If you are struggling with the COVID blues (like me) and need some encouragement, check out the editorial in the July issue of Today’s Wound Clinic.
The theme of the issue was amputation prevention, and I asked Morgan McCoy to be the guest editor. Morgan is a beautiful 22-year-old young woman from Katy, Texas who has a still-healing above knee amputation (AKA) following a nearly fatal bout of sepsis and necrotizing fasciitis. I am fortunate to be on her team of physicians. We’ve broken a lot of “rules” in caring for her. Her amazing orthopedic surgeon, Kyle Dickson, refused to do a hip disarticulation because he believed it would be possible to heal the stump even though a lot of skin was necrotic – and he was right. I decided it would be OK to fit her AKA prosthesis over a very large open wound – and it hasn’t slowed her healing down one bit, even though she’s walking on it. She’s even got negative pressure wound therapy working underneath the prosthesis!
My point is that if you want to see what an undaunted spirit looks like, take a look at her photo! Doesn’t it make you want to shout, “You GO Girl!” She’s headed back to college in a few days at the University of Oklahoma, walking on a new AKA prosthesis and having to do dressing changes on the still healing stump. However, she’s happy and optimistic and planning on taking the world by storm. Morgan helps me put the temporary challenges of the pandemic into perspective. I think her story will inspire you, too.
–Caroline
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
She’s beautiful.
Love reading this Caroline! It’s takes grit, heart and courage to navigate the complexities of our healthcare system and advocate for our patients and do what is right and be ok to break the rules…it’s not a one size fits all system and we should never expect it to be.