shortly after the accident (oct 14)
later that night, at the hotel in taksimalaya, when the pain became unbearable sending me to another hospital. what you can see is nothing compared to how disgusting it was once the bandage was off, i assure you.
sets of drugs from three hospital visits--antibiotics, pain killers, anti-inflammatories and, i think, valium (or something similar to help me sleep).
after getting it dressed at the third hospital, in jogjakarta. the dressing jobs got better and better.
two days later (oct 18), before the dressing change. my leg kept 'leaking.' the doctors said it was blood serum.
oct 18 at the dressing-change visit
oct 20
oct 21. my last dressing change, and last day, in indonesia
good idea to leave, right? turned out those white parts on the ankle were the 3rd degree parts that need the grafts. SO glad i went to australia!
oct 28. while the docs at both hospitals i've been to here have taken digital photos of the burn, i haven't brought my camera. but this is after i went to the burn unit...finally dressed the way it was supposed to have been all along. (apparently wrapping it from joint to joint is important in terms of pressure in a way i've forgotten so can no longer explain...)
nov 11. one of my, hopefully, last dressings. today the physiotherapist took away my crutches. so i'm smushing this big wrapped foot into my sandal and walking on it!
my 'donor site' on nov 11. it's on my thigh (and therefore hard for me to get a good/focused photo.) 12 days after the surgery we took the bandage off. this, apparently, looks really good.
nov 18. my first try with the compression stocking. it hurt so much and made me bleed so i had to abdandon it for now.
nov 18. this is the graft.
january 5. this is still the worse side. the skin is really thick in some places and bumpy. the top is where i had to keep getting extra skin cut off. hard to imagine it ever looking normal again.
this is the better one. the skin is almost all smooth so it's really just the color that needs to fade.
this looks grosser than it actually is because it's so upclose, i think.
february 27, 2010. ugh. nasty, i know. it has to get worse before it gets better, right? after being home for a few weeks i developed these awful hair follicle infections that were so painful i had to stop being on my feet.
i originally took these photos for the doctor these awful little infectious sites finally prompted me to see. i went to the burn unit at the lehigh valley hospital in allentown, where I was living at the time, and they took excellent care of me. (and assured me everything I was experience was normal. for whatever comfort that provided.)
june 1, 2010. i actually only took this photo because it was the first time i'd shaved my leg and, oops, i nicked my graft. and boy, did it bleed. but...look at the graft site!
and so of course i was inspired to take this one of just the other (non-nicked) side of the graft.
december 31, 2010 (with a camera that refuses to focus for this side of my ankle; sorry.)
this is the 'good' side, remember?
please excuse how disgusting these photos are making my foot look!
december 31, 2010 hadn't taken a photo of that donor site in quite a while...over a year, to be precise. what a difference a year makes (even though it still looks awful. it's not the same kind of awful. and pain? zero.)
