Wound Healing

This past weekend i was trying to get caught up with some CME just because I needed something to do to get away from thinking about Kathleen. CME is continuing medical education and required by most positions in the medical profession.

Anyway i had to read an article on chronic wound care in the emergency department. In the introduction to the topic the author went over the stages of wound healing, and I thought it might be applicable to our current situation. By the way the upshot of the article was that of course the er is not a great place for chronic wound care. The four stages of wound healing though were, hemostasis, inflamation, proliferation, and remodeling.

Hemostasis- stopping the bleeding

Inflamation- increases blood flow to area to remove any foreign substances and keep the rest of the body healthy

Proliferation-in this stage the body sends in the building blocks to repair the damaged infrastructure

Remodeling-the body takes what was done in the proliferation phase to maximize skin integrity and minimize scarring.

For more emotional wounds like the one we experienced though I think there is similar stages
One-stopping the emotional bleeding (ie getting over the shock)
two- opening ourselves up and dealing with the hurt and junk introduced by the injury
three-rebuilding our lives
four-maintaining our emotional and spiritual function

Now going back to the article i read, there were some important notes the author made.
A. a chronic wound results when there was an arrest in one of the stages before the final one.
B. there's an overlap between the stages. IE there is still some inflamation going on when the proliferation begins.
C. the final remodeling stage can take a long long time

It would be easy to get stuck in the "inflamation" phase and nurture the anger, and pain of the loss but ultimately that is beneficial only for a short time and actually contributes to delayed wound healing, yet we need to realize that even after we begin closing the wound there will be some inflamation that still exists.

Pray with us as we work through these issues that we would act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.

Stephen