HEALING, AND FEELING BETTER

It has been a while since I posted.  Perhaps I have been suffering from a severe dose of:

Blogging Constipation 

However hard I tried I just could not write ~ I felt too low and too much in pain. It is only in the last two or three days I have started feeling a lot better and more like myself. It is so good to feel like that after these uncomfortable weeks.

This 'blogging constipation' reminds me of a most unpleasant side effect of some of my pain killers, containing Codeine Phosphate, the most effective pain killer I have found to date.  I love my kidneys too much to take too many Paracetamol based tablets but by carefully juggling various options including Ibuprofen, I have managed to get by, with one or two very painful exceptions, and suffering the unwelcome side effect, much reduced I am pleased to say.  What a relief !! . . .  lol

I am very pleased to say that there has been a noticeable and considerable improvement in my leg since I came home from hospital and the District Nurses took over. It is now normal size after being blown up to over twice the size and raging with infection whilst I was in hospital before the I/V treatment knocked the infection on the head. 

The District Nurses started dressing the wound three times a week and nurse Debbie, who used to nurse Maria when she was sick, has noticed a considerable improvement each and every time she comes and in fact she is quite amazed at how quickly the new growth of healthy tissue is forming and two of the smaller blisters have gone.  I am treated with a gel called Flaminal Forte, which cleans out the wound and promotes healing, then covered with dressings soaked in liquid paraffin, so I had better not walk too near bonfires ~ I am an ambulance man and not a fire fighter.  Over that they apply two layers of compression bandages, which force the blood back up my leg and not through the side of it. The large hole in my leg was 1/2 inch deep and some 5 inches by 2 inches and it closely resembled my feeble attempts at poaching an egg ~ just like a third degree burn. They have stopped Flaminal Forte because it has done its job and promoted bleeding to clean the wound, which is no longer required.  I am always somewhat apprehensive when they take off the dressing, and I always wonder whether progress has been reversed, which could happen, but to date I have been encouraged every time.

In spite of the improvement it still weeps quite a bit and there is quite a way to go yet before I am completely healed, but they reckon in terms of weeks and not months . . . or even a year, as they said it might take when they first saw it.  They think I am a strong, fit, 'young' and active chap and I am a good boy and eat all my greens and lots of fruit and put my feet up at rest and walk about a lot to keep the calf muscles going, which helps circulation ~ so I am doing a lot of the right things and avoiding standing which is very bad for it.

So perhaps it is somewhat of a miracle ~ even though I did pray for instant healing once or twice ~ I think God is doing his best through resources he has chosen to use.

One of my best lady friends, Pat, who runs a nursing home and was Maria's employer, would disagree with the treatment because 15 years ago she suffered a leg ulcer but treated hers successfully by applying Vitamin E squeezed from a capsule and covering it with a cabbage leaf before bandaging.  She did this every day for a month and it was completely healed and dare not come back.  But she is an angel and I think has a direct line to God on high, where she gets all her strength for the wonderful things she does with her life, always helping others.

Debbie now comes once a week on a Saturday and I visit the ulcer clinic on a Wednesday, so I am treated twice a week. I mentioned Pat's 'cure' to Debbie and she said I should pass it on to the nurses in the ulcer clinic, they will be interested, so I will next time, tomorrow. They are always looking for other ways and means ~ they say no two people are the same and they all respond differently to different things. The nurse at the clinic is a very nice lady whose name escapes me right now, and I told her she has a very nice smile.

I had some interesting experiences whilst in hospital and will try to pen a few in my next posts.

Meanwhile, Debbie has judged that I am almost able to resume my life as normal and do most of the things I like doing provided I am careful with the leg and I am sensible, which I intend to be.

She says when I am better I will be measured for a pair of 'kinky' black lower leg stockings to aid blood flow back up the legs.  I said I did not mind at all and would willingly wear suspenders if it helped, under my jeans . . . she laughed and laughed.

We have already agreed that when I am better all three nurses are coming round to celebrate with glass of champagne. We all go back a long way when they visited Maria when she was ill and I made them a cup of coffee. 

I hope to visit you all again and I am looking forward to reading your posts and commenting.




I love reading comments and it is fun to hear from you even if it is just a "Hi" . . . It is then great to visit you in return.

I'M HOME AND NOT LEGGLESS

Hi Friends, 

This afternoon I was discharged from hospital, albeit in my view a little early but they have stabilised my condition and the fever has subsided and I am back onto oral antibiotics.  The swelling has reduced greatly.   My left leg was three times the size of my right one and now it is just 1.5 times  . . .  and falling.

The ulcer, still nasty but much drier, can now be treated by District Nurses and I shall be visited by one tomorrow for a dressing and compression bandages . . and we can work out a plan of action to get rid of this nasty thing.  

They will probably be known to me from the days they visited Maria when she required their attention . . . They all like my cups of tea and coffee . . 

I have a few interesting posts about the hospital stay and how a number of nurses remembered me from my ambulance days . . .  

I came home by ambulance and one of the crew was a great chap I worked with . . . lots of co-incidences . . and some great fun . . plus some painful days . . 

HOSPITAL STAY

UPDATE  2 April

It has taken me ages to get into the hospital Wi-Fi.

Thank you for all your very kind comments.  This is my second day here and the swelling has not reduced yet, although the antibiotics seem to be taking the heat out of my leg, which is good.  Before I came in I had an ultrasound DVT scan, which proved negative, but a consultant has just seen me and says he wants another done because he wants to get to the bottom of why the swelling is there, which is causing all the problems.  He seemed quite impressed that I had suggested to my GP the problem might be a DVT and that I had reported that the arterial supply seemed ok.  Indeed this was confirmed a little later when a doctor did an in house arterial ultrasound on both legs and the blood supply to both feet is very good. We await the venial ultrasound and then they can start powerful compression bandaging to get rid of the fluid ~ and that will enable the ulcer to heal.

I have just seen some nurses who remember me from my ambulance days . . . . had a nice chat with them . . . :)

I'll do another post soon.

______________________________________

Hi friends,

Just a short note to say that today I shall be admitted to hospital in Bristol for about a week.

Some of you will know I have been experiencing problems with a leg nasty leg ulcer since December and have been fighting a gradual losing battle.

It has accelerated in sheer horridness and I have a very large swelling in my left calf ~ it is very painful.

The oral antibiotics are not touching it and I need some powerful intravenous antibiotics, which I am hoping and praying will work.

I am taking my laptop to hospital and will be writing some short stories and I shall let you know how I am getting on. 

It will seem rather strange for me to receive some care for a change.   

. . . . . :)