The Days of Miracles Are Not Yet Over

Murray Brown's Story, March 2001

In recent years about the best thing that has happened to me was learning of the Home of Compassion, Island Bay, Wellington.

I live in Oamaru, North Otago, and for the last 10 years have suffered from acute leg ulcers. The first one occurred because, after pruning a rose bush at my home, I stepped backwards into another bush. A thorn gashed a small wound in the side of my calf muscle, and there was minor bleeding. This soon stopped, so I foolishly didn’t worry about a seemingly small and inconvenient sore.

Unfortunately this wound did not heal. After 2 or 3 weeks I began treating it with Savlon Antiseptic cream and covering it with sticking plaster. The next step on this downhill track was the onset of an infection, and this finally forced me to seek medical assistance. Too late––it was ulcer time. Regular visits to the Doctor’s surgery and dressing changes by his nurse did no good. It was finally decided that the only way to heal the ulcer was to elevate and rest my leg. I took 4 weeks leave from work, sat at home with my leg on a stool and received a daily dressing change from the District Nurses. There was no improvement and the ulcer slowly grew in size. Eventually I had to return to work.

The daily visits from the Nurses continued in the evenings and I followed a regime of resting as much as possible. Just to make matters worse I then knocked a bit of bark (skin) off my other leg and finished up with a matching pair of ulcers––the ministrations of the District Nurses failed to stop the inevitable growth of a new ulcer.

I have always been a very big person, but I was sports mad and relatively active. This sudden total halt in activity had extremely bad results––my weight ballooned and my fitness quickly dissipated. From someone who quite happily played a couple of rounds of golf on the weekends I rapidly deteriorated to a complete couch potato incapable of walking any distance. I have recently developed Diabetes and Sleep Apnoea, both of which are direct results of my being overweight and inactive.

Over the years I have followed innumerable treatments and dressing regimes––keeping the wound moist, keeping the wound dry, bandaging tightly, bandaging loosely, showering the wound regularly, not showering the wound at all––the list goes on. I have also probably tried every type of new ulcer dressing released onto the market in the last 10 years, and have participated in 2 trial dressing treatments by Drug Companies.

About 5 years ago I entered the Dunedin Public Hospital for the first lot of skin grafts––this was a 6 week visit. Approximately 15 months later I returned for a further grafting session, the first lot having broken down. This time I spent 10 weeks in hospital, during which time I was not allowed to get off my bed. Two months after that I was in for yet another 2 weeks getting some patches grafted over bits that had not taken on the last grafts.

All to no avail. Initially these grafts appeared to be successful, but eventually the little bits that were missed, or the edges that had not grown together degenerated into ulcers. And I was back where I started. I pretty much resigned myself to a lifetime of District Nurse treatments. There did not seem to be any way of healing my wounds. My great fear was that I would eventually lose all or part of one or both legs.

Shortly before last Christmas my health problems compounded. Following my Doctor’s advice, I was forced to give up my job of 26 years and go onto a sickness benefit. A life-time friend advised that he had discussed my leg ulcers with his sister-in-law, who is a nurse/nun at the Home of Compassion. She had suggested I should come to Wellington and attend their ulcer clinic, which had been having exceptionally good results. Well, I’m a bit of a cynic and sceptic––I’d seen and heard of these miracle cures before. But by now I was willing to try anything, so I eventually arrived in Island Bay.

My first visit to the Clinic was a bit of an eye opener. I received a lecture from the Doctor about my weight, my total lack of fitness and my lack of any exercise. This made a mockery of the early directions that I had received: to completely rest my leg to cure the ulcers. The Doctor pointed out that his views on exercise are not something new. He has been treating patients in the same way for many many years, and with much success. He then proceeded to dress and tightly strap up my legs for support and, having extracted my promise that I would start walking regularly and try to lose some weight. Then the Doctor directed me to return in a week to get the dressing changed.

The first few days of walking were extremely difficult––10 years of non-exercising had taken a terrible toll. A couple of hundred metres seemed like a marathon to me. I stuck with it and slowly increased the distance. I now do about 3 kilometres––something I would have had nightmares about 6 months ago. 5 weeks of treatment has resulted in one leg being healed and the other leg all but healed. It would seem that the days of miracles are not yet over!

The Home of Compassion Hospital is a very peaceful, restful and welcoming place. If all the staff are like those that I have had dealings with, it is a place that God can be very, very proud of. The Hospital, Doctor and Nurses will always have my total gratitude, and I will continue to sing their praises.

Murray Brown
Oamaru