When it comes to wound care, stress can play a major factor in your healing journey. For many, being in a clinical setting can spike stress and anxiety. It’s important to be able to trust your caregivers, and here at Logansport Memorial, we go above and beyond to develop relationships with our patients and provide personalized, high-quality care for our community. Dee Hensel found a sense of comfort and ease in knowing she was in good hands with our staff at the Wound Care Center.
Dee’s story
Dee Hensel is no stranger to the Wound Care Center. Her story starts at the end of 2022, when what seemed like a minor blister on her foot turned into a stubborn wound and began a year-long whirlwind of health issues. Though she experienced several setbacks throughout her healing journey, her experience is one of inspiring resilience and she’s grateful for the care she received from our staff at the Wound Care Center. After a year of various health struggles, including two amputations, Dee’s wound is finally healed and she’s found comfort in the staff that treats her like family.
Dee says, “All of this started in December 2022. I was being treated in the Wound Center for a small ulcer that was infected on the bottom of that [left] foot and it was almost to the point they were ready to heal me out. But then I got the flu. It was just the perfect storm with my immune system and everything. It just depleted it so all of a sudden I woke up on January 3 with this huge blood blister that just wouldn’t heal. It all started with a minor ulcer that was almost healed and then I got the flu. So all of that combined just caused the infection, the blood blister, and everything. I’m diabetic and they say that diabetics are prone to blood blisters. They call me “the lightswitch” in the Wound Care Center. I’ll do okay and then all of a sudden – BOOM! Something happens that knocks me off course.”
During this time, Dee was non-weight-bearing due to the wound on her left foot and the Charcot foot in her right foot, and it was impacting her daily life. “It got to the point that I couldn’t do anything because even walking around sometimes, the pain was too much or I was afraid of getting more blisters,” she explains. Eventually, Dee switched to part-time hours at work and when that got to be too much, she filed for disability benefits.
She continues, “So I was being treated for infection and everything. And then last February 14, I wound up having to have my toe and part of my foot amputated. So because of the infection, there wasn’t enough to leave a skin flap after surgery so I was seeing Wound Care and I did the 30 days of the hyperbaric and they would treat the infection and everything. It took over a year to get it healed finally. I think it was finally in December it was healed. Late November or early December. It took almost a year to get it to heal. They do everything they can to make sure you heal, and they go out of their way to make sure you’re taken care of and that they treat it to the best of their ability and I just can’t recommend them enough.
But 2023 was a really bad year for me between the infection and everything. I went through 7-8 rounds of antibiotics because I kept getting small infections, and I had cellulitis.
I also had to get two stents in my left leg because my femoral artery was 100% blocked. That was found because the Wound Care Center staff is so thorough in examining the patient and everything that when they were checking for pulses in my left foot they couldn’t find any. So they got me into a Cardiologist really fast and within a week I was in surgery having two stents put in. The Wound Care Center is great. They don’t mess around. As soon as they see a problem that may be outside of their scope, they are getting you into doctors who can treat you.
But now, I’m able to walk! I cannot brag about the Wound Care Center enough. If I called and thought that I needed to get in, they didn’t even hesitate, they would squeeze me in. They don’t treat you like a patient, they treat you like family.”
Healing chronic wounds at Logansport Memorial’s Wound Care Center
The Logansport Memorial Wound Care Center provides specialized treatment, including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, for chronic or non-healing wounds, right here at home. We have a team of specialists that are here for all of your wound care needs, including Dr. Todd Weinstein and Jennay Jones, NP.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) increases the amount of oxygen to wounds, allowing them to heal from the inside. This non-invasive procedure involves patients lying in a large, transparent acrylic chamber as they are surrounded by 100 percent oxygen at an increased atmospheric pressure, similar to that of an airplane. This helps the body absorb oxygen to increase the rate of healing.
