was always amazed at the physical therapist's wound care skills at the hospital. They dealt with burn victims, etc. We had a whirlpool tub for some, but debridement was the PT job. Hope the wound gel and the honey really help him heal up, Cindy. You are so extremely dedicated and in tune with his needs.
 
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