Lacy Fidler is at a loss as to what comes next after being told the home care she has been receiving for 2.5 years would end.

The day after telling paNOW that she needed the care to prevent infections and stay out of the hospital, Fidler was admitted to hospital with an infection.

“This is my life. Cellulitis is a very deadly infection. I could be dead next week,” she said. “I don’t know, I’m so confused, I’m overwhelmed, I’m stressed. I’m just defeated.”

Fidler has been getting care at home for a condition called lymphedema. Coban wraps, provided by home care, were being used for compression to control the condition in order to prepare her for surgery.

The lymphedema was brought on by an arthritic condition that causes her spine to fuse.

Fidler was told by the manager that she would no longer be getting the wraps, due to a lack of staff working at Prince Albert home care.

“In order to get my BMI down and in order to have a safe surgery, I need to get this compression to lose all this fluid weight that I have,” she explained. “He (the manager) doesn’t even know what Coban is. He said that they’re short staffed and this isn’t how we treat lymphedema. That we use Coban to heal wounds, which is completely wrong.”

According to 3M’s website (which owns Coban), the self-adhesive wraps can be used for compression and things like wrapping splints and sprains, securing dressings, compression to reduce edema and to reduce swelling.

In the last few years since just before the pandemic, she has had bariatric surgery cancelled three times; once for a medical reason and twice because of COVID.

In that time, Fidler has struggled, dealing with open wounds that would not heal and that can be prone to infection, including cellulitis, which lymphedema patients can be prone to and is caused by a streptococcus bacteria.

A home care nurse had been visiting and replacing the Coban tensor bandage several times every week but before starting to use them, she was at the hospital every six to eight weeks getting intravenous medication.

Her doctor has put in a prescription that would see the Coban brought to Fidler and she would then have a family member put it on, rather than having the home care nurse do it.

“This morning I was told that would not be happening, they would not be supplying me with the what is needed to do the Coban wrap myself,” said Fidler.

When she called to talk to the manager of home care about the situation, he would not discuss it, she said, and told her to have a lovely day and hung up.

“Now here I sit in limbo. Right now, I don’t know what to do because my infections are setting in,” she said.

With no help from home care and knowing that it is very expensive to buy the wraps, Fidler is lost as to what her next steps should be and also lost in a medical condition that has already robbed her of a career in teaching.

“I taught from 2007 to 2016, and that was all taken away because of this. I don’t have any quality of life. None whatsoever. Any family gatherings that we have, everybody comes to my house because I can’t go anywhere,” said Fidler through tears.

When contact by paNOW about the situation, the SHA provided a link to the patient advocate website.

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