Going from bad to worse ...

Warning! Graphic details follow - don't read if you're squeamish!

The blister I wrote about last week got nastier, went black, and the whole area became very sore, so I went to the doctor last Tuesday, and he put me on antibiotics. He said that I didn't need a formal dressing, unless it became open.

Last night, blood started weeping from underneath the bottom edge, as you see it in the picture above left. We put a dressing on, as best we could, and called NHS24, who said they'd contact a district nurse, to see if they could help. When he phoned me back, he said he wouldn't do any more than we'd already done, which didn't please me very much. I wanted them to have a look and see if it was still infectious, and if there was any more of a dressing that needed to go on. Anyway, I went to the doctor this morning, and when he took the dressing off, the blister had gone and left a helluva mess and a nasty looking wound. When the doctor went "oh, my!" I started to worry. He took a look at it and decided that it wasn't so angry any more, but that the wound would obviously need taking care of; he prescribed me another course of antibiotics, and made an appointment for me to see the nurse before I left.

I was really getting concerned about the remainder of my leg, now. What if they couldn't control the infection and it got into the bone? It was so close, there, with there being very little muscle over the shin; I couldn't see how deep the wound was. I started having visions of having to have another amputation: above the knee this time. I sat shaking as I waited for the nurse to be free to dress my wound. As she started to clean it up, she found a fragment of stitch there! It must have been there for 18 months. Could this be the cause of all the problems I have been having in the area? We'll just have to wait and see. If it all heals up nicely, I might just find that I get less irritations and pain from now on, and can really start progressing ...

I'm still very worried about the infection, but I'm also oddly elated about the nurse finding the stitch there, even though it was only a tiny fragment. I have been convinced for some time that there was something wrong with that area. It's a very delicate spot, right over the shin-bone where the 'padding' is thinnest, and if the prosthetic rubs there, it would be bound to cause problems: even the tiniest fragment of a foreign body there would be bound to cause irritation.

I have been really struggling to increase my walking range, not because of tiredness, but because of getting pain and sore spots in the stump. I just thought I was overdoing it, and maybe needed to build up a little more slowly; but I've read stories of other people who, after the same length of time as I've had since the op, have been back at work, and almost back to normal. Every time I've increased my exercise, I've had problems afterwards, and I've been thinking that it is very strange that nothing I've done seems to make this spot any better, and that the problems I've been having there have really been going on for too long to be normal. This discovery fills me with real hope of a full recovery.