Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Jude's poor little toe.

Jude has a burn on his big toe from his pulse oximeter. It also looks like he may have a small pressure sore on the toe. On Monday when the nurses were gone I gave Jude a shower and I unhooked all of his machines. I noticed when I unwrapped his toe it seemed a little tight and looked a little skinny. I am assuming all of this was starting then. Everyone is pretty diligent about changing the pulse ox out each day just like they do with Jude at the hospital. However, today we read it should be changed out every 2-4 hours. Again, when Jude's in the hospital I WITNESS them change it each day NOT every 2-4 hours. The nurse felt bad, we felt bad, and Jude feels bad. Something like this could be really really bad for Jude. However Jude's sweet nurse Charlotte is on top of things and I stopped at the store to grab anti bacterial ointment with pain reliever and Aloe Vera. Hospice is also coming first thing in the morning.

Since everyone knows me ........... you know I googled this situation. How many times have I said on this blog NOT to google? Well I need to heed my own advice. So it seems sudden burns on people that have had pulse oximeter's can be caused due to skin integrity. A lack of flow of oxygen to limbs and a breakdown of skin can cause burns and sores. sigh.

Jude's had some oxygen issues throughout the day but tonight he seems to be resting comfortable. Jude's had his medication, I doctored his poor little toe, and he is tucked in to bed. 

1 comment:

Reagan Leigh said...

When you say changing the pulse ox, do you mean changing toes? We only get 4 pulse ox probes a month, so we obviously couldn't change probes even daily! But yes, you have to alternate toes or that laser will burn them! Poor guy, that's gotta hurt! (Although I didn't realize as often as every 2-4hrs!)