Wound VAC

Anybody out there ever had a wound VAC?  After my tummy tuck and hernia repair, I developed to areas of necrosis which resulted in two open wounds.  Weekly debridement and 6 1/2 weeks later and I am still not healed.  Dr. is going to reopen those areas, debride all the dead tissue and put on a wound VAC.  If you have had any experience with this, I would love to hear about it.  Many thanks and much appreciation for your time, concern and info. 

I had one after my c-section almost 5 years ago.  Basically, my c-section wound opened back up.  I was open almost 2 inches deep and 8 inches long (it was really bad!)  The nurse told me, I can't see your uterus, but almost. The wound vac took it to 1/4 deep in about 10 days.  It was amazing how quickly it worked.  I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend it.  I had a home health nurse that came and changed the sterile dressings/wound vac on Mondays / Wednesdays / Fridays.  I will warn you though,  it was EXTREMELY, PAINFUL changing the dressings.  I would take 2 Vicodin 30 minutes before the nurse got there and it was all I could do to lay there for her to change them.  It is a black "sponge" that is put in the wound to "suck" out the old fluids.  The sponge like sticks/adheres to your insides.  The nurse has to pull it out, clean it, and repack a new one.  I STILL remember the pain to this day.  BUT, I will say--the pain was worth every inch of it because it worked!!!!  Exception for dressing changes, the wound vac didn't hurt otherwise.

Once you get the wound to the surface, then you have to let it heal the rest of the way without the vac. 

Good luck!!!

Debbie

Been there done that but I got to stay in hospital for my treatment.
Heals quickly but as Brooklyn's mom wrote, changing of the dressings is real
painful so take pain meds at least half hour before being touched for removal of the sponges.
I'll put it to you this way: when I had my TT/hernia and asked for pain meds, I had to beg for meds but after my debridement I got pain meds almost as soon as I asked for them.
If you pm your phone number and time slots which are convenient to talk, I will gladly call you from Israel. I understand your hesitancy and fear for the machine. I gave mine a name and I would tell hospital staff that I was taking Zjavk for a walk.
Mikimi in Israel

Did insurance pay for your surgery?  For something like this, is it usually covered as part of the follow-upafter care?  Will this be done in the office?

 My insurance paid for everything. I am going into the hospital as an outpatient.  My surgeon is putting me under so he can open up the wound, aggressively debride all the dead tissue and then put on the wound vac.  I will be having a visiting nurse come to do the dressing changes several times a week.

if you pm me you phone i will be happy to call you at your convenience.
Mikimi in Israel

Best wishes and I pray you heal quickly.

With the wound vac I had, I carried it around similar to a small "back pack".  When I was sitting around, I had to plug it in to charge it.  It had a resevoir container to "catch" the fluids it was capturing but it is all hidden by the cover.  I was able to take a shower, I just had to disconnect to shower and reconnect when I got out of the shower.  The reconnect part hurt just a little bit because it established the vacuum. 

All in all--GOOD experience for healing--only bad part is the dressing changes. 

Message me if you want to talk more.

Debbie

yours charged for six hours and worked for fourteen.
I could have gotten one but as I live alone my PS fenagled my staying hospital.
Mikimi in Israel