Don't move that foot!
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Sat 9 Feb 2013 23:11
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Saturday 9 February 2013
Why are we still here? Partly because of the
weather but also....
Last Monday I stood on something in the
cockpit and Lin subsequently extracted a tiny strand of wire with tweezers from
the sole of my foot. I had cut and rewired our shorepower cable and must
have missed a bit when clearing up afterwards. My foot was tender for a
couple of days and by Thursday during the island tour a nice pea sized lump had
appeared on the sole of my foot.
We discovered during our tour on Thursday that
Celine is a GP and when we were returning on the ferry I cheekily
asked her advice about what she thought was happening. She offered to
examine the offending item and she and Rick came back to the boat for a
drink. The affected area is quite small but infected and Celine said I
should have some antibiotics and anti inflammatory tablets. The open point
was whether there was still something in the foot but either way the infection
needed treating. The advice was not to set off for a 16 day
passage until we knew what was happening or that it was under
control.
I had some antibiotics left over from a previous
problem but not enough for a course of treatment. Celine, who speaks
Portugese, offered to come to the pharmacy with me to see if we could get
some more without a prescription. We met on Friday and I am sure
that the pharmacist being asked in his own language was an important factor in
letting us have the antibiotics. All this during her holiday.
Celine also said she would like to check the foot
again today for her own satisfaction as well as mine so we met on the boat again
this morning. The red area was smaller so the infection was coming under
control, but the lump was still there and still tender to the touch. She
suspected something was still in the foot and recommended an X-Ray.
Lin and I went to a private health clinic later who also felt they should X-Ray
but this can't be done until Monday. I think we will still be here for the
Carnival on Tuesday!
So, we need to wait a few days to find out what is
going on. As it happens it has been blowing a hooley all day today and we
wouldn't have left yet anyway - Marina staff have been running around securing
all sorts of things and being in the marina has been like being at
anchor in the Meltemi in the Aegean. Large downdrafts with gusts in
the mid to high 30's (knots).
The patient trying for the sympathy vote (didn't
work):-
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