Friday, 6 March 2015

Healing Day


Thursday - 8:50 am
5th March 2015
I pay my weekly visit (on-going since last September) to the nurse at my gp's since I inflicted a wound on my shin on 19th September last year - that is almost six months ago. Today the wound has healed over and stopped discharging for the first time. Wow! That's been a long haul.

The problem was complicated by cellulitis in the same shin area, and also by discovery of a blood clot. I have lost count of the medical people I have seen (mostly with differing opinions),  self injections, swabs taken, hospital car parking problems, and doses of antibiotics consumed. Recently the cellulitis re-emerged after being more or less banished, and after another course of double-dose (risky according to one gp) antibiotic it has retreated again, and I feel now that Leg and I are nearly there.

Readers will see that I have been active in the outdoors during most of this period with day walks, and providing I don't wear boots to chafe my ankle I am doing ok with trail shoes, but left untreated the problem could have been very serious.

I am feeling stir-crazy and straining to be off on a caravan Marilyn expedition and then another backpacking trip after Easter when weather has warmed. The daily routine at home is becoming tedious, and conversations with people seem to revolve round old age, illnesses, and recent deaths and I want to be off for new encounters, and to let the wind blow, the sun shine, and the rain to cleanse.

I have walked on the last two Thursdays, first with both Petes and yesterday with regular Pete. Regular Pete, at the age of 80 is combatting rheumatoid arthritis, and responding quite well to treatment now, but we are restricting our walks to maximum five miles and wherever possible on Tarmac.

Here are a few photos:

Thursday 27th February - Dalesway country north of Crook on the way to Windermere







Thursday 5th March - to the east of previous photos, between Windermere and Staveley

Holbeck Ghyll Country House Hotel (and below).
Do guests arrive by helicopter? Rooms upwards from £225. The hotel is actually a few miles away close to Windermere lake, but their lettering is on the helicopter.


An attractively located and well laid out Camping and Caravanning Club site.

8 comments:

  1. Glad to hear that there is light at the end of what's been a long tunnel.we're looking forward to reading your next long adventure.

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  2. Best wishes for continued healing, Conrad.

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  3. Good news. Now looking forward to your blog on the Easter walk.

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  4. That's good news Conrad. We always enjoy reading about your trips. Hopefully, we'll be doing so from somewhere other than home.

    We chose March to get our roof tiles de-mossified, treated with a safe moss killer then sealed, all of which which should have taken a week. Not so. It has snowed, rained and sometimes the wind has been too strong for anyone to be on the roof, so we are only a third down the road to completion.

    Roll on April when we can turn the wheels north (or maybe south for the Lakes).

    All the best.

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  5. AlanR - Thanks for the comment - sorry I missed the walk round my patch the other day - looks like there will have been some enlargement in the local footpaths after the visit of Martin's army. You must be proud to be promoted to Chief Scout - congratulations.

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    The Crow - thanks for that.

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    welshpaddler - Hi Bob - good to hear from you again. My thoughts are to perhaps have a Marilyn bagging caravan trip AFTER Easter, then a backpacking trip after that. I think the leg still needs a little moreTLC before doing anything too prolonged - I'm still finishing off the last batch of antibiotics.

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    affotinthehills - Hi Gibson. Sounds like you have been sensible enough not to venture on the roof yourself, but I'm sure if you have you will have ensured safety with your climbing background. I have always found such ventures frightening compared with actual rock climbing which seems to involve a completely different mental attitude.

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  6. As you rightly say Conrad, clambering about on a roof is much more risky and frightening than rock climbing so we are using a local company well known to us to do a professional job.If only the weather would let them.

    A good number of years ago Mountain Guide Martin Moran fell off his roof and broke a leg I think. I think he got a hard time from climbing friends!

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  7. Very pleased to hear of the improvement in the misbehaving leg. Now just be careful not to put any more holes in it!

    Looking forward to following your Marilyning trip. In which area will it be?

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  8. Gayle - I am not too keen on advertising my destinations beforehand (particularly backpacking) -see my comment today on The Two Blondes, That's a Long Way:

    http://twoblondeswalking.com/?author=4

    However, as far as the Marilyn caravan trip is concerned the plan at the moment is to go for the group on the north-east coast of Scotland between Brora and John 'o Groats - There is a Caravan Club site at Brora, but this will depend on sorting the granddaughter Katie child minding and it would be after Easter (out of school holidays).

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