Patient Stories

I can be on the stage again

30 May 2008

Mike had a chronic wound which refused to heal – with the help of a special bandage he can now live a normal life again

Mike Granowksi was always a person who enjoyed life. Mike has been a singer in several bands since the 60’s, and nine years ago he finally made his hobby his profession and decided to become a freelance musician, moderator and DJ in Northern Germany. But three years ago Mike feared that his music career was over. The reason: An open sore on his left foot, which just did not want to heal.

Mike Granowski’s case is a prime example of how chronic wounds appear and develop. In Germany, about 4.5 million people suffer the same fate. Mike suffered a heart attack at the age of 34, later developed diabetes and a few years ago he underwent a quadruple bypass heart surgery – because of these preconditions Mike belongs to a group of persons who are affected by chronic wounds – i.e. sores which do not heal by themselves compared to the average person. But for a long time he did not think about his greater risk as a diabetic:

“Diabetes is not painful – because of this I did not go to the doctor for a long time. But today I can only advise every affected person to be checked regularly”

A small, seemingly harmless, fissure on his foot marked the beginning of long period of suffering for Mike. When the injury had not healed after a month, Mike went to his General Practitioner. The GP treated the seemingly small sore with a conventional band aid. Not only did this apparently menial sore not heal, but developed into roughly 2.5 cm wide and 1.5 cm deep wound. Before long the wound began affecting Mikes performance on stage.

“The wound ached so much, that I could not stand on the stage anymore. To conceal my problem from the audience, I was forced to sit down on a stool. Sometimes the pain was so bad that I was forced to cancel shows at short notice”

Mike finally consulted a hospital with an attached diabetic centre. For half a year Mike received therapy, but the wound was treated with a conventional bandage. Instead of a getting better, the wound got worse and his toenails turned dark.

Unsatisfied with the therapy, Mike started to inform himself about different treatment possibilities. Finally, a friend advised him to consult a hospital in Aurich, North Germany, which specializes on the treatment of chronic wounds.

Mike was finally in the right place. Wound specialists could avoid amputating the big toe as they developed an individual therapy for him. The first step was a consequent cleaning of the wound by a special maggot therapy, this was followed by a vacuum therapy and finally wet wound bandages, which accelerate the self-healing powers of the body.

The success of the professional treatment was seen instantly as the wound started to close. In addition, Mike was prescribed special diabetic shoes, which supported the healing process and a special wound bandage for deep wounds provided the necessary protection. The combination of these methods was successful and after a while Mike only needed to go to a control checks every three weeks.

Today Mike is happy that he found the specialists for wound treatment. Only they considered his diabetes when treating his wounds. Therefore, he advises all other patients to consult an expert early. Mike is now retired, but he can still practice his great passion, the music:

“I was very lucky that I could stand on the stage again – hopefully my credit with God is not used up now.”

This story was recorded in July 2004 and kindly provided to us by Aktion Meditech.

Mike Granowki

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