Cancer and Leg Updates Up to Date

In the last article about my medical woes we had reached the end of 2025. I will take us up to date as at time of writing in this article - some slightly gruesome photos to come but nothing like as bad as some that I have previously shown. All shots of my legs show the back of my shins.

13 February 2026. I'm still under the District Nurses care once a week at our local GP surgery. The skin on the back of my lower legs is starting to heal, but prone to peeling off and the right leg still has some scabbed areas.

6 March 2026. This is what keeps happening. The wounds close and then skin peels off leaving fresh wounds and very tender skin. This is much more painful than it looks. One session at the District Nurses left me clutching the raised bed and shaking with pain. Not nice. Not recommended.

14 March 2025. The other evening as I got undressed (steady girls...) for bed, I noticed a small blob of blood on my arm so I put a plaster on it. The morning after I pulled the plaster off, leaving this mark where the plaster had drawn all the blood to just under the surface. I can't win...

27 March 2026. Phone going bonkers yesterday. Call from Docs to say bloods had shown various infections and I am now on a 5-day course of strong antibiotics. I was encouraged to ring the hospital again as I have still not had results of last October's MRI. So I rang the hospital and got a recorded message saying there was a massive backlog of feedback and asking me not to ring again as the "service is close to collapse". It did say they would be in touch if anything was found to be amiss. 15 minutes later got a call from the hospital asking me to go for my next MRI on Monday next... Never mind anything else - my brain hurts!

31 March 2026. This week is turning into a medical marathon. MRI yesterday in Fleetwood, blood tests today also in Fleetwood, something (not sure what) about colon and bowel at Victoria Hospital Thursday and District Nurses at Blackpool Walk-in Centre on Good Friday (my usual nurse but she has to work at the Walk-in Centre instead of usual Bispham as the rules specify minimum capacity at the walk-in apparently.) It's 3 or 4 times as far and appt is 09:00am. Sheesh!

3 April 2026. The legs are showing improvement again. The wounds have almost all closed up just leaving this map of where they once were... The skin though is still very tender and delicate and can split at any hint of a bang against the front of a chair for instance.

21 April 2026. Last night I had an appointment with the gastroenterology department at Blackpool Victoria hospital. Whilst there I had a CT scan that involved a canula in the inside of my elbow. Had the scan no problems, had the canula out, lots of padding on the puncture point and tape to hold it in place. Put my coat on and 30 seconds later felt my arm and hand wet. Blood running all down my arm and inside my sleeve... Going to be a massive bruise in the morning.

Well it could have been worse - the pointy hand is pointing to the puncture mark left by the canular. So all the rest was caused by plasters holding the dressings in place either whilst the canula was in or afterwards.

2 June 2026. About 4 weeks ago I was discharged from the District Nurses, so every week since then we've been taking dressings off ourselves and washing them. This week I've ditched the wraps to see how I get on with just the stockings. (This didn't carry on for long!) Left and right legs as just uncovered...

An hour later after washing and getting rid of all the dried skin that would either fall off or come off with a gentle nudge - no pulling at any bits that were still stuck!

18 June 2026. Both legs showing definite improvement with the leg only having a single hole or blood spot. The cancer though, I am told, has spread to the stomach wall. They are not sure as yet whether it's on the inside or outside... I'm currently waiting an appointment for another MRI scan. I'm losing count, but I think that will be the 33rd... To be continued after a while.

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index

Torquay with G-Line Coaches 2026

Sathurday 25 July 2026. I have a break from medical appointments for a while so today we are on a coach which will take us to Torquay for a week.

Regular readers will remember that we took this same coach holiday in May 2024. We'll visit a few different places and take a few trips which will seem new to me because I went to sleep during them last time!

I'm still running that risk but nowhere near as bad. Meanwhile I can also enjoy the scenery from the coach window as we head down the M5 motorway towards Devon. Also, as can be seen from the top pic above, I have some snazzy new caps to wear in blue and beige!

Sunday 26 July 2026. Our driver has put on an unscheduled excursion to Brixham. Unfortunately the local authority has now decided that coaches have to discharge passengers and park quite a walk away down past the harbour. The legs are far better than the last time we did this holiday but I'm not up to a sprint yet and it was a full half-hour's walk in temperatures well into the 30s before we came to the harbour, having passed by the somewhat odorous charms of the local fish processing plant. Lovely...

We were glad that the first café to be seen had room to let us sit down and I thankfully wrapped myself around a cup of tea. Blimey is that me? I look like Methuselah's granddad...

Miss Franny meanwhile is making short work of a latte...

Brixham was making the most of the weather to bring out the blooms. The last time we were down in Torbay there was a water scare in Brixham.

The replica of Drake's Golden Hind No plan exist so we don't really know what it looked like exactly but someone at least wrote down the measurements so that although the other replica in London looks quite a bit different at least they are the same size front to back and across!

There were a few craft stalls along the edge of the harbour, one an old van with a somewhat less than swarthy old sea dog selling pirate-related carvings.

Monday 27 July 2026. Dartmouth. We went from Paignton on the steam train, took a ferry over the river and then a boat ride up the river and down again to where Ian was waiting with the coach. I managed to stay awake this time too...

One of Dartmouth's older buildings.

Tuesday 28 July 2026. We have a free day and get a bus to the point where the promenade sweeps off to the right. We stop at the first coffee shop - a Costa - sitting outside on the terrace. A woman comes to sit at the next table with a small dog. "She's a bit quiet..." explained it's owner, "she was bitten by another dog yesterday." But the old Burke animal magic tempts her to come for a reassuring pat and stroke. We walk a bit further then turn to walk back, with regular rest stops where a conversation can always be found.

Wednesday 29 July 2026. Our excursion today is to Plymouth, once a regular visiting place for work, but then I never got to take a boat ride along the coast and river mouth. Our tour is to sail from close to the famous Mayflower Steps, where the Pilgrims set sail in 1620 for the New World across the Atlantic.

Our boat squeezes into it's space on the jetty. And we settle down for a hour's sail.

Also that evening we went to an excellent variety show at Babbacombe Theatre, starring Steve Laister with comedy, music, magic and dancers providing a wonderful night's entertainment.

Thursday 30 July is another free day and Ian puts on a shorter excursion to Teignmouth and Dawlish. I'm afraid I didn't take any photos that day, but once back we did get on our usual table in the hotel garden which allowed me to finish this sketch of the side of the hotel.

Friday 31 July. We take a trip up the coast to Sidmouth. Now I had booked two holidays in quick succession, so that despite having to head home tomorrow, we will be coming back down to Sidmouth the following Saturday! However this particular weekend the famous Folk Festival takes place and there were many craft stalls along Sidmouth's elegant promenade and a fair number of singers of (it has to be said) various degrees of tunefulness...

We got back to Torquay and our hotel to see a procession of three or four traction engines trundling past the hotel.

Holidays and Day Trips in the UK Index

Covering November to December 2025

Sorry for the somewhat long break - had a lot to deal with culminating in the death of my Mum R.I.P. now reunited with my Dad and no longer in pain. But for now let's go back in time to carry on with my own trials and ailments!

3 November 2025. Recap: I passed the 3 year survival with cancer and after having leg ulcers for some two years I have been 3 months since spending time in hospital.

The very essence of elegance... For the last week my left leg (on the right) has been treated to "wrap-arounds". These give mild compression and the idea is that they can be taken off and washed to be used again - I have two pairs but so far the right leg hasn't fully "crystalised" (scabbed over) yet and still occasionally leaks blood down my leg from a couple of spots on the side of my leg.

The wound is down to a 3" x 2" patch on my right leg but is healing nicely with fresh healthy skin appearing in between the segments of wounds which are the remains of the one which once covered the entire area (and more). I'm still wearing shorts indoors but can manage to wear normal trousers for the occasional short outing.

It's during this month that I started this series on the blog mulling over my experiences with cancer on the liver and leg ulcers. Time flies when you're enjoying yourself...

The wraps that go around the leg and foot.

Only slightly more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than the 1960s leather with straps and buckles though I imagine, far more comfortable however painful the combination of wide elastic straps and Velcro fasteners may be.

Friday 5 December. The right leg has given up its slab of meat look, though you can still make out the shape of the loss of skin and there's still a few grotty areas that can be very painful.

The hole in the right foot has more or less healed, though it will always now remain as a hole. The fear of amputation has receded though I am glad to say.

Christmas decorations 2025! Some things are going to get better in 2026, but there's a difficult goodbye to be said...

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index
Family Memories: Personal Index