March 29, 2024

Tola Dehinde

I asked my friend to write about leg ulcers. I felt it would be nice to read about how someone not only has it but also deals with it. Let’s read Arrey-Echi’s story together.

It has been a really rough few months, the pain is unbearable. A period between being in and out of different hospitals, doing scans and tests and hearing strange names such as venous insufficiency. Watching my legs pain and swell like an elephant’s, painkillers not sure if they want to do the work they are meant to do or just lodge and relax in my system while I struggle to understand this level of pain. It has been a rough one indeed. This too after almost three years of a clean health period with just regular routine health checks.

It all started on a bright August morning of 2021. I was on my way to work when I stepped out of a taxi and due to my hearing impairment, I only felt the force of something hitting me hard. I turned around to realise that it was the same taxi I just stepped out from whose driver came on the reverse and hit me. I was like what just happened here? Didn’t you see me step out of your taxi just now? He was all apologetic.

I walked to work still and because I didn’t feel any pain, I thought all was well. I just needed to rest my legs and take a painkiller. That was a mistake and the beginning of a nightmarish journey of pain and hospital visits till now. You see, I have had brushes with leg ulcers which I have written extensively about on my blog. I call them my hospital marathon moments. You can read about those past battles here.

I said that was a mistake because while I could still go to work, I now wished I had the foresight to go to the hospital immediately after that happened. Due to my experience with leg ulcers, I am weary of any scratch on my body, especially on my legs. There was no visible scratch where the taxi hit me and that, I believed, was why I breathed a sigh of relief and felt there was no danger. Little did I know I breathed a little too fast and the incident caused some internal bleeding. Over the next few days, I would continue to take painkillers and go to work. Eventually, I went to the hospital and was put on antibiotics. That didn’t seem to help because a few days later, I was back at the hospital with pain and the area had become reddish and slightly swollen.

It was decided the area be forced opened and that was when we realised the insistent pain was due to an internal wound. I was worried, scared even of another hospital marathon. I tried to be calm, praying since it was a surface wound still, it wouldn’t be a problem healing-wise. It was as if that prayer went unanswered. I mean that tiny wound hold grass! And to make matters worse, the leg ulcer scar I had earlier, started hurting me for no good reason. Till date, we still could not understand why it started to hurt. I don’t wear closed or tight-fitting shoes and I didn’t hit the leg anywhere and yet; it started hurting and the next thing we know, scar tissue opened up, another wound there and more tears! Poor blood circulation caused a recurrence perhaps. It was difficult to tell. The conclusion was that something probably touched it when the taxi hit me. We still don’t know but we were all trying to find answers to how a scar that has stayed pain-free for years would suddenly start hurting at the same time when the accident occurred without me hitting it anywhere.

Well, there was no need to cry over spilled milk. I now have my two legs to deal with, double pain to deal with and by God, it has been a really rough painful period. I have taken painkillers more than I have ever done in my entire life even while experiencing sickle cell crises. At least with sickle cell crisis, you know this painkiller could help and you get some respite, or you could do this and that and get some respite. But with leg ulcer pain, you will only have to bear the pain, change the painkiller, double the pillows under the legs to keep them elevated and do whatever, cry…the pain is not easing off. It is like it got a kind of super glue and is just glued to your body permanently. I mean the pain is on a whole different level. With my two legs tied up for a year plus now, it has been one of the most daunting challenges I have faced with the issue of leg ulceration.

Leg ulceration in sickle cell is one of the most trying and daunting complications that come with living with sickle cell. An already compromised immune system and lack of adequate blood and oxygen, two primary components in wound healing, makes it a slow, painful, and difficult healing process for many. Some may heal while for others it comes back. Leg ulcer can be a recurrent issue that leaves one morally, financially, physically, emotionally, and psychologically drained. It robs one of one’s life as quality of life is reduced and in the absence of a strong supportive network, depression can easily set in.

This article will be concluded next week. In the meantime, do check Arrey-Echi’s blog on sickle cell: https://joy2endure.com

If you would like to get in touch with me about Sickle cell, do so, via email: [email protected] And do checkout my blog: https://www.dailylivingwithsicklecell.com/   My book on sickle cell – How To Live With Sickle Cell and my other books are available for purchase on www.amazon.com

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