Margaret set to enjoy a wound-free Christmas

FOR the first time in 20 years, Maindample’s Margaret Seeber is set to enjoy life without a wound. She will even be able to walk a block from her home. Mrs Seeber’s remarkable recovery has been inspired by a novel vascular diagnostic clinic established at Gateway Health in Wangaratta. The Hume-East Initiative in Vascular Examinations (HIVE) clinic offers bulk-billed, vascular scanning from Martin Forbes, Regional Vascular Services, Bendigo and chronic oedema screening, and it has changed everything for Mrs Seeber. She said her pain has gone, her wounds have almost cleared and she can walk and get out and about enjoying life. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed; the way it’s going, I’m going to have New Year without a wound,” Mrs Seeber said. Advanced practice nurse consultant for Regional Wounds Victoria – Hume East and based at Gateway Health in Wangaratta, Monika Samolyk, detailed the program at the inaugural Alliance of Rural & Regional Community Health (ARRCH) conference at Creswick in November. Mrs Seeber, 76, has experienced painful wounds for about 20 years, and attributes much of her improvement to Ms Samolyk and her visiting district nurses. “The pain led to the referral to HIVE,” she said. “I could put up with the ulcers, but I could have ripped my hair out with the pain. "At one stage, it was about an inch and a half from the ulcers joining right around my leg. “I was able to get out and do a community radio program twice a week and the support of my husband Phil and my children and the health team kept me going, but the pain was getting me down. “The HIVE program has given me a sense of hope. "With the district nurses coming into it and Monika helping, I felt like I had someone really behind me, aside from my family.” Mrs Seeber has pyoderma gangrenosum, an inflammatory skin disorder characterised by ulcers and complicated by chronic oedema, also known as chronic swelling or lymphoedema. Part of her treatment includes monthly transfusions. These treatments, together with the chronic oedema, increase her risk of infection because they decrease her immune system. “When I first saw Marg, she couldn’t walk a block from her home to see her granddaughter,” Ms Samolyk said. “The first aim was to address the pain so she could walk that block. "I’ll never forget how great it was when she achieved that.” Different treatments were used to treat the pain and wounds, including electrical stimulation therapy and blue light therapy. The use of life-long compression will control the chronic oedema and reduce the risk of Mrs Seeber’s wounds returning. “At one stage Marg also had a pressure injury so deep we could touch her heel bone,” Ms Samolyk said. “I walk without any pain and it’s absolutely marvellous,” she said. “I might be able to have a shower with my leg out of the bag. "That will be fantastic.”

Margaret set to enjoy a wound-free Christmas

Game-changing equipment for hospital's midwifery department

Haines meets with local NDIS providers over controversial pricing changes

SIAG grants set to boost social inclusion and connection

Flu surges across shire

CGP recognised for rural health leadership

Rufous Whistler – arrival of a summer songbird

Bombers go back-to-back in A grade

“No stone unturned” – Police committed to the long-haul in manhunt

Start your engines, Wilby Drags are back

Most popular stories