Dave Bakken Health Update Blog

04-MAY-2020

Today was GREAT! I found out that my open wound is FINALLY closed! So I am no longer very vulnerable to life-threatening infections using that as a vector to get to me. My medical team has been very concerned about this.

Don’t forget that this started out as an 8” long gash above an area affected by necrotizing fasciitis that was 8x6x6 inches.

13-APR-2020

Today they were very happy. They think that the wound will have its skin completely grow over in the next 1-2 weeks. That would be a major milestone, because then I am no longer so very vulnerable to an infection there.

05-MAR-2020

They are pretty happy with how fast my wound has filled in. So probably Monday – or at worse the following one (16^th) I will have the “curled” skin around the edges of the wound (which is only about 5 inches long now and maybe ¾ inch deep). Then it takes a month or more for the skin to grow over the wound. At this point my skin will be soft and not nearly as rugged as normal skin, at least not for a while. But at least it will be a barrier to COVID-19. Which I need to keep on getting extra rest and hydration and nutrition etc. to build up my weakened immune system, or if I get COVID-19 I could be in danger of a very serious case of it, possibly even fatal.

I never did get my WoundVac approved. But I’ve survived without it, and now it is too late to help.

14-FEB-2020

OK, so as many of you know, I had a major health scare in January.

On a Wednesday, I noticed that my groin seemed to have a rash in it. Not uncommon. So I washed and dried it, and slathered on Bag Balm.

Next morning I noticed it seemed to have a lump the size of a golf ball. I went back to sleep a few more hours, hoping that would help heal. Then I felt it more. It was not only a golf ball lump, but it had tentacles of sorts in muscled. So I went to urgent care, which sent me right to the ER.

It turned out that I had necrotizing fasciitis, which had tentacles in an area 8” tall by 6” wide by 6” deep. (20x15x15 cm). I came close (1-2 mm) to dying (it came right up to my Femoral artery, but did not breech it). (They never told me at the hospital how close I came to dying, but I was in the ICU for 4-5 days.) I was in the hospital for 2 weeks.

I now go to the wonderful Wound Center at Gritman in Moscow 3X/week. They clean it, treat it, and rebandage it. But the location is in my groin, which is frequently most. So the bandage comes off after a day, and the antimicrobial gauze falls out. Here is a picture of what it looked like Wednesday.

I’m appealing to my insurance to get a WoundVac re-approved (like I had in the hospital). The insurance company wants to see 30 days of tried and failed therapy without it first (they are expensive, probably $150/day to rent). This is supposedly due to the state of WA last year not wanting to spend so much on insurance matching; I had not heard that this cutback in coveage had happened, else I’d have gotten different insurance. Oh, well, it is what it is.