To the doctor early this morning so that he could prod, poke, pinch, and “goodness gracious” my left leg. I appreciated the “goodness gracious.”
Anyway, he thinks it’s a heavy infection in the cellulite that’s all stretched out over a massive swelling caused by rampant fluid retention. He’s given me a 14-day course of a broad spectrum antibiotic–Cefalexin–to beat the infection and is muttering about going on to support stockings when that’s done. I welcome the antibiotic and am about eight hours into the course, including a good, relaxing nap without problems (that makes a nice change). I just now popped the second (500mg) pill and am hopeful that this will fix not only the bugs in the cellulite but also a long-term drippy sinus problem too trivial to report to the doctor.
I’m not too sure about the support stockings. Obviously it’s good to drive the fluid back from the tissues into the blood stream but I’ve carefully avoided socks of any length as much as I can to avoid over-heating. I’ll need to think very carefully about that.
Oh, and just as an aside, the doctor was very reassuring about my blood pressure monitor results and says there’s nothing to worry about there. I do sometimes have a short and minor drop in pressure but the best treatment for that is to sit down and think beautiful thoughts for two or three minutes until it goes away. That’s language I can understand.
I like this doctor.
Graham’s on the downward slope of decorating the living room now, painting the walls which he has lined with a good, plain paper. This project is doing wonders for his credibility with the neighbours, who whisper respectfully about him ‘doing his own plastering’. “Stuff and nonsense,” says Graham. “Who doesn’t?” Well, most people, is the answer. He’s now gone all protective about it, saying that photography can wait until the job’s done.
“Does that include the Christmas tree?” I asked, all innocent-like.
“We’ll see,” he said, not getting the joke at all.
Day by day delivery men arrive bearing small cardboard parcels addressed to me, which I whisk away to hide in my special place. Each time the glint in Graham’s eye sparkles a little more and my fears that we may have to cancel all but the basics of Christmas this year recede.
Which is nice.
Good news all around! Wonderful!
Good news, indeed.
The last time I checked, there was no law that said Christmas had to be held in the living room. At our old house, we regularly had Christmas in the dining room because that’s where the tree fit. Heck, if the only place readily available is a spare bedroom, put up the tree there and declare it the Christmas room for the duration.
I’ve also been known to declare Christmas to be a movable feast if someone became unwell on the 24th or 25th. One year, a nasty little digestive bug attacked various folks in turn so we ended up putting off Christmas until the 29th. Worked just fine.
This message brought to you by the “take the pressure off” elf.
Stockings eh, ask for a better color than white.
Glad you got some answers.
As to the stockings, avoid as long as you can, John. I’ve been threatened with ‘em, but when I found out one had to don them while still flat in bed and lying on one’s back — well, seems I took a couple good breaths and decided to follow the rules a bit more stringently. However, and on the other hand —
Well, I’m glad you went to see this doctor and got the antibiotics. Infections like that are nothing to play around with. Hope it all clears up.
Hope it gets better soon.Big hug.x
I wear support stockings, and I have to say it is nice to see the bones in my legs after they decide to swell up for a while. Not too hot, and the results are worth it. The only struggle I have is getting them on.
So nice little packages are arriving and Graham is well enough to have a glint in his eye again.
Twinkling eyes reflect the Christmas lights. I love to see the glint! Here’s wishing you the Merriest Christmas yet!
Hugs from the far side, ~ Sil
John, I use support hose myself. I did, though, fall asleep with one at “half mast”, and it rolled up like a band and caused a thrombo-plebitis at that level by constricting a vein. Superficial, thankfully, and slowly going away now.
I’m taking aspirin to make my platelets less sticky. But this shows that stockings can have problems. The main problem is the don’t come in the correct length for all people — but a corset and suspenders are just not moi!! That said, they support the micro-circulation (usually) and can make an oedematous leg feel more comfortable.