A Bottle of Saline

Saturday I was on a cleaning kick. I had my bathroom all squeeky clean, then moved on to the kitchen. Counter-tops and sink were shiny! I decided to sweep, even moved the microwave stand out of the way to clean underneth it. In the middle of sweeping I stepped on a piece of glass. At least I thought I did, but couldn't see anything and besides, I was busy cleaning. So I hobbled around the kitchen walking on my left heel and finished cleaning. Then I wobbled into the bathroom, poured hydrogen peroxide on a sewing needle, grabbed my tweezers, and sat down to look at my foot. It took me awhile to determine if I did indeed have glass in the tiny cut. I said to myself, almost out loud, or perhaps very out loud since I was home alone, "Why don't we have a bottle of saline?" Saline is what I have used on every single patient the past 3 weeks in wound care to clean wounds. Oh dear, first I dreamed about wounds for 3 weeks, now I was trying to perform minor surgery on myself. See what a little knowledge will do? Goes straight to my head and making me thing I know everything. Luckily I did find the piece of glass. I had to use regular old water to wash the cut and see the shiny piece staring back at me. It is two days later and the cut is completely gone. I wish we had saline though, that would have been more fun.

I decided week one of this current rotation that wound care is not what I see in my professional career. I find the bodies ability to heal, or sometimes lack of ability due to disease, fascinating. I could handle looking at the venous ulcers, amputations, and road rash with no problem. I found satisfaction in wrapping someone up just right and sending them home with nice compression on their legs and cleanly dressed wounds. I thought wound vaccums were interesting- literally a sponge and negative pressure vaccum on a wound that helps heal at an amazing speed! However, I am not a "picker" as they say in the world of wound care, debriding (mechanicaly removing dead tissue with a scalpel, scissors, or forceps) is not something I enjoy in the very least. I am glad I had the experience. I learned a lot, and I got to put my education to good use. Here are a few lessons I learned.

1.) My grandma will never hear the end of the importance of daily skins checks on her feet. As one patient said, "The diabetes gets the feet".

2.) I now know how to open sealed medicine tubes. Flip the cap over and let the pointed tip inside break it open. Duh Tamara!

3.) Therapeutic exercise, Range of Motion, PNF, and Neuro are things I really enjoy. I missed that in wound care. I think orthopedics is back on the table of possibilities, and I am even more curious to see how much I would enjoy Neuro.

So next time you have a gapping hole in your leg or foot, or loose sensation in your toes, call me. I'll point you in the direction of the physical therapists who can help, and they can send you back to me to get you moving again!

Now I'll spend the next 3 weeks on the hospital side, making people get up and walk, among other things. Here I come acute care, show me what you got!