Well, it’s been about three weeks since my last update on my foot ulcers. The way my wounds behave, I’ve found that it’s best to clean and dress them twice a day. My doctor has told me that when using MEDIHONEY, I could change the dressing every other day. I tried that once and went back to twice daily. This is what happens: 1) the non-stick gauze that I use absorbs the honey over a period of time, and 2) as a result, slough begins to build back up if I don’t change the dressing every twelve hours.
THE WOUND ON THE ARCH OF MY FOOT
In the last post about the condition of my ulcers, I stated that I was treating them with honey. This has changed. Let me first talk about the wound on the arch of my foot. The ulcer first began as a small slit about 0.6cm long by 0.2cm wide. It’s now 3cm long and about 0.8cm at its widest point. Unlike most of the other ulcers I’ve had in the past, which were circular shaped, this one has stretched out lengthwise. Unfortunately, the bulk of it is on the bottom of my foot, which makes walking very painful.
Though the wound had become longer, it wasn’t very deep and it was looking pretty good. Then, about eight days ago, it appeared as though the honey was causing the left end of the ulcer to become overly moist (macerated). As a result, the wound kept growing in length when, days before, it looked close to being healed. At that time I felt it was best to stop using the honey and began using the Silver Sulfadiazine Cream. Since I’ve been using the Silver Cream, the oldest part of the ulcer began closing and the newer end of the wound appeared to be the same size; it’s not getting worse.
THE WOUND ON MY HEEL
For the past two weeks or so, the pain from both wounds has increased significantly. Like I said in a previous post, when using honey on wounds, it’s common to experience a mild burning sensation for about fifteen minutes; at least this has been the case with me. But, for whatever reason, the ulcer on my heel has evolved to the point where it’s very uncomfortable to use honey on it. As a result, I began using Silver Sulfadiazine Cream on that wound around the same time as the one on my arch.
I feel as though, because I did use honey on these newer wounds during the first few weeks of their formation, it helped prevent them from becoming as large and deep as other ulcers did in the past. Though I am now using the Silver Cream most of the time, I will still use honey on it every other day or so. I keep the honey on the wound as long as I can tolerate it. This helps remove a fair amount of the slough that’s built up. Then I will clean it and redress it with the Silver Cream. Overall, I feel the wound is doing pretty well.
THE OLDER WOUNDS
As for the other two wounds on my left leg, I’m still using honey on them. Though they are healing at a rate that is too slow for my liking, they are improving. I am optimistic that they will fully heal in the near future. Before I was given the Ultrasonic Mist Therapy, however, they were going nowhere fast. Now there is definite improvement, so that is encouraging. I need all these wounds to heal so I can have the first of my two hip replacement surgeries.
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