So why all the fuss all of a sudden? Whats been going on over the last 5 years with regards to my 'bad legs'. Well some stuff did start going a bit wrong 3 years ago. I had a scab that had not totally healed for nearly two years. It stemmed from a tick bite in Botswana. One day I picked it. Oh boy, what a mistake to make. It soon started to fester and become a bit of a hole in my leg. I lived with it for a couple of weeks and tried to self treat with clean dressings, antiseptic wipes etc... but over the coming weeks it became incredibly painful. I ended up going to my GP's, (my regular GP was not there at the time, so I was seen by a trainee GP) who advised me to see the nurse for a clean dressing and return in a couple of days. I continued to do trips to the GP practice for fresh dressing from the nurse for several weeks. At no point did anyone mention ulcer to me. Eventually, after one of the nurses applied too much of a particular compound and caused serious maceration of the tissue, I was referred to the local ulcer clinic.
I waited, and waited and waited to be seen but no appointment came. By this time my ulcer had grown to about 6cm across. I was off work and had been taking large amounts of over the counter pain killers for months just to get by.
The first image shows the ulcer in late April two weeks after my initial visit to the GP. The second was at the end of May. It continued to get worse and worse until eventually in August 2005 I was seen by the ulcer clinic, some 5 months after my initial consultation with the trainee GP.
5 MONTHS. In that time a small wound the size of 5p coin grew to the size of tangerine. The ulcer clinic started me on compression bandages and amazingly within a couple of days the pain had all but gone and I was able to return to work. All in all it took the best part of 3 years for the ulcer to heal. If it had been correctly treated in the first place it may have taken weeks instead. I now have a huge scar on my right leg as a result of this episode.
I waited, and waited and waited to be seen but no appointment came. By this time my ulcer had grown to about 6cm across. I was off work and had been taking large amounts of over the counter pain killers for months just to get by.
5 MONTHS. In that time a small wound the size of 5p coin grew to the size of tangerine. The ulcer clinic started me on compression bandages and amazingly within a couple of days the pain had all but gone and I was able to return to work. All in all it took the best part of 3 years for the ulcer to heal. If it had been correctly treated in the first place it may have taken weeks instead. I now have a huge scar on my right leg as a result of this episode.
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