my sore leg

I scratched my leg on return to PNG after a 10 day break back in Australia - thought nothing of it - just a scratch, say 10cms long not very deep. A week later it had turned pussy and the skin around it had turned red and my leg hurt when I streched it. Friends here told me I should get it seen to on account of tropical ulcers. That was enough to prompt me to get to the clinic where the Sister prescribed some erithromycin anti-biotic and some anti bacterial cream. I must be impatient because after 24 hours when it was still pussy I applied a pad of a spoonful of salt to soak up the pus and draw out the bad blood. Inthe middle of the night I woke to find the pus had gone but the sore had turned black. I went to a doctor next day who told me in not so many words I was a very silly little boy and to leave medical things to medical experts -well not quite but he confirmed the original treatment of the Sister and to give the medicine a little longer to work. After another week the redness had contracted but was still there as was the pus. I went back to another doctor who put me on to Vitamin C tablets : Vitamin C aids in the healing and next morning I woke to find redness had gone and pus had dried up. Doctor had also put me on to some anti pimple lotion and took a blood test to check for diabetes. I'll let you know but my sore is stating to itch and there is flaky skin around it so I think I am well. A friend here told me the week before I needed to have a beer because it activated the antibiotics. At least I don't think my leg is going to drop off now. Saw some really grizzly stories on a TV program last year about worms and grubs living in the eyes and ears and nostrils and one girl had a parasite in her head. What a disgusting thing the human body can be if not looked after. The mentality of the people who have locked up Australian Citizen David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay is more disgusting though. And it is gruesome just to imagine the taste on the tongue of our Prime Minister Howard from where it must have been for him to so feebly let his good friend George treat one of our citizens like that. Oh dear I didn't mean to get so political, this being only my second day of writing a blog. It was the gruesome nature of the topic that I started with - the ugliness of the body which led on to the ugliness of the human spirit. Thank God for the kindness of the locals here in PNG for helping me to believe there is decency somewhere.