toe update, with visuals

This is about what I thought would happen:

So we're back to the little dot on the sock. But the bandage is thinner this time.

Sock off. The stain is less visible on the outside of the bandage.

Even inside the bandage, the stain is barely there.

The wound seems almost closed up.

As I said, despite the darkened part in the middle of the wound, I don't want to dig or scrape or clip that part out for fear that I'll be setting myself back by several weeks when it seems I'm pretty close to being fully healed. I'm also tempted to go out on long walks right now, but again, with the wound so close to closing up, a long walk would probably be a bad idea.

The thing that's bothered me this entire time is why the leakage always looks worst at the outermost layer of cloth. Is this because of some sort of capillary action? It often seems as if the leakage somehow travels past the bandage in order to create a blotch at the level of my sock. Why is that? How the hell does that happen?

Anyway, even though getting a dot on my sock is pretty normal, (1) the dot is the same size despite my having used a regular bandage instead of the heavy-duty gauze bandages that I've been wearing to work for the last several weeks, and (2) the total lack of leakage last night is still a good sign, all in all. I think we really are reaching the end. At a guess, I won't be able to cry victory until sometime in July; June is probably going to be a frustrating month with plenty of dotted socks like the one above. I'll know when the wound is healed when I go several days in a row without any leakage.

I deliberately went without any lotion because I suspect that the lotion is part of what creates the usual stain I see on the bandage. We may, in fact, have reached a point where the lotion is no longer needed: I'm still taking my antibiotics, albeit only once per day. This makes the medicine last longer, and I don't really think I need it anymore given that we're no longer looking at an ugly, open wound.

We've come a long way, but we're not quite there yet. I suspect I'll be saying that all through June. Stay tuned for more shenanigans.