Help in Leon!!!

[givney42]

I'm cross posting this from one I just wrote on the Camino Frances forum.
I was able to make it to Leon but have severe blisters on both feet to the point that walking is nearly impossible. I. Have checked into the Santiago hotel, but find it is far from the city centre. I'm afraid I may need medical help as both feet have blisters all the way across the ball of my feet and on the side of each heal. The roof of one on my heal has come off. I've treated it with antibiotic cream and gauze. Others I've drained. But don't have enough gauze and tape. Any help as to local farmacia or medical centre would be a true blessing.

Kim

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Kim,
I'm very sorry to hear about your problems. It sounds like you need some rest, and maybe Sil (sillydol) will be able to help you with some advice about walking while blisters are healing. On one of her caminos she got big blisters right at the start, and wound up walking in those well-cushioned sandals (Tevas, Keens, not sure what the brand was).

It looks to me, looking on Google maps, that you are not too far from the center, about 1.5 km from the cathedral. But right in your vicinity, there are at least 5 farmacias, which is where I would start. I'm sure the hotel desk can point you to the closest one. And if there's no infection, there's probably not going to be much that a doctor would be able to do anyway. In my experience, pharmacists in Spain provide very good basic medical advice.

It sounds to me like your boots may be too small, but buying a new pair while your feet are in this condition would not make sense, IMO.

I hope you get the attention and time to rest that you need. Sending you lots of positive cyber-vibes -- Laurie

 

[sillydoll]

The Red Cross (http://www.cruzroja.es) should also be able to help. Perhaps the hotel can call them for you.
I lost the skin off huge blisters on both heels. Fortunately the underneath of my feet were fine. I put Betadine cream on the raw skin, covered it with Dove pads, put a plaster over that and then a sock liner, and then put a washing up sponge over the padding and the second sock on top. By doing that I was able to walk about 650km of the camino in sandals. I had to change the dressing every day and sat with my feet in the sun aftershowering at each albergue to speed up the drying process. I still have pink patches where I lost those layers of skin.

 

[givney42]

Thank you Laurie. Sadly the google map is wrong as I found out when I got here. The hotel is about 30 minutes away if walking normally. Tomorrow I'll see if the hotel staff can help me as I can tell that at least the blisters on the bottoms of my feet are trying to become infected. I've cleaned them as best I can, and poured the alcohol based hand sanitizer all over them getting into the drain holes. Stings a bit, even Nigel my service dog who is with me could tell it hurt.

Sil, once I can get into a more standing position I'm going to give your idea a try.

Ion disapointed that I'm insuch a lovely city and can't see much of any of it. But thankful I made it this far from Madrid.

 

[jeff001]

It looks like you are quite near to a medical clinic - Centro de Salud. The address is: Centro De Salud Navatejera
Calle de San Miguel, 424193 Villaquilambre,

And according to Google maps you are only about 4 km from there by road. I am sure the hotel can arrange a cab and they should treat you without charge. Good luck.

 

[Trudy]

The medical centre Centro de Salud La Palomera in Avenida de San Juan de Sahagun is just 750metres away, according to Google Maps. Ask your hotel reception if they will ring and make an appointment for you. I had to do this a couple of years ago and had really good treatment, and was lucky enough to get a doctor who spoke English.

 

[givney42]

Thank you all for your ideas, and posts in helping me when I needed it. I am back home after completing the camino. The blisters aparently were "world class" as even the Red Cross supervisor took photos to use in their training. Even after taking the week in Leon, and "thinking" they were okay to walk on. I managed to get to Ponferrada before turning back to Sahagun and staying at Peaceable for another week to really get them healed. Finally they were well enough to bandage up, put on sandals and take train from Sahagun to Sarria and walk from there.
Once at home my foot doctor has been attending to the injured areas and is amazed at what hand sanitizer can do in keeping an infection out.

All of your help was wonderful and so appreciated when I was feeling rather alone in a strange land, to know that I could send out an email and there were others able to read and offer help was a true blessing....another wonderful gift of the camio.

Kim