Izzy's Leg: Update 6

Nothing huge is happening on the Izzy front, but I wanted to give you a quick leg update. 

Each day that I re-wrap, which is every other day, I am so surprised by how much better the wound looks. On Thursday, there was a definite ring of new skin.

I am including the photo below, which is kind of gross (fair warning) because it shows something really interesting. When I wrap the leg, I soak a telfa pad with my vet hospital's version of White Lotion. It's an astringent that irritates the flesh over the open portion of the wound, which prevents the tissue from over-granulating. That's what proud flesh is, over granulated tissue.

When I remove the telfa pad two days later, the wound is always covered with a thick gooey substance that has the texture of glue. This goop is the irritated tissue that would have been proud flesh. For lack of a scientific explanation, it gets melted off.  Weird, huh?!

I use pieces of the cotton sheeting from the last bandage to scrape off what I can, and then I wet a hunk of the cotton and scrub away the rest of the goo. It comes off the wound easily, but I have to use my fingernails to get it off of Izzy's hair.

Weird, huh?! (photo from 2/17/15)

Once I scrape all of the goo away, I use a final piece of dampened cotton sheeting to gently wipe the entire lower leg to remove any dust, loose hair, or other particulates. When the wound is clean, I gently lay a White Lotion soaked Telfa pad over the wound and wrap with a few layers of brown gauze to hold it in place. And then like I've been doing for nearly two months, that gets covered with a fresh sheet of cotton and an entire roll of brown gauze before it's finally finished off with a roll of vet wrap.

Freshly cleaned ...

and newly bandaged.

Wound care is certainly a slow and steady process, but this protocol is definitely working. More updates to come ...