I want to thank those who sent in donations this week. Your timing was impeccable as usual, even if wasn't able to post anything in that regard! That was a very nice Christmas present!
If the flow supports it, I'd like round out the month's donations for 2025 to what they are monthly or better. The end of the month is coming up shortly and I have some clinic appointments yet for 2025.
I have a nurse coming out three times a week now, upgrading the compression bandages on my calves. Donald Trump also has this leg condition.
As far as I know these aren't diabetes wounds because my blood sugar is just not that high. When I am in the hospital my blood sugar reading is low enough where I don't even make the threshold for hospital insulin shots. Pre-diabetic I think is the term. I do take a slow release insulin at night at home, because my consumption of carbs is slightly higher at home when not on a hospital diet. I don't have much of a sweet tooth but I do eat toast and rice.
I did find a spider web while vaccuuming below my couch, behind where my legs are when I sit. I have been bitten by Texas spiders (brown recluse) before and the wounds are always slow healing. But it's probably just the damaged veins. My legs have been discolored since 2009 so it's not exactly a secret. But since October I was leaking so much blood plasma from legs it really gave me a scare. Hospital should have caught in September but didn't. They pretty much conditioned to routine situations but it is one of the better hospitals in the area.
I've never seen bandages like this before, a silver alginate pad directly on wounds that acts a both antibiotic and a one way moisture valve, then there's a slightly moist layer of gauze soaked in calcium alginate (calamine lotion essentially) wrapped in a switchback non-constricting pattern. That is then covered in a wrap of thin foam plastic (for pressure relief I think) followed by a self sticking athletic bandage. The right calf wound is close to scabbing over (which means skin regrowth is taking place). It looked like a moon crater a month ago. The left calf is a little slower at healing but it's also a smaller wound. I could have never bandaged these on my own as it's on the back side of my legs where I can't see or reach them very well.
I am going to a clinic at the end of the month to have my leg veins mapped out with a sonogram to find the ones that are failing. Essentially what the cardiologist told me the veins are damaged and water is getting stuck in my legs. I have noticed that since my legs have been wrapped in bandages my legs are not swelling like they did, so I think there is something to this. I got septicemia in 2009 from an infection on my legs which the best guess I could make at the time was polluted beach water. But there may have been another cause. What ever the cause I have to deal with it. And the vein issue seems consistent with my medical history with these legs.
Inside each vein is a one way check valve, movement plays a big role in moving de-oxgenated blood back to the heart and lungs, but if the valves in the veins are damaged gravity can pull water down into the legs. In diagrams of this condition they make veins look blue to distinguish them from arteries but they are not blue in real life. The calves are pumps themselves using movement to return blood through the vein and lymph systems.
It can be treated in a clinic and there is no need for a hospital. I will not be getting treated for it in 2025, but probably in January. They first have to map out which veins are affected. The treatment is similar to varicose vein treatments but slightly different. Usually radio frequency therapy, laser, or saline treatment like in varicose veins. The idea is reroute the returning blood flow to deeper and larger veins rather than the fractured surface veins.
I am actually pleased we've narrowed down the cause of all the hospital stays the last 3 years, as it hasn't been a ton of fun. I am also encouraged I don't have bad heart valves or clogged arteries. My cardiologist is the first doctor I have had that didn't resort to the easier explanations, as there are similar conditions not involving bad veins but a bad heart. Although the overload of fluid creates much the same result in the end.
I wan't to express my complete gratitude to my readers for supporting this blog when I have not been able to post as much as I would like. That will be changing shortly.
I love you ALL!
Terran
