The arrival of the wound vac and Zuma

August 24, 2007 | By valmg |

The wound vac arrived today. The box was absolutely huge, and I had to have the UPS guy help my older son bring it into the house. The nurse came out to put it on. First she unpacked the wound and cleaned it again. Then she cut this huge thick black sponge to sort of fit the size and shape of the wound. The sponge looks just like the black sponge that’s on the end of those disposable paint brushes you can buy at the craft store. She then puts the sponge into the wound and attaches this pad thing. Now the wound area is taped up with something like Tegaderm, the clear tape hospitals use. At this point the nurse picks up a pair of scissors and is holding them pointed down towards my stomach. I must confess, I got nervous and asked her what she was doing. She chuckled, and told me she had to make a hole in the tape to put the tubing through. She did that, attached the tube to the pad thing, and attached the other end of the tube to the canister. Then the nurse tells me she’s going to turn it on and it’ll take 15 seconds to start. I was apprehensive, because I’d read online where patients found this part painful. All of a sudden I heard this whoosh and I watched the sponge get sucked into the wound. It was not painful, it was a very mild sensation. The noise was more startling than anything. Once it’s turned on, the wound vac is pretty quiet except for every once in awhile it makes this pig sort of snorting sucking noise. It is weird to be sitting down and out of the corner of your eye seeing fluids going by in the tube.
A sample picture from the manufacturer of what the pad looks like is here.

Zuma. This is an old favorite game of mine. I have beaten it a number of times. I received a coupon from Popcap Games for it today. Use coupon at popcap.com. The coupon is for half off. The coupon code is “ZUMARIFFIC”. I already have the game but thought someone might be able to use it.