AndyBlog: No, it's not better. Not yet.

I'm making this posting for a couple of reasons, the first can be adequately categorised as “News Update”.

So here's a little window on how my leg is progressing. If you have a fairly strong stomach, feel free to click above and take a look at what passes for my left lower leg. As you can see, it's not too pretty, and I can fill in the blank by letting you know that it does, indeed, still hurt a bit.

If you're not of a mind to click on the picture (and I secretly wonder if anyone will be able to resist), I can say that the skin quality is not too good - by which I mean that there isn't a great deal of skin going on at all. The whole surface is very tender and rather sore - although not currently infected with cellulitis itself.

“So, what's the second reason?” (I hear you ask, grudgingly)

Bit of a tricky sentiment to get right, this one.

A few people have made comments to me recently, to the effect that my leg has cleared up and I must be relieved etc.

I'm not quite sure what they are basing this on. A few thoughts occur:

I don't complain much (heck, I hope not)
I haven't been taken into hospital recently
I haven't missed many things through illness recently
The topic has not come up in conversation recently

These are the best I can do for now - they may be fairly close. In any event, I know how hard it is for friends to deal with long term conditions. It's full of pitfalls - ask too much and I get annoyed, ask too little and I feel neglected. I discover that I can handle both of these better than this third emerging group of “assuming I am better”. Whoever you are, reading this - I don't mean you. Let's make that very clear.

So what am I saying?

I guess it's like this: My leg is not very good - and hasn't been for a while. It's not getting better, but does not seem much worse either, so we have what can best be described as an “uneasy stand-off”.

Fiona is fantastically patient when it comes to doing my bandages every 2 or 3 days. Without her, my life would have been a living hell of going to nurse's surgeries for poor quality bandaging. If I were to write for another hour, I could not fully express my appreciation for what she does, because I have some clues as to how hard it is for her to do. Not technically - she has that down to a fine art - but emotionally. It can't be easy to have to deal with someone you care for, and, even though it is to help, to put them through a large amount of extra pain.

For now, I am glad to be doing a fair amount of work and threading my way through the obstacles well enough to live reasonably normally. It's a delicate balance, but I think I am just on the right side of it. Long may it continue.

This entry has gone on too long - time to end and go to bed.