Reg Whelan's Information

My experience with Colloidal Silver.

I think there was an Australian Politician who uttered, " Life wasn't meant to be cheesy" or something similar.   Within a few months of her mother's death my daughter, Cathy, was diagnosed with Lower Rectal Cancer.

Now Cathy is another diabetic and has been on insulin injections since she was about 18.

Have I mentioned before that because of the sugar levels of diabetics their blood becomes an ideal environment for bacteria to breed, and breed rapidly. I don't think I did.

Cathy was eventually diagnosed with this cancer condition privately after the Public System had sent her home and told her to eat more oranges. This was after her GP had detected that a lump existed that needed to be examined re continual annal discharge. I'm not very impressed.

I think because she was only 27 they decided she was too young to have bowel cancer and they could save costs by gambling that it wasn't cancer and send her home. As it turned out they were very wrong. Cathy had a very aggressive form of cancer and by the time of radiation it had grown to about 3 1/4 inches in size.

This cancer blocked her up to the point she was in Intensive care on special watch to monitor for any bursting of her insides. This was relieved with a stent that worked out within weeks as she waited for radiation.

Cathy went in and had radiation and an colostomy. A fissure was created in the uterus and the wall of the bladder was burned dangerously thin. So Thin that it was later to rupture.

As the years (spent more in hospital than out) went by Cathy was to be opened up and drained so many times I've managed to forget just how many. This opening was from the sternum to the Caesarian line. Whenever she was allowed home and even while she was in hospital I dressed this stapled wound with Colloidal Silver and Sorbisan. Unfortunately The faeces' bag had burst and the then undressed or dry dressed wound was covered with faeces. The wound became infected before I could do any cleansing and dressing. Also because of the internal infection the wound may have been infected anyway.

No sooner would I have the wound healed then she would be back in theatre and they were cutting it open again. Talk about frustrating.

Now they eventually managed to control the internal gangrene and they tried to reconnect the bowel to the anus. There wasn't enough bowel left and she had to have a colostomy bag. I'm not sure if they did a muscle graft to close the anus at that time or later. Anyway a strip  of muscle from the inner thigh was was left attached at the groin and fed internally to be grafted over the opening.

This of course became infected. The graft and the flesh around the anus began to decay The medical profession did all that they could to try and control the infection. This included hyperbaric dives. But they ran out of options. Cathy was being taken into the shower and the wound was flushed and cleansed before returning to bed to have a dressing done. As you might imagine I was unable to do this dressing. And nor could I see what was happening with the wounds.

Cathy overheard a discussion that suggested they were about to stop the hyperbaric dives as they weren't having any result.

I happened to be at the hospital, accidentally on purpose, when the Professor in charge of wound management came in with a team of other Doctors to examine the lack of progress(read regression) of their treatments. When they were about to leave I excused myself and told the professor that I was Cathy's father and reminded him about her mothers wounds. I asked if I could have the nursing staff dress the wounds my way. He agreed almost instantly and I asked him if he would ensure that it was recorded that I could instruct the nursing staff on how to do the dressing.

I wrote instructions in a step by step form and printed them on an A4/letter sheet for the staff to read and follow. Now this was a total break from procedure and those instruction sheets disappeared so rapidly I was forced to do another printing to ensure that I had some for the staff actually doing the dressings.

I stopped the decay in 24 hrs and in 48 hrs there was evidence of re-granulation. The team in hyperbarics recognized the changes immediately and now instead of not wasting time documenting the decay, they began a series of digital photos to document the recovery. The Dr. in charge of the hyperbaric team was a little more savvy about hospital supplies than the professor and his team. They requisitioned a product AquacelAg. Once they had it they changed the instruction and refused to use the sorbisan and colloidal silver dressings. They did however flush and clean the wound with the colloidal silver I had supplied instead of using the normal saline solution usually used in hospitals to flush and clean wounds.

I researched the AcquacelAg. The information I could find suggested to me that the Aquacel was an upgrade on the Sorbisan that I used. It absorbed fluid discharge faster than the sorbisan did. The AquacelAg was a smoky grey colour compared to the lighter coloured Aquacel. The claim for the dressing is that bacteria coming into contact with silver would be killed. From everything I could find I have to assume that Silver Oxide is added to the Aquacel formulae to make the AquacelAg. What the heck. They were now doing the same thing as I was whether they liked it or not.

The absorbed fluids dissolved the Silver Oxide and allowed the Silver Ions to disperse evenly throughout the fluids in the dressing and in immediate contact with the wound surface.

At first I was extremely wary and when I had done my research I had to Laugh. I also remembered the series of questioning emails that had put me through the third degree. I have achieved what I set out to achieve, a better deal for diabetics every where.

Apparently I used to talk in my sleep. Lyn would ask me questions and I would answer her. When she tried to ask anything that wasn't general knowledge I would go he he and clam up completely. I do have the ability to recognise a series of questions :LOL. Hey they were now spending $100 for a box of dressings where a box of the sorbisan was costing $10.

Some of the properties of the Colloidal Silver that I haven't mentioned:
Wounds dressed with the colloidal silver do not grow scar tissue and it doesn't cause keloid scarring.
The healing rate is promoted.
The re-granulation that forms also forms capillary vessels.
It produces an analgesic effect reducing the patient's discomfort.

By the way Cathy has had continued infection and has lost half her foot. Due to a lack of circulation. She has had a bypass in one leg and a stent in the other to restore circulation to her feet. I have managed to stop the infection in her foot and avoided further removal.

She has a leg bag to collect urine as well as the colostomy bag now. She came home from hospital on Tuesday evening so my new partner Lyn and I have been relieved from baby sitting duties. I found out that there  is some bug in the bladder that causes outbreaks of blood poisoning at regular intervals and she returns to hospital. Now that I know where the problem is I will work out what I can do about it. That should then relieve the necessary antibiotic courses  and the additional loading on the immune system that it causes.

All this is a priority I have to cope with. It often takes me away from other work I should be doing. Also by now I should have been to Western Australia.

Ok! I'm done. The end.
Hope all this writing is of use to someone out there.
Reg Whelan

Update.... I have discovered that the actual silver compound used in AquacelAg is not Silver Oxide. It is a Silver Citrate or Critrite. I have no knowledge of how This Silver Compound behaves when in contact with wound fluids. However bacteria coming into contact with it or the Silver is killed.

I now know that AquacelAg Just like the Silver Burn Cream, that has been in use in the Hospital System for some time, allows the development of immune bacterial colonies.

So over all I am pleased that the hyperbaric team continued to flush Cathy's Wounds with the Colloidal Silver as I believed the retained Silver ions may have been what revented immunity and allowed the healing to continue.

I still believe that the use of Sorbisan wools and Colloidal Silver is the superior of the wound management systems I have learned of, especially for Diabetic Wound and Ulcer Management.

Today there is in use a vacuum management system. This system is designed to draw off exudate from wounds and ulcers. The reduced pressure around the wound area will also improve blood supply to the area and allow antibiotics to be more effective.

There is a major drawback with this system. Apart from being expensive and staff time consuming it is difficult to maintain a good vacuum seal. Also it is impossible to apply to some areas.

Ok! Some advances are being made in wound management with the exception of the use of Colloidal Silver, the Silver Ion variety. I wonder if this is still because of the low cost of production and the easy duplication of the systems for production.

Is the Political System going to continue to ban the use of Colloidal Silver as a medical treatment and enforce a no medical claims policy for makers and sellers of the product. They have allowed just one firm to make claims about the Medicinal values of it's colloidal Silver product. I wonder what payments were made and accepted to get FDA approval for that product.

Best Wishes

Reg Whelan