Appointment at noon with my internist. Ellie came with me.

My doc and I talked, he said I needed to see a surgeon (from what I told him) and he set me up with his upstairs office neighbor about half an hour later. Very cool guy from Montreal. He listened to the story, unwrapped it and although I said I did NOT want to see it I peeked and it wasn't sooo bad. Clean, no infection any more--pink and as Ellie and I agreed, looks exactly like a zombie took a bite out of my leg before the bad stuff sets in.

Options: First was the surgical one--(he IS a surgeon after all)--skin graft--would need a decent bit of skin from my outer thigh --that would hurt. Wound would not. It would be done out patient but have to be checked regularly and could reject the graft. Would take awhile to heal. And although it's minor surgery it is surgery

Second--some kind of surgical pump that would have to be attached to my leg and which I would have to lug around with me for weeks--not so good

So I'd pretty much decided on the graft and he wrapped me and then he said..there is one other option: the unaboot, a pressure bandage impregnated withe meds that promotes healing and needs to be changed once a week. There's the possibility that the wound will stop healing at a certain point over the next few weeks but even if that's the case, the wound would be substantially smaller, hence any skin graft would be similarly smaller. I can live with that.

So that's what I got--he wrapped gauze around it that he says will fall apart and that I need to replace with an ace bandage (I bought some) and I'll be back to see him Thursday afternoon for a look as to how it's doing.

Slight update 7:15
One of the nurses on Mary Ward C just called me from London to see how I'm doing. I cannot express how moved I am by this. I asked her to give everyone on the ward an update on how my leg is.
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From: [identity profile] n5red.livejournal.com


Since I have recently had a skin graft that is almost healed (doc says another couple of weeks), I thought I would relate my experience. It was about the size of a quarter, or a bit larger on the back of my ear. The surgery was absolutely painless. My ear hurt for a couple of days. The stitches from the graft site started itching a week or so later, but not badly. For the first week of so, I could only sleep on my right side, after that I was able to sleep normally. Bandaging the back of my ear was a tedious process, but nothing more. It has taken longer than I expected to heal, but not longer than the doc expected.

So, if you wind up with a skin graft, it isn't all that bad. Since it is on your leg, you will probably keep it elevated and have all sorts of slaves bring you chocolate..

From: [identity profile] ellen-datlow.livejournal.com


If it ends up quarter size I will be ecstatic. Right now it would be several inches across and down--too large for comfort.

Luckily I'm not all that much of a chocolate eater--but other goodies, perhaps. If only I could train the cats.

From: [identity profile] n5red.livejournal.com


There should be lots of fanboys interested in applying for the job. Label is as Editorial Assistant (3rd Class).

From: [identity profile] eiriene.livejournal.com


In reference to the skin graft--I cannot speak for how the actual graft site feels, but I have close experience with them through relatives.

Where they take the skin for the graft will look and hurt like you have badly scraped that portion of your leg. For about three weeks to a month. The smaller the graft size they can take, the better it will be.

Here's hoping the Unaboot does its wonders! =)
.

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