I posted a couple months back about my pressure wound. It came to a point where surgery was the only answer. I have had the surgery and am currently in a recovery window.

My Advice

As I noted in previous posts I had been battling the pressure wound for well over a year. My advice to anyone in a wheelchair that gets a wound like this on their bottom to not waste more than a month or two seeing a wound clinic or wound doctor. They cannot help us. For wounds like this there is a 99% chance surgery is the only answer. Please seek out a reconstructive surgeon as soon as humanly possible to get your life back on track as soon as you can. You are wasting your time, and money, seeing a wound doctor.

Surgery

The surgery is called a wound flap. I had one done 10 years ago and the recovery time had scared me off of going through it again. I kept going to wound doctors hoping the tiny bit of improvement would continue but it hit a brick wall several months ago. The surgery for my situation took about 2 hours. When I went in for the consult with the surgeon he looked at my wound for all of about 5 seconds before knowing exactly what he needed to do and surgery was the only option. Again, we are wasting our time seeing a regular wound doctor.

Recovery

The recovery time 10 years ago scared me off going through this again. I was mistaken as it is not nearly as bad as back then. After the surgery I was in the hospital for one week, not the 3 weeks I was in 10 years ago. After the week I was actually able to get into my chair to get into the car for the ride home, while riding on my side to keep any weight off the side that was operated on.

The restrictions and timeline are as follows:

First 2 weeks after surgery, virtually no time up at all. This is the biggest challenge but the first week of this is spent in the hospital so it is 1 week at home, no getting up.
Weeks 3-4 I am allowed up 30 minutes, for every 2 hours. This is still very limited but allows me to do the necessities and heavily lifts the burden off of my wife.
Weeks 5-6 I am allowed up 1 hour, for every 2 hours. Same as above, but now I at least have time to get up and make my own meals.

I am currently in the middle of week 3, so heavy restrictions but I am able to do stuff up in my chair.

Training

The great part about the current window I am in is I get to work out a little! Due to only having 30 minutes of up time I do a 20 minute timed work out.

A1 Bodyweight Pull Ups x10reps
A2 Bodyweight Dips x20reps
Done on a rotation every 2 minutes for 10 sets each. Equating to 100 pull ups, 200 dips.

This workout will get your heart moving, will build back up any strength you may have lost due to down time. An added benefit is there is absolutely zero weight bearing on your bottom, which is huge. You can substitute horizontal rows, or pushups or many other types of exercises. The important element is to do something to get your body active again.