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Discussion

wound question

Ok, here's my question-

I am a new grad RN, very young, very healthy. On Sunday I borrowed a friends roller blades and skated about ten miles, but they didn't fit too well and I ended up with a small (1x3 cm) skin tear on my L calf from friction. It looked fine, so the next morning before work I put a bandaid on it and proceeded to work a 12 hour shift, which of course morphed into 14 hours. By the end, my calf hurt like he**, so I took off the bandaid and found the wound was now covered in a gooey black and yellow eschar, with a hot, reddened area stretching about 5cm all around it. It was edematous and indurated. i hobbled home and irrigated it with saline, covered it with antibiotic ointment and a dressing. This morning I changed the dressing and found it still producing pus and still reddened. I am spending the day in my apartment becuase it hurts to walk, but I have to work tomorrow. I dont have any systemic symptoms.

Does this sound like a self limiting thing? All my wound care experience has been with hospitalized patients who are already on antibiotics, so i dont really know when one would need to start taking them....what do you think?

Featured Replies

i think you need to get it looked at by an md/np.

it sounds (so far) locally infected but it's not something i'd mess around with.

they just might want to start you on po abts.

much luck to you.

leslie

I think antibiotics may be in order considering the wound was caused by something that was most likely very dirty and covered with bacteria from someone elses skin/sweat and in some sort of storage growing. Blackened areas are necrotic which leads me to think the boot caused a pressure type ulcer that may need to be debreeded down to viable tissue to heal proplerly. See the doctor maybe some antibiotics and proper wound treatment will help it heal quicker. I would think getting it taken care of before you get a real nasty bug in it is always better than sitting still trying to see if it will heal on its own.

  • Experts

Doctor, abx, now. Nurse, heal thy self with a little help. Good luck

  • Author

thanks guys!- I'm seeing my PCP tomorrow

My mother was shaking out a mat and got a tiny little scratch on her hand - 36 hours later she had cellulitis to her elbow and upon examination in the ER, was told that the blood poisoning had already spread to her axillary nodes. It was just a tiny scratch. It ended up being a week of IV antibiotics and two weeks off from work. Still don't know which bacteria it was, but obviously a nasty one. Amazing how we can get much more severe injuries and be fine, and then some innocuous looking little cut becomes a nightmare. Aside from the signs you are seeing, the fact that you find it difficult to walk is a big red flag (IMO) so, it's a good thing you have gone to the doc. Good luck.

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