Leg Trouble and Playing 45s

27 August 2025. I'm still having bother with the legs. One leg itching like mad and the other leg so sore it's driving *me* mad... the wound on my right leg still looks grotty covering most of one side of my lower leg and still oozing a bit. it can be VERY painful.

1 September 2025. Painful visit to the District Nurses today, though I still think the legs are improving. Limping about manfully. I've done this crayon sketch over the last two days. Just one single lonesome page left blank in the A4 sketch book waiting for me to make my mind up whether to do a sketch or whether to add some details of who I am, what I do, why I do it, how sorry I am for doing it and a half-hearted doomed-to-be-broken promise not to do it again... The village shown is a place called Skradin in Croatia, at the end of a boat trip from the Krka National Park.

4 September 2025. The other day on Facebook I mentioned I was looking for a new record player. Yesterday we took a bus ride to Lytham to a place that renovates old players of a certain type. I invited my Facebook friends to guess what I bought - a Dansette was the most common response.

I did used to have a collection of such players, though sadly none of them actually bore the name "Dansette". Pictured here, the small suitcase Handy Gram went to the tip shortly after one of the cats we had at the time jumped on top of Max Bygraves and started spinning at 78 rpm. Max withstood this rather well but the fool cat broke the playing arm completely off... The rather posh Magnavox (top left) was sold after someone made me an offer I couldn't really refuse and the one top right at some point refused to work. I still have a Bush 1970s record player but it sounds somewhat naff and I wanted something with a better sound.

My Facebook friends now became fixated with brand names such as Bush, Ferguson, Bang & Olufsen, Aiwa, Panasonic etc. whilst one suggested that Tony Blackburn might be moving in...

9 September 2025. Well, today I had the legs redressed. 3.30pm but already the bandages are stained and the pain is lancing through my leg, making it impossible to settle for sleep.

The new record playing machine is due to be delivered tomorrow. Fingers are crossed and 275 45rpm records from the 1960s ready to be played. Final clue then: I asked for the type but everyone fixated on brands. So today's clue is designed to make you think of the brand... which may enable you to think of the type!

It was made by the firm responsible for a musical instrument famous for its association with Blackpool Tower. Once it's delivered I'll let the cat out of the bag. I'll be checking to see if anyone comes up with it first...

Well two people eventually got it. One person with a somewhat unrealistic idea of just how big my house is, suggested a Wurlitzer pipe organ... The clue prompted suggestions of a Gibson turntable - er... they make guitars I think! Also my use of the word retro in an earlier post made someone think of a wind-up gramophone... But one or two made the right connections.

10 September 2025. It's here, it's loaded and working and there's BUBBLES! Getting it over the threshold was not the easiest thing. The delivery man was on his own and it took both Fran and myself to help get it in, but in the end we managed.

20 September 2025. Sigh, yesterday it looked like a setback for my left leg which had been doing nicely. Still not sleeping well. I did manage to drop off watching TV today. Trouble was, I had a mug full of coffee in my hand at the time. My bandages are stained again...

23 September 2025. Had legs done again this morning - they have been a bit raw and yowchy (well if Shakespeare can make up words, so can I) but on the whole getting better. Looks like I'll be back in compression on Friday...

27 September 2025. Legs back in compression after yesterday's visit to the District Nurses. Horrendously painful whilst I get used to them again. Gasping and filling the night air with (mild) expletives. Managed a couple of hours sleep in the early hours then heard a crash from the bathroom. Somehow my shaving mirror had fallen off its extendable arm and was in shards on the stone floor. Oh good, like I need another seven years of bad luck...!

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index

Managing The Legs, August 2025

5 August 2025. Just back from another excursion to the District Nurses. My usual nurse wasn't there again today but I'd seen the stand-in before and she was good at what she did.

I actually came out feeling less in pain than usual, though it's kicking in now as the painkillers I always take before an appointment are wearing off now.

Plus I managed to show her something she had never seen before when she asked to check my bum for sores... I did warn her beforehand and she reacted with a look of surprise and 'Well I've never seen that before, you learn something every day...' Oh alright, enough of the teasing... I told her about the fractures to the bottom of my spine which now have my tailbone do a bit of a jig to the right... It is not comfortable and not recommended as a fashion item.

11 August 2025. I am just getting to the stage where I want to get out of the house every now and then. Each time is a trial as yet. Still a lot of pain in the legs despite all the paracetamol, gabapentin nerve painkillers and morphine (I am currently on 33 medications per day). Walking onto a slope, whether an actual gradient of the ground, an uneven pavement or a slope because I'm passing a driveway, is an issue as trying to adjust my balance sends pains shooting up from ankles to calves ("What's that bloke doing riding that small cow on my driveway?")

Otherwise the legs are improving. Fewer and smaller wounds, but the main problem is the availability of bandages and dressings. Despite numerous orders going to the wholesale pharmacy by the District Nurses, we have received exactly nothing since I came out of hospital. By all accounts neither have the District Nurses. Every time I go to have my legs redressed they have to go filching supplies from other rooms, nurses or surgeries. Sometimes it's a case of make do with whatever they have got. This is obviously some sort of breakdown quite high up in the supply chain.

I'm managing to sleep with my legs raised in bed a bit better than previously. This does mean several trips to the loo during the night though but the good side of that is that my legs are more or less normal sized instead of swollen and solid all the way to my neck... I've still been wearing shorts in the house for comfort though I did try a pair of normal trousers the other day, gave a squawk of surprise and had to order some new ones in a smaller size. That's all good and well, but I'm sure I've shrunk in height as well as getting rid of waste er... I mean waist...

Still takes me ages most nights to get to sleep and as a consequence I drop off far too easily during the day, making it harder to get to sleep at night making it easier to drop off...

So standing and walking are still painful and pressure on my right leg for any length of time particularly first thing in the morning after I've had my legs horizontal can start the remaining wounds bleeding which can be excruciating. Sitting and lying on my back are not always pain free either because of both pressure on my calves when lying and on my bent and sticky-out tailbone when lying or sitting. When I say sticky-out I don't mean I appear to have a tail, but it's a bit more prominent under the skin than it would normally be.

Hoping to try a bus ride into Poulton this week. I need to sort out the new glasses I ordered just before going into hospital which when I got them were superb for one eye but didn't allow me to focus the other eye properly at all.

12 August 2025. Had a doppler test at the District Nurses yesterday - that's a bit like having a blood pressure test except the inflatable collar goes over the wounds on your legs and is tightened until you are just about to scream. Then a microphone is pressed to your leg above and the noise of blood trying to get through the restricted veins is measured in some way and a calculation then is performed which in my case said I couldn't have compression bandages...

I have very slight compression from the ordinary bandages but the upshot is that swinging legs out of bed in the morning feels very similar to being in hospital when I used to gush blood all over the place. Luckily that didn't happen but I'm hobbling more again and waiting for a second test to confirm either yes or no for the compression bandages or whether I need referring to the hospital vascular team again. Joy...

The lack of a few layers also meant that lying down last night was more painful and kept me awake quite a bit and I've spent most of the day so far trapping my nose in the middle of my book as I doze off and lean/fall forwards...

18 August 2025. Was waiting for this to happen - since they decided I couldn't have compression bandages on, I am now sporting a stain on the bandages over the back of one leg the size of a 50p piece showing where one of the few wounds remaining has split and started weeping again. Blooming painful too. And at 3:00am this morning woke up and the wobbly tombstone tooth that has been annoying me for a few weeks came out and made me play hide and seek for it with my tongue before I could get it out of my mouth... District Nurses appointment just after lunch, hoping it will be my usual nurse who we haven't seen for a couple of weeks.

23 August 2025. Finally! After almost two months of orders and reminders being sent by the District Nurses, yesterday the pharmacy delivered this lot... including the bag on the floor with more bandages but not the carpet sweepers or the bit of finger top left...

Since they stopped the compression bandages I have been very sore and at times leaky. Had a couple of outings though this week to Blackpool and Poulton to sort out various bits. Hoping to get new glasses back today with decent lenses for both eyes! Stand by for fully descriptive posts of everything I can see. Gosh Miss Franny - is that what you look like?

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index

Medicals and Mishaps

19 July 2025. I missed a couple of days here. Nothing much amiss, just adjusting back to home life and trying to cope with what seems like a massive daily pill regime now that we have to manage it ourselves rather than just have a nurse bring them whenever the clock ticks!

My arms and across bits of my chest came out in a blotchy very itchy rash and I went to the docs with it. I thought it would just be a reaction to one of the pills and he agreed - so he gave me more pills and some cream to boot. This was 10:00am yesterday. I had phoned the District Nurses first thing to prompt them about the "twice a week" promise - yesterday was their last chance to meet it. They called me back whilst we were in the doc's waiting room to offer me an appt at the District Nurses at 12:00 noon. It wasn't going to be worth going home between so we just stayed all morning, treating ourselves to what I would class as one of the more horrible examples of a latte once we got downstairs.

It was very quiet down there for a change. Whether it was because the schools were all about to break up and mothers were all at home weeping at the thought I'm not sure... The poor guy on the Reception desk for all the clinics was standing in and was answering almost every query with "I don't know really, I'm just standing in..." Anyway 12:00noon was what I had been told. 12:15pm was what he had been told and it was one of the standard nurses not a District Nurse that saw me and redressed both legs. The nasty looking wound behind my toes on my right foot finally gave up the scab like the plug coming out of the sink (but without the gurgle noise) and underneath was a bit of a hole but all was pink and shiny down there so "Phew!"

Apparently I can look forward to another doppler test next month. I remember that without much affection as being VERY painful last time. It's where they inflate a cuff around your leg (right over the wound last time) and then do an ultrasound either side to measure the blood flow. It's to see if your veins can withstand compression.

Am expecting delivery of a foot rest stool any time which I can probably make room for a bit easier than a recliner to keep my legs up elevated. I am back to having water retention - Heaven only knows how - the amount of hobbling to the loo I do every day and several times at night... I must be drawing moisture out of the air by osmosis or something. I reckon it's having my legs elevated all the chance I get. They are nearer to the sky and any rain... As long as they don't get struck by lightning which is on the cards for us this afternoon again...

20 July 2025. Not much sleep again last night. My legs are a bit sore and leaky again. Supposed to be getting supplies sent direct to us but not sure when they will arrive.

The footstool arrived yesterday, all diagonal struts to keep it unfolded to full height.

"That looks like a trapped finger waiting to happen," I said to Miss Franny. Anyway I turned it over and made sure it was all tightened properly. I had tightened it ok because all of the hinges held in place as, when turning it back, there was a loud cracking and both wooden struts broke. The rest snapped shut like a vice and my middle finger got the brunt of things. Crushed at the nail which now is all discoloured presumably from blood underneath...

Don't you hate it when you can see something coming and it happens so fast? It still hurts.

24 July 2025. I am slowly getting back into some sort of ordered routine. I'm now on a fixed schedule with the District Nurses again, being seen twice a week and the only hiccup there is that as yet no supplies of bandages or dressings have been received from the pharmacy. But they have managed from their own stores so no problem as yet.

Have been today and both legs showing improvement, the hole in the foot is still a hole in the foot for now, but is packed with a dressing cut into a spring shape so what goes in should come out. Not ventured out yet other than trips to get the legs seen to but the walking is getting slowly better and am on the walking stick not the zimmer which is a good sign.

Sleep patterns all over the place, lying in bed is uncomfortable on the legs and keeps me awake until the early hours when I drop off to sleep and wake Miss Franny with either snoring or throaty bubbling - not actual bubbles, it's not worth trying to film actual bubbles escaping and floating on the breeze... You know what I mean. And if you didn't then sorry for spoiling the mind image!

This does mean a certain amount of daytime dozing. Which means doing anything can take a long time, this missive being one of those things. So I'll stop and see what the rest of the day brings. It's gorgeous weather outside, I had a little walk to admire the garden whilst waiting for our ride to the surgery earlier and there's plenty of colour in the roses along the borders. There's a few dead heads wanting pruning but they'll have to wait a bit! It's time for a snooze...

29 July 2025. Back now in a twice-weekly visit to the District Nurse and as of this morning I am back into full compression. 'Pon my soul I'd forgotten just how much that could hurt. And whilst I'm not sure it's connected, I'm so cold I'm sitting here in Miss Franny's hoodie and a rug over my knees...

Then I hear some scroat is sending out friend requests on Facebook supposedly from me. I was quick to say "If you get one don't accept it, I'd hate anyone to get scammed. Though why anyone who is already friends on Facebook should think I or they need to be friends twice over is a bit beyond me...

Bye for now, I'm just falling a bit behind with my shivering...

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index

Settling At Home

Sunday 13 July 2025. After all the drama of the past few days, yesterday was a sit down in front of the telly and catch up on such gems as Supercar, a Family at War, Wheeltappers and Shunters Club, and of course The Footage Detectives, all from Talking Pictures TV.

I even spotted my own name crop up in an episode of the latter! I have also several films to watch from their schedules. It all made for a more relaxing and gentle day than we have had over the last nine or ten weeks in hospital.

I did nod off a few times, side effects from the many pills they've been stuffing into me. These have included morphine which sends you to sleep anyway. Come Monday I must see about ordering more meds - do I order from the old routine or the changed one that the hospital gave me? That adventure is still to come.

Anyway, I'm home, still with sore and bandaged legs but mostly they are healing rather than raw wounds and deep ulcers under the bandages. I see the District Nurses tomorrow. Fingers crossed for that.

Monday 14 July 2025. Yesterday was another semi chilled day.

I need to order fresh supplies of meds this morning for instance and whilst a list of changes went from the hospital to the surgery, what remains on the list of available meds is the same old meds as before my admission. Have had to list all changes but there is no feedback method built into the software so am already expecting more cock-ups and stress...

First visit to District Nurses in an hour, one leg has wept a lovely green stain onto my instep. We'll see how we go. Walking very painful this morning. Daughter Gill is giving us a lift.

Humidity and heat making nights almost unbearable. My tailbone has chronic (long-standing) fractures to vertebrae 1 and 3 and with all the enforced sitting over the past 9 weeks are causing swelling and soreness. Vertebra 5 is also close to popping the disc. Oh the joys!

Another Talking Pictures festival takes place very soon. Another I'll have to miss... Well, let's see what the future brings! I'm sure if I lived closer I'd be round every day wanting to see how I could help out!

Tuesday 15 July 2025 Yesterday I had an appointment for 11:30am with the District Nurses. We got there at 11:00am as sometimes an appointment finishes early and you can get in early yourself. However...

Receptionist: "Is it Mr Bump?" (name changed to protect the innocent)
Me: "No - Mr Burke"
Receptionist: "Oh, you're due in at 12:50..."
Me: "No - we were told 11:30..."

We went to sit in the little waiting space and by 11:30 no sign of any Mr Bump. My usual Nurse from before the hospital admission came out and said they were very busy but that someone senior was coming to see me to dress my legs. She turned up as I was being told this and so I now have a matching set of redressed legs.

Apart from that we have not been anywhere. I'm spending days catching up on sleep lost during hot nights, though I've found that by placing pillows behind knees and under heels lets me get off to sleep during the night. I've also caught up with tracking transactions on our various cards over three month endings, some of which have been a bit muddled. Or was it I who am muddled?

A white van arrived at lunchtime and a chap tried to give us a third set of toilet arms and perching stool. We explained we already had as many as we had toilets and sufficient perching stools for washing and cooking. He went away a sadder and more soaked man - it has been torrential rain here today!

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index

Home but Feeling Deserted By The NHS

Thursday 10 July 2025. So yesterday was my first full day at home. I had so much to do: seemingly a thousand boxes of pills to sort out and work out when each needed to be taken...

The house insurance was due and the company had decided to cease operating so I had to phone up and sort that out. I also tried without success to sort out an appointment with the District Nurses. The best they could offer was in 3 weeks.

So this morning I need to ring the walking centre apparently. They will only book appointments for the current day. It is now the 4th day since my legs were redressed.

We did an online grocery order. I went out with Miss Franny to admire the display of roses in the garden. Getting out of the front door was a bit testing but I got out and back in without mishap. I did the same with the back door to have a look at the apple tree and express surprise at the juniper tree - a new home gift from Janet and Graham, six years ago. Early on the wind broke the trunk in a winter storm and I had to tie it to a cane. It looked like it might not recover for a couple of years but now it's climbing 3/4 up towards the garage roof...

Then a much needed relax. Fran made lunch and we watched the first of many recorded episodes of The Footage Detectives from Talking Pictures TV. Then a much needed nap before Grace popped in on her way home from school.

We were in bed early, but spent an hour or two watching yet more recordings on the telly. The remote upstairs must be powerful because as I switched off the Sky box upstairs we heard a noise from downstairs where the main Sky box had come on, in turn switching on the downstairs TV...

Friday 11 July 2025. Sorry, today's report may be short. Trying to get any aftercare, specifically having the legs redressed has been an absolute nightmare. Between the District Nurses main line, the doctor's surgery and the walk-in centres at Blackpool and Fleetwood I've been told to ring the next service until I had gone round in a circle twice...

I tried the Discharge Team back at Clifton but they could only advise the same three options. Fleetwood walk-in centre only offered a ray of hope in that if I phoned back first thing in the morning I could make an appointment but they had no trained nurses and would only be able to change top or wet dressings... How that turned out is a tale for tomorrow...

For Heaven's sake is there no written policy specifying who has final responsibility for this? And as one friend commented: "And that’s why A&E is collapsing... It becomes the last resort."

Saturday 12 July 2025. So yesterday....I phoned the walk-in centre first thing and got an appointment for 11.00am. I was warned that all they could do was change any wet bandages, not the dressings beneath, so back on the merry go round with no further success. By the end I was so distressed I was shaking both with anger and distress.

I got a call from one of the nurses at Clifton who had treated me and he said I needed the legs redressed fully twice a week but the hospital couldn't help with that.

We got into a taxi and went to Fleetwood. The nurses there went berserk. They weren't fully trained nurses. They apparently had a long history of this sort of thing with my particular surgery.

Whilst one took off the wet bandage on my right leg and wound a new one around, her colleague with steam coming out of her ears went off to get her boss to ring the surgery and play hell. She was spitting about total breakdown of duty of care.

I've no idea what was said but I got a call from the surgery whilst in the taxi home and then a further more detailed one not long after we got home. The legs will be fully redressed twice a week at the District Nurses downstairs from the surgery where I'd been going before.

The GP Receptionist had the nerve to ask how I felt. So I told her. I felt totally let down, angry and upset. Unbelievably she ended with "have a good weekend ". Grrrr...

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index
Family Memories: Personal Index

I'm Home!

Tuesday 8 July 2025. It's going to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster again, sorry but bare with me...

It started first thing in the morning with a text message from granddaughter, Grace: "Grandad come home". Seven o'clock in the morning and I couldn't stop staring at and re-reading those three words. Sobbing, tears streaming. Just couldn't stop. Tears again just writing this...

A nurse came in to do my early morning tests and uttered a sound of dismay, "John, what's the matter?" I couldn't speak. I just showed him the message. I calmed down for a bit but those three words kept going through my brain and I'd set off again.

I was late therefore getting down to the Day Room. Only one of our gang of three was there. 'T' turned up a bit later. His daughter was coming to take him out for lunch.

The nurse in charge of Breakfast Club made me some toast, poured me a box of cornflakes and gave me some milk, butter and marmalade... The Three Musketeers can make breakfast last a long time...

Someone squatted at my side: "John I'm from the Discharge Team, we're sending you home today." Multiple emotions again: shock, relief, hope, panic, joy... Nurses assured me they would ensure that all my stuff would be bagged up ready. It would be in the afternoon.

One of the Physios came over to ask how I felt, was I ready, was I worried about anything? Blimey, how long have you got? But that was a knee-jerk reaction. Mainly any concerns were around the differences between the methods followed by the surgery District Nurses and that of the hospital. Let's not forget that one had been treating me for ten months with only limited improvements and I've been in hospital for nine weeks and the improvement has been astonishing.

Another update: "You're going this morning." Well I wasn't... Dinner came and went and one of the nurses took me walking round the garden and once more through the poly tunnel. Judges from Britain in Bloom were expected.

It was getting towards teatime. Apparently the transport team were in the building, we were waiting for the pharmacy to dispense my meds - an unbelievably huge bag of boxes when it arrived. Lots of goodbyes. Nurses of all ranks, the musketeers...

Loaded into the ambulance for a trip along Blackpool prom. Lovely weather, lots of people, a bit of a traffic jam going past the Tower.

Home. Miss Franny. More tears, quickly stifled as the Care Team were already waiting with more equipment. They had me walk to and sit on the downstairs loo, get up again, climb upstairs, same with the upstairs loo, onto and off the bed, going downstairs he stopped me and showed me how to come down more sideways like a crab holding two spindles rater than the balcony and my stick. I tried it, it was definitely easier.

A long talk and they left and it was time to hug and be hugged. A few more tears but now they were tears of relief and happiness.

Gill and Grace came. So good to see them and to see the obvious relief on Grace's face.

We were in bed early. I was exhausted. I talked Miss Franny through all the pillow placements, a rolled one under the knees and a flat one under my feet to keep my calves lifted off the bed as much as possible. Maneuvering myself on the bed was a bit difficult- no safety bars to grab!

I'm home. No: even better than that... I'M HOME!

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index
Family Memories: Personal Index

Mind Going Haywire - More from 7 July 2025

Monday 7 July 2025 - the bits missing from the last entry, unless they contradict anything in which case who knows when I'm writing about...?

Well Monday passed without me hearing the term "Piano John" again so it was short-lived nickname! After the usual 5.30am pill and blood pressure tests etc I must have really dropped off again. My phone alarm warned me it was time to ring Miss Franny but then once again I fell asleep for another hour.

Down to the Day Room. The nurse who had recorded the video showed it to me but said she would have to get permission to pass it on as there was a strict rule about nurses having access to patients' phone numbers. It was almost nearly approaching good though...

Anyway one of the nurses took me outside during the morning. It was beautiful and sunny but cool because of the breeze. She held my hand as I was still a bit wobbly walking with just the walking stick and we went through the poly tunnel, a half tube of plastic material acting as a greenhouse.

They grow cucumbers, herbs and tomatoes of epic size. Some look more like small pumpkins...

We came out the far end to some chairs and I gratefully took one, it had been a long walk for me and whilst I could tell I was walking better as we came through the tunnel, a rest was very welcome.

So now I was a bit tired and a bit proud that I had managed and all other emotions, wondering when I'd be home, whether I'd cope, what had caused the fall etc. As we talked the nurse hit one of those nerve points and tears suddenly started.

She was lovely, she hugged me and talked me through it... perhaps too quickly, sometimes you need to let these emotions out and I'm one of those who has to be there for everyone else. I always have been. So it's a strange experience for me to need that sort of support myself.

Anyway she said she would bring me out with the sketchbook after lunch and we went back in just as lunch came round. Afterwards someone from the discharge team came to see me. It looks like I'll be home mid week! Fingers crossed.

True to her word the nurse took me back out with the sketchbook after lunch had been cleared.

It wasn't a scene I would have picked myself but I gave it my best.

After tea I was flagging. I went to bed early and zonked. I woke guiltily at 8.00pm, convinced it was morning so deep had been my sleep. I phoned Miss Franny, confusing her no end by apologising for missing two calls when really I was still an hour to go before I was due our goodnight call at 9.00pm...

Zonked again... So now was awakened at 5.00am for first pill and wide awake! If I'm lucky this now refers to Tuesday 8 July...

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index
Family Memories: Personal Index

Approaching Release

Sunday 6 July 2025. Six o'clock in the morning. First pill arrived half an hour ago. Another 11 due with breakfast and then sporadically through the rest of the day. The state of my mind at this time may account for today's report which talks about Saturday - already covered in my last entry. This one, supposedly about the same day, is completely different... These entries are more or less direct copies taken from entries to friends on Facebook at the time. So I have no explanation, your Honour...

Yesterday was a slow day. (See!!!) The three musketeers gathered around our usual table and astonishingly were joined by the Mutterer. That made any normal conversation difficult.

As I walked down to the Day Room I had passed one of the cleaners, a grizzled old (though probably a bit younger than me) chap who I have made a point of talking to every day. It's amazing how many people just ignore cleaners as they go about their business. They deserve to be treated as you would treat anyone else and always appreciate it. When he saw me walking with just the walking stick, his face lit up and he said how well I'd done. "I'm proud of you!" He said as I returned his grin.

It was a quiet day. (Sheesh - I couldn't even make my mind up whether it ws slow or quiet!) We were given more toast than even we could eat then the morning passed. By afternoon the family had been in the shape of three generations of ladies and one girl. I gave up trying to doze at the table and went across to the larger armchairs and that was it until I was woken by our tea trays arriving.

We all gave up around 7.00pm. I had to go back to my room anyway to have my legs redressed. They continue to improve every time I see them. Only the big wound on my right leg remains liable to bleed. Even the large one on my left calf has now broken up into several tiny scabs. The right leg is shown below. it looks a bit like a slab of meat to be honest so scroll quickly if you are of a nervous disposition...

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The pattern (for want of a better word) on my leg is caused by the bandages having been applied fairly tightly.

So... I need to continue getting more steady with the walking and to follow the good advice from staff and friends who are experienced nurses themselves. I'll try to get a copy of the jingle recording tomorrow.

Monday 7 July 2025. It marks a full eight weeks in hospital, though the time spent here at Clifton Hospital has been quite a bit more pleasant than the first five weeks at Victoria. The food is better, the ambiance with the garden and day room is better, and whilst there has been some shouting, it's a good deal quieter and no one has felt the need for fisticuffs.

I seem to have a new nickname. A couple of nurses were walking towards the Day Room where we were waiting for breakfast. I overheard their conversation:

"It's for John."
"Which John?"
"Piano John!"

Several nurses came to say how fabulous the video was. I still haven't seen it. The nurse who has it isn't in until tomorrow.

The Three Musketeers were joined for breakfast by a cheery red haired lady. "Just a little advice," I said, "when the toast appears, grab it fast!"

All three of the musketeers seem close to going home. I'll miss them. And I will miss several of the nurses too. But we are not quite there yet so...

Although I sleep well at night, by afternoon (and for this context afternoon starts about 10 o'clock in the morning) we are all three dozy and sleepy. 'T' went first, sitting at the table slumped forward with his head resting awkwardly, or at times leaning sideways so close to me that I had to wake him, worried he would fall out of the chair.

I was next, though The Wanderer had given me an interesting book on the Kray brothers. I woke only when lunch appeared by which time even The Wanderer had succumbed. A mischievous nurse bent down low and bawled his name as loud as she could. I was awake and I jumped out of my skin... The Wanderer's eyes opened wide, so much so that it looked really comical!

Miss Franny and my cousin came to see me after visiting Mum in her nursing home. Then tea arrived, seemingly far too soon after lunch. Both are 3 course meals. Two of us found that our order for rice pudding had been mysteriously substituted with semolina. We both had the same instant response... nostalgia for school dinners is all very well but there are some things I would rather forget about!

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index
Family Memories: Personal Index

More Physiotherapy and Composing at the Piano

Saturday 5 July 2025. It's weekend. Usually that means fewer staff but yesterday they were running on low numbers anyway. Our usual table by the window in the Day Room was free though and we were joined by one of the ladies from the women's ward.

The table had been set out already and looked very refined with a full set of matching China plates, cups and saucers. We started with cereals then moved onto a couple or more slices of toast, half a packet of butter and a pot full of jam or marmalade single portion tubs.

One of the physios came round to ask if I fancied a climb up the stairs. I agreed and was wheeled down the maze of corridors, past the gym and I realised that by "stairs" they meant a full uncarpeted very solid flight of concrete stairs.

The Physio nurses (there are two of them and both lovely) said they would support me but I asked for my walking stick from my room as I wanted to see how I could manage on my own after the fall which led to this 8 weeks and counting hospital stay.

With the stick in one hand and the handrail firmly gripped I took a deep breath and climbed the first step, one foot then the other. A bit wobbly but I did another, then another until I reached the top where I sank gratefully into a chair. I had done it... the same number of steps as we have at home! After a short while I swapped the stick to my other hand and went down, a slightly more scary climb as I was now looking down the drop before me. But slowly I reached the bottom and the physios were full of praise for me as I was wheeled back to the ward.

I asked to do a walk with the stick on the flat. It felt so familiar a thing to do. So since then I've not touched either wheelchair or Zimmer frame, but have walked with my trusty walking stick to and from Day Room and loo or bedroom. It felt good.

Someone said the photo of me and one of our little gang of three at the Breakfast Club was on the wall so I had a look and later was given an A4 sized copy which had been laminated.

But the ward sister had another challenge in mind... "John I want you to write us a jingle to promote the Breakfast Club and we can record it this afternoon." Blimey Charlie! Playing I've done. Singing I've done. Composing I haven't done since the 1970s when I played lead guitar in a Manchester band, Spiral.

But jingles are short and club rhymes with grub so it was finished in my mind by lunchtime with Miss Franny visiting to listen and bounce ideas off. I don't read music so the tune had to be composed and memorised. For a while it changed a bit every time I attempted to sing it...

The ward sister came back in the afternoon and I went to the piano. Now I can play keyboards fairly well. Pianos require a bit more work from your left hand and I am no Paul McCartney... With two nurses both videoing me on their phones I set off. The tune was something like the one I had tried so hard to memorise. It was also a little like the theme to the TV show "The Beverley Hillbillies". Take one tripped up on the last line. Take two was pronounced a success and a round of applause came from the patients and staff in the room.

My first performance since the cancer was diagnosed. But the achievement I was most happy about was undoubtedly the walking. I feel like home may be just days away.

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index
Family Memories: Personal Index

I Have Physiotherapy And Save A Life

Wednesday 2 July 2025. After all the weather forecasts here yesterday saying how nice it would be it was a day of white skies and a bit of rain later. I didn't think I was all that late going to breakfast club, but our usual table was already full and our little club of three ended up sitting away from the window for the day.

Miss Franny came with her brother Bob, or Smiley Bob as he's known in dog agility circles where he acts as a judge all over the Northern hemisphere. His (I'm sure) long suffering wife Mary made up our little reunion. It's always fun to meet up with them. They arrived just as the physios' exercise class was beginning. So they joined in with the leg stretching and arm waving and general hokey cokeyness!

Then the physios whisked me off to the gym where a short flight of four steps was waiting for me to see if I could fall a bit more gracefully than I did the last time. No getting up there with a Zimmer, but they had bannister rails on both sides and so, with one of the physios behind me ready to be knocked over and give me company if I fell, I climbed slowly up the four steps to a small mock landing then came slowly back down. No falls, no submissions, and any knockouts were reserved for how I felt.

I did it another two times by which time I had done just three treads short of climbing our stairs and coming down again at home. Now I gratefully accepted the offer of a rest before skipping merrily - no, better make that 'climbing slowly' back up and down twice more.

Later on I walked to and from the toilet from the Day Room, again further than I've driven a Zimmer before. The rest of the day was spent dozing and doodling a sketch.

Thursday 3 July 2025. I'm now using the walking frame more and finding it easier with only the occasional wobble. Because of those wobbles I'm not supposed to use it without a nurse at my side or behind me to lend a supporting hand.

The TV in the day room was taken away yesterday. It was a colour TV but limited its display to blue only... the blue got darker and darker towards the top of the screen until you couldn't make out any details at all. Still it was the only hospital TV showing blue movies... The replacement hasn't shown up yet but is to be a whopping 70 inch one. This means even people at the back of the room will be able to watch it.

The weather took a bit of a turn in that whilst it was sunny and bright, there was a fair bit of breeze making it quite chilly out in the garden. Then at lunch the Mutterer (remember him?) decided he had had enough of his pudding and scrumpled his paper serviette and put it into the bowl. Five minutes later he must have changed his mind because when I turned to face him, half of the serviette was poking out of his mouth whilst he was chewing on the rest. I had to put my fingers into his mouth to get it out. Probably another life I've saved. It must have tasted horrible but he was still doing his best to get the rest into his mouth.

Our little gang of three musketeers spent the day in the Day Room as usual. Although I had been woken as usual and asked if I was going down as usual, it was 40 minutes and 9.00am after being told I was next that anyone came back for me. It transpired that some of the nursing staff were on training courses, leaving very low numbers of staff to deal with the usual number of patients.

I turned down the offer of being wheeled down in a chair and walked with the aid of my Zimmer - it now sports my name on a little tag - and used that for the rest of the day to get to and from the Day Room to the loo etc. Miss Franny witnessed one of these journeys back and I was treated to a quick look of surprise and a big beaming smile.

An Occupational Therapist came to talk to me about what I might need putting in place at home which I took as a very positive sign that I might be able to go home shortly. As I approach being in hospital for eight full weeks, that was a very pleasant prospect to think about. For my family as well as for me. Fingers crossed. Oh and I finished my sketch seen above. It's of somewhere in the Cotswolds but don't ask me where...

Friday 4 July 2025. Two workmen came in and we all thought that the new super-size TV must have arrived, but no, they were measuring for new window blinds. One of the two men was particularly suited for the job - he must have been seven feet tall...

Lytham Festival started last night with Stevie Wonder headlining. As the nurses changed over to the night shift one was yawning. "I live just four minutes from the seafront," she said, "They've been doing sound checks all day, I haven't had any sleep at all..."

It had been an overcast day and evening brought a bit of rain. The three musketeers relinquished their muskets and escape plans and one by one we were wheeled or supported as we walked back to our rooms or ward bays.

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index
Family Memories: Personal Index