Mom and the black rim

Mom's had sponge baths since April 16, but today she had her first bona fide shower, and as far as her leg wound is concerned, it didn't go well. The bandage that the home care nurse had applied yesterday was extremely hard to peel off and caused Mom a great deal of pain, according to Dad. The shower's warm water eventually helped to strip the thing off, but Dad saw that the rectangular wound on Mom's thigh was now rimmed in black. I asked Dad what the black rim was, and he said "dried blood." Poor Mom vomited twice from the pain of removing the bandage; we're thinking about taking her to the ER if things look grim (to be honest, they don't: there's no further sign of infection). Dad, meanwhile, is going to apply non-adhesive bandages to Mom's leg. The plastic surgeon had felt that Mom's leg was ready for exposure to the air and that she would do fine with showering, but this doesn't appear to be the case.

UPDATE: I saw Mom's wound up close. No longer a raw pink, it has instead become mostly beet-red in appearance, and does indeed show blackness along its edges. It doesn't look infected, but we're taking no chances. Mom will be going to the hospital after she finishes lunch.


_