Post by Admin on May 7, 2014 3:28:13 GMT
Hello all!
My short version is this:
I got into a car accident last year, December 6, 2013. Part of my injury was what they call "degloving" or "avulsion" injury which is a (sorta) nice way of saying pieces of flesh were ripped off my calves. My injuries were extensive and unique, and required several different specialties and several different surgeries. One of the main procedures that occurred on January 6, 2014 was a split-thickness skin autograft. My upper right thigh became the donor site, and parts of both calves and knees received the skin graft.
This was a very scary process for me because while I knew the skin graft had to happen, I also knew it was be painful and physically scarring. When I searching the web from my iPhone in my hospital bed, all that I could find were terrifying images of third degree burns and freshly, sometimes poorly, done skin grafts. I could not find any sort of anecdotal story or an online community where I could ask questions of someone who experienced this procedure first hand.
According to the American Burn Association, 40,000 people are hospitalized annually for burn related injuries. Now, perhaps not all these people require skin grafts, but this number doesn't even include those who suffer non-healing wounds and injuries like mine. I know I'm not alone, but where is everyone else??
So I created this community with the hopes that my questions might be answered going forward in my healing process, that I might be a resource and encouragement for someone else facing a skin graft, and that those of us in new skin can help each other look and feel 'normal' again.
-C
My short version is this:
I got into a car accident last year, December 6, 2013. Part of my injury was what they call "degloving" or "avulsion" injury which is a (sorta) nice way of saying pieces of flesh were ripped off my calves. My injuries were extensive and unique, and required several different specialties and several different surgeries. One of the main procedures that occurred on January 6, 2014 was a split-thickness skin autograft. My upper right thigh became the donor site, and parts of both calves and knees received the skin graft.
This was a very scary process for me because while I knew the skin graft had to happen, I also knew it was be painful and physically scarring. When I searching the web from my iPhone in my hospital bed, all that I could find were terrifying images of third degree burns and freshly, sometimes poorly, done skin grafts. I could not find any sort of anecdotal story or an online community where I could ask questions of someone who experienced this procedure first hand.
According to the American Burn Association, 40,000 people are hospitalized annually for burn related injuries. Now, perhaps not all these people require skin grafts, but this number doesn't even include those who suffer non-healing wounds and injuries like mine. I know I'm not alone, but where is everyone else??
So I created this community with the hopes that my questions might be answered going forward in my healing process, that I might be a resource and encouragement for someone else facing a skin graft, and that those of us in new skin can help each other look and feel 'normal' again.
-C