“Why do I do it, what can it be…”
I bruise like a peach. No, really; touch me and you’ll leave a mark.
At present my legs are a mess. Well, a little better as this is published.
I have :
– bruises all down the fronts of my legs from a waterslide
– the remains of where I fell off my bike the other week
– insect bites
– some bike cog scratches which drew blood
– red scars on the arches of my feet from blisters after the Thonon triathlon
– some lovely chafe in between my thighs from wearing wet board shorts, and running long distances in leggings that had a slightly bigger seam than my usual pair.
It’s ridiculous!
Don’t look too bad in the photos…but you get the idea!
I continue to wear shorts and not be ashamed of the state of my ‘pins’, mainly because it’s not until I proudly draw your attention to my war wounds that you really notice.
Argan oil, Nivea Crème, baby oil and Vaseline are my best friends. I use the latter two to lube up prior to doing anything and the others I put on at night to help my scars heal.
My skin rubs against everything, swimsuit, wetsuit, running tops, in leggings – it’s never consistent though, so I often get caught out, which is very frustrating.
Most of my wounds, to the disgust of nurses and doctors, I just ignore and laugh at my clumsiness, embracing my scars and their rubbish anecdotes.
However, when I fell off my bike ‘leaving it to air’ was not the correct thing to have done. It was dry and looked to be healing nicely when suddenly it went ‘gunky’ and started to weep. I also didn’t feel particularly great. Eventually I went to the doctor and she put me on antibiotics and gave me the kit to dress it properly. It was quite an uncomfortable wound, especially when driving!
I’m writing this blog to advise anyone who should read it that you should ALWAYS dress a wound for a few days, even if it doesn’t look that bad or deep.
Cleaning the wound/graze with cotton wool and some sterilised water jobbies, putting some sort of antibiotic/antiseptic cream on (a thick coat, not rubbing it in), followed by a gauze layer, and then a dressing, allows the dirt to be drawn out and the skin to start healing from the inside out.
If you leave the wound to air and dry out, it may well form a scab and appear to be healing, but dirt can get caught underneath, and after a few days you may find you have an infected wound with which to treat and a longer recovery. Ahem….guilty.
Yep, a lot of leg and flesh…top right was day 1, on the left was a few days in where you can see the lump of swelling, and then finally the bottom right was when it got infected. Mmm. You’re welcome!
I’m allergic (does that surprise you?!) to plasters and feared dressing it because I did not want itchy red blisters. The last time I had some pretty nasty road rash, with several stitches, I saw the nurse every day for 10 days. After about 5 days I looked like I’d been branded as a neat red and blistering square surrounded my wounds where the tape had been. My gawd was it itchy! I even react to hypoallergenic dressings. Such a sensitive soul. This time I wore a ridiculous bandage, which after a couple of days I abandoned and used the hypoallergenic tape, cutting it as small as possible and taping it to different patches of skin, hopefully lessening the chance of a reaction. Thankfully in the time it took to heal, I just about got away with only a small amount of branding and redness.
So, dress those wounds, look after those bruises, pop that Arnica and try not to be as clumsy as my silly self. Or be as naughty and clumsy as Peter Rabbit.
Now I need to think of some far better anecdotes to go with these silly injuries.
