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

MRI, Legs, Hands - Any More>

1 October 2025. Yesterday was the first redressing of the legs after going back into compression. It removed 90% of the slough / dead skin in one go. Unfortunately that came with quite a bit of blood and a real mass of pain.

I was sitting on the clinic bed literally shaking with pain and on the verge of yelling the place down. Still very sore but did manage to sleep most of the night from 1:00am onwards anyway. Very damp day here so won't be risking getting them wet by going out today. Keep catching myself falling asleep when I'm sat at my desk or trying to watch telly. I'm turning into my Grandad... Well I could do a lot worse!.

Later in life he developed double vision but was still driving his little Commer campervan about. "How do you manage?" asked my Dad.
"Well if I see two gates when I drive onto a camp site I just aim in between them!" he said cheerfully.

Meanwhile, I stopped driving during COVID, we take taxis to and from the Doctor's and anywhere else when we don't have any offer of a life (I hate asking...)

Another trip to the District Nurse this afternoon. After Tuesday's torture I was surprised that this only became apparent last night. Although the blood and gunge appears on the heel, the pain is higher on the back of the calf but despite the apparent slim look of the leg under that top layer is an absorbent pad and three or four layers of netting and bandage.

8 October 2025. Today was a trip to Fleetwood but not to take in the sea air... No, this trip was to a hut outside the health centre for another MRI scan on the cancer. The legs managed to behave whilst I had it done, but are voicing their displeasure a bit now. "Is it your first?" The radiographer asked.
"No, it's about my 31st..." I answered. Results in around 2 - 4 weeks or so, I imagine.

District Nurses this afternoon. Although there is blood on my heel again we think it came of my boot on Tuesday when there was quite a lot again. So it's a good sign for today.

I am also a bit dismayed in that every slight knock does this to my hands or arms (see pic). Blood vessels must be fragile. First today though, heading into Poulton where a 1940s museum opens this morning for 5 weeks in the Teanlowe shopping centre. We were in yesterday and, as we passed, the door was open and final setting up was going on. I asked if they had any 78rpm records and they hadn't so I'm going in with some this morning including such recognisable ones as Joe Loss: "In The Mood" and Flanagan and Allen's "Underneath The Arches".

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index

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

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

Cancer and Leg Ulcers Index

A series of articles chronicling my personal experience with cancer and leg ulcers from 2022 onwards. The intention is mainly to inform and help fellow sufferers know what to expect and help deal with the various aspects of their own journeys through such experioences. I must stress that leg ulcers are by no means a necessary side effect of cancer and nor might they only appear after a cancer diagnosis, so it may be be best tp treat them as two totally seperate things.

Each article can be accessed by clicking / tapping the photographs below. A link at the end of each article with bring you back here.