**DISCLAIMER**
This post may make you violently ill! Please do not view these pictures if you are eating or plan to be eating in the next couple hours or you might not keep your food down. You've been warned... proceed with caution.
I'm calling this Day 1. It is not the first day of the boil, but it's the first day I went to the clinic-- once I realized that this thing was out of control! This is the boil. It doesn't look like much more than a big zit in this picture, but you can see in the second that my leg is quite swollen.
This is one of the best pictures I have of the swelling (also Day 1). My thigh, calf, and ankle all swelled up to about twice their normal size at their largest.
Day 2. This is the first day it was "squeezed" at the clinic. It hurt so bad and I could not walk on my leg-- the pain was too intense!
Day 3. This was after it was squeezed the second day. You can see here that there are at least three centers within the boil.
Tim dressing my wound (also Day 3). His facial expression is completely justified-- I myself gagged everytime I looked at it! Glad we brought those gloves and even more glad we took that First Aid/CPR class!
Day 4. The "tissue plug." It was nasty. I don't want to keep talking about it because I don't want to keep thinking about it. Oh, and you can see my blackened toenail in this picture, too!
Day 6 (sorry, I apparently didn't take any pictures on Day 5). The tissue plug came out, leaving a big crater in its wake.
This picture shows the crater really well (also Day 6).
Day 7. This is today. I'm regaining some mobility, the swelling is starting to go down, and the crater continues to ooze greenish-yellowish goo.
Enjoy your lunch!
-JLR
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3 comments:
Thanks for sharing. Really not as bad as I was imagining. On the bright side, you and your family are becoming better medics with each medical related issue. That my friends, is priceless.
Jeana- the swelling looks SOOOO painful. Looks familiar to my own boil experience and having done a lot of wound care at my hospital (bad pressure wounds)it looks like it's getting better for sure! That angry red is receding which is awesome. Hang in there, it will get better, it WILL.
Brenna-- it's possible that the pics didn't fully capture the worst parts. Like the swelling-- I never got a picture of my leg at its worst, and my ankle was really swollen and hurt really bad. Apparently blood flow was pretty restricted through my knee region. Shannon-- thanks. I hope I satisfied your nurse-curiosities! Thanks for the tip about the "angry red" receding being a good sign. That's exactly the kind of thing I need to know right now. I was worried that since it's still draining tons of stuff that maybe I wasn't getting better.
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