The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

>So, Slurpy is good. Yes, I said Slurpy. I have named my V.A.C. unit. It makes the most inappropriate slurping sounds, and generally when all else is silent. So Slurpy it is. It's been great not to have to deal with the dressing changes, and to not have to smell the infection. It's also nice that all of the yuck that comes from the wound is being sucked into an air-tight container and I don't have to do anything with it other than turn it in to the nurse at my next appiontment.

That's the good - Slurpy is working out well. Chugging along at a continuous negative pressure of 175mmHg, with high intensity. It is helping to control the pain (although right at the moment, I am up instead of napping due to pain).

Now for the bad. The eschar hasn't receded or anything - still black, still hard, still leathery. Worse yet, I had to do a change of dressing (add more) on Friday night because even more tissue had died. And today, I'm looking at possibly doing again. I wasn't supposed to have to do anything at all with it until I saw the doctor on Tuesday.

The ugly? I think I'm looking at surgery, again. So much more flesh has died. And there's a lot that looks like it will die soon - it's red, raw, peeling, hard, hot, and mottled with white and yellow.

But the best? My God has promised me something. He said that by the stripes of Jesus, I have been healed. I have no fear. I know this will resolve. I know that my leg will heal. That I will continue to have two fully intact and fully functional lower limbs.

For those of you who have a certain... unusual curiosity (like myself) here are links to a couple photos of the way my leg looks today:

This one gives you an idea of how much of my leg is impacted by this.

This one gives you an idea of how... icky... it looks.

You'll notice that there are red lines around the wound - those lines are where the living tissue meets the dead tissue. It's bright red there and extremely sensitive. And that's all I've got to say about my leg today.