Wound care with lymphedema in Godfrey, Illinois.

About wounds with lymphedema

Over weeks and months, a lymphedema wound tends to follow the swelling. When the limb is well controlled, drainage usually slows, the edges firm up and the open area gets smaller. When compression lapses, an infection sets in or the person spends long days sitting, the limb fills again and the wound can stall or reopen.

Because of this, progress is rarely a straight line. Setbacks are common and do not mean the plan has failed, but they should be reported. In time, the goal shifts from closing the wound to keeping the skin intact, with garments and skin care that continue for the long term. The treating clinician sets expectations for your situation. No one can promise a timeline.

How the care plan is built

During the exam, the treating clinician looks at the wound and at all of the skin on the limb, since the next problem often starts a few inches from the current one. Typical points of attention include:

• Where the wound sits, its size and depth, and what the wound bed looks like
• How much it drains and what the fluid looks like
• Skin folds, including the base of each fold
• The spaces between the toes, where cracks and fungal infections hide
• Warmth, redness or tenderness that could mean infection

These findings guide the choice of dressing, how often it is changed, and whether an infection has to be dealt with before anything else.

Arranging this care in Godfrey

For people in Godfrey, lymphedema care often spans two states. Cancer treatment or vascular care may have happened at a St. Louis hospital, while primary care, home health and the health plan are based in Illinois. Records sit on both sides of the river. Gateway gathers them and confirms first which partner clinician can see you in Illinois. Illinois Medicaid and Missouri plans follow different rules, and benefits for compression garments, wraps and dressings vary, so coverage questions are raised before visits begin.

Homes in Godfrey are mostly single-family: ranch houses in established subdivisions, newer homes on larger lots and older farmhouses on the outskirts. The village and neighboring Alton also have senior apartments, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities. Gateway arranges visits in each kind of setting. In a private home, we ask who will be there, whether pets need to be secured and where the patient is most comfortable being seen. In a facility, we contact the nursing staff to line up the visit, the chart and any orders the treating clinician will need to review.

When care happens at home

Supplies run out quickly when a lymphedema wound is draining. Absorbent dressings, padding and wrap materials may be changed several times a week, and going without them for even a day or two can set the limb back. Gateway coordinates supply orders with the treating clinician’s orders and follows up with the supplier on delivery to your home.

Tell us when you are getting low, well before the last box is opened. It also helps to mention practical problems, such as fluid soaking through to bedding or furniture, or dressings that will not stay in place overnight. The clinician can often change the dressing or the plan to deal with them.

For residents of nursing and senior living communities

In a skilled nursing facility, a lymphedema plan succeeds or fails on consistency. A wrap put on firmly by the day shift and loosely by the evening shift does not control swelling, and gaps of a day or two let the limb refill. The treating clinician writes orders that are specific about the dressing, the compression and how often each is changed, and reviews them with the nurses who will carry them out.

Gateway coordinates the visit schedule with the facility and sends the orders and visit notes to the nursing team. Staff questions that come up between visits go back to the clinician.

Signs to tell the clinician about

Changes in the swelling itself can point to something beyond the wound. Tell the treating clinician about:

• Swelling that increases quickly over a day or two
• Swelling that moves higher, into the thigh, groin or belly
• Rapid weight gain, or shoes and garments that suddenly do not fit
• Needing extra pillows to breathe comfortably at night

Sudden swelling and pain in one leg, often with warmth in the calf, needs urgent medical evaluation because it may be a blood clot. Call 911 for chest pain, trouble breathing, coughing up blood, fainting, or a racing heartbeat with lightheadedness.

Why primary care matters here

Not all of the fluid in a swollen leg comes from the lymphatic system. Heart failure, kidney disease and liver disease can each add to it, and long-standing swelling from any of them wears on the lymph vessels over time. A primary care clinician keeps track of these conditions through exams, weights and lab work.

That information matters to the wound plan. How firmly a limb can be compressed, and how fast, depends in part on how well the heart can handle fluid moving back into circulation. When Gateway arranges both wound care and primary care, each clinician can see what the other has found and ordered.

Primary care at home in Godfrey →

How to get started in Godfrey

You may already have a surgeon, a wound clinic or a home health nurse and still want help with wound care with lymphedema closer to home in Godfrey. That is a fine reason to call 314-325-0126. Tell us who is treating the wound now and what is not working, whether that is the travel, the gaps between appointments or unclear instructions. Gateway does not replace your current clinicians. We can arrange for a partner clinician to see the wound where you live and, with your permission, share notes with the offices already involved so the plans agree.

Both hospitals that serve Godfrey are a short drive south: Alton Memorial Hospital and OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton. Neither is affiliated with Gateway. When a patient is headed home to Godfrey, or to a nearby facility, follow-up can be requested by the family or referred by the hospital’s discharge planner. Gateway gathers the discharge summary, wound orders and medication list, and arranges a visit with a partner clinician. We also let the patient’s regular doctor know that follow-up is being arranged, so everyone is working from the same information.

• County: Madison County, Illinois
• ZIP codes: 62035
• Nearby hospitals: Alton Memorial Hospital; OSF Saint Anthony's Health Center in Alton (not affiliated with Gateway)
• Nearby communities: Alton, Alton and the Riverbend, Madison County, Illinois
• Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation

Related care in Godfrey

Read the full guide to wounds with lymphedema, or see everything Gateway arranges on the mobile wound care in Godfrey page.

• Diabetic foot ulcers
• Venous leg ulcers
• Pressure injuries and bed sores
• Arterial and mixed wounds
• Non-healing wounds
• Post-surgical wounds
• Reopened (dehisced) surgical wounds
• Surgical site infections
• Skin tears and traumatic wounds
• Skin graft aftercare
• Wound VAC (NPWT) follow-up
• Wound care with lymphedema in Alton
• Wound care with lymphedema in the Riverbend
• Wound care with lymphedema in Madison County

Common questions