Post by allen on Feb 21, 2018 17:58:57 GMT -7
So here's my story... I'll try and keep it some what abbreviated.
So it started with and infection in my foot..my heel to be precise. I got it from a carpet staple while removing a rug off our stairs. Yea..I was in barefeet...and I'm diabetic..and my sugar wasn't under control..but I figured I was sitting as I took out the staples and being careful, but clearly not careful enough. Yes...I got soooo many I told you so's from the wife for the next few months. A few days later sporting a bit of a fever, I noticed a big black and blue blister on the bottom of my foot (this developed over about 4 days). First we stopped at a clinic ..they took and xray and the doc said she didnt need a radiologist for this..and there was the carpet staple in my heel...and off to the ER we go, March 1, 2016.
So of course I was admitted...and was in the hospital for 11 days.....I had 3 different surgeries (the doc took the staple out at bedside) and of course IV antibiotics. The wound was ugly..it encompassed basically the whole bottom of the heel about the size of a navel orange and you could literally touch my heel bone, see it really. I left the hospital with my foot wrapped and hooked up to a wound vac and sporting a picc line for IV antibiotics for 6 weeks. So things went really well..healed up great, better than my podiatrist expected...by mid-May I was ready for a skin graft and at the end of May both the podiatrist and skin graft surgeon though it was healed and could start walking etc. But ...nope..over the weekend started with a fever..drainage with the clear smell of infection (at this point my wife was a very able wound care nurse, unofficially). So back to the podiatrist who sent me straight off to the hospital.
So...another 7 days in the hospital and 2 surgeries. The stay was also made more exciting by the fact that one bacteria this time was MRSA (which fortunately not cause any other complications) and getting a mild case of shingles (seriously). So I ended up in the infectious disease ward which was cool cause I got a private room and a shower..woohoo. So out of the hospital with another picc line.
So finally with a picc line and a hard walking boot my podiatrist let me go back to work late June. My job involves a lot of walking and fairly heavy lifting so I couldnt go back earlier.
So the next 4 months we are tryiong to get the foot to heel and it seem to be coming along, but every time it seems to get close to closing it falls apart and does some draining. By Novemeber my podiatrist feels that I have another infection..the only explanation. So we do an xray..and she isnt happy with it...so we do an MRI, bloodwork, and eventually a bone biopsy all came back negative....my doctor was not amused and flummoxed. So we continued on until the end of Jan 2017 with similar results as before. So we decide to do some work on the wound to try and help it heel (we were reorienting it). So back in the hospital for 6 days and 1 surgery...but wait. Sure enough when my doc went in she found a block of bone? and almost entirely encasing ...yep..an infection. It was so encased that I literally had no symptoms and hide it from the xray and mri. So in the process of cleaning up my doc ending up having to remove my Achilles tendon.
So out of the hospital with another picc line (the in hospital picc line team remembered me, it's nice to be remembered). I get back to work in late Feb. My podiatrist and wound care nurse both feel I would benefit from hyperbaric oxygen treatments. So I end up doing that 5 days a week for 2 hours a day (if you're interested I can go more into that) at 100% oxygen at 2 atmospheres (like scuba diving to 33 feet). I do that for about 2 months (60 dives).
We com to about the end of April 2017 and the doctor from the HBOT has to periodically recertify you for treatments. So he is in checking me out looking at the wound and realizes ...yep..another infection. So he is swabbing the sample and I'm texting my podiatrist's office (yeah I had it like that). So after my dive my podiatrists calls and basically..if it is something that I haven't had before then a picc line makes sense...if its something I had before then she (and the infectious disease doc) didn't feel another picc line made sense and we would have to talk (never a good thing). Yea you guessed, it was something I had before...
So my conversation with her basically covered 4 things to do....take Cipro for 6 weeks and risk rupturing my left Achilles = bad...cut out the heel complex basically, no guarantee and left with a floppy foot = bad, do a outpatient surgery where they apply antibiotic straight to the bone area = a shot, ok, or amputation. We went with option 3 , they actually used bone shaving for me to apply the antbiotic. We had a long conversation about getting this ordeal over for me and quality of life and I told her as long as she had something in her bag of tricks I'm game for a fight..as she walked out of the room she said..I don't have many tricks left. And it wasn't lost on me that she had included amputation. Things went well with the procedure.
The procedure was on a mon..went to see my podiatrist for my weekly visit first thing in the morning on Thurs, everything looks good...at work I start getting chills and fevers...I go to HBOT and happen to have to see the doc there....that fast..an infection..he's talking to me..I'm texting my podiatrist. Off to the ER I go...I stop at my podiatrists office for her to take a look and she agrees.
May 15...my podiatrist walks in...shaking her head...the MRI shows the infection spreading to adjacent bones and at this point she feels amputation is for the best. It was everything she could do not to start balling her eyes out telling me. I knew right then that was what I was going to do..she said we could keep going..but it would probably it would probably just be more infections and probably end with an amputation but on an an emergency basis and maybe higher up. She went to see some other patients...I took a few moments to wrap my head around it..she came back and I told her. She thought it was the best...I can get back to living and she said..when she saw me and my foot the other evening..she wasn't worried about my foot, but me going septic so she definitely thought this was for the best.
She called my wife...the doc did break down telling her. The doc (she really really took it hard, she wouldnt let my name be mentioned in the office for weeks) and my wife took it the hardest. I was ready to go and get things going.....So that's how I got to be a right bka.
I'm not embarassed..not ashamed..I dont hide it...I wear shorts ALL the time.
It was an eye opening experience on so many levels and I'll be happy to talk about them. It doesnt bother me to tell the story or talk about....so if you want to talk about it or my other observations I'm game.
I've been back to work...coaching..and doing my photography..so things are good!
So it started with and infection in my foot..my heel to be precise. I got it from a carpet staple while removing a rug off our stairs. Yea..I was in barefeet...and I'm diabetic..and my sugar wasn't under control..but I figured I was sitting as I took out the staples and being careful, but clearly not careful enough. Yes...I got soooo many I told you so's from the wife for the next few months. A few days later sporting a bit of a fever, I noticed a big black and blue blister on the bottom of my foot (this developed over about 4 days). First we stopped at a clinic ..they took and xray and the doc said she didnt need a radiologist for this..and there was the carpet staple in my heel...and off to the ER we go, March 1, 2016.
So of course I was admitted...and was in the hospital for 11 days.....I had 3 different surgeries (the doc took the staple out at bedside) and of course IV antibiotics. The wound was ugly..it encompassed basically the whole bottom of the heel about the size of a navel orange and you could literally touch my heel bone, see it really. I left the hospital with my foot wrapped and hooked up to a wound vac and sporting a picc line for IV antibiotics for 6 weeks. So things went really well..healed up great, better than my podiatrist expected...by mid-May I was ready for a skin graft and at the end of May both the podiatrist and skin graft surgeon though it was healed and could start walking etc. But ...nope..over the weekend started with a fever..drainage with the clear smell of infection (at this point my wife was a very able wound care nurse, unofficially). So back to the podiatrist who sent me straight off to the hospital.
So...another 7 days in the hospital and 2 surgeries. The stay was also made more exciting by the fact that one bacteria this time was MRSA (which fortunately not cause any other complications) and getting a mild case of shingles (seriously). So I ended up in the infectious disease ward which was cool cause I got a private room and a shower..woohoo. So out of the hospital with another picc line.
So finally with a picc line and a hard walking boot my podiatrist let me go back to work late June. My job involves a lot of walking and fairly heavy lifting so I couldnt go back earlier.
So the next 4 months we are tryiong to get the foot to heel and it seem to be coming along, but every time it seems to get close to closing it falls apart and does some draining. By Novemeber my podiatrist feels that I have another infection..the only explanation. So we do an xray..and she isnt happy with it...so we do an MRI, bloodwork, and eventually a bone biopsy all came back negative....my doctor was not amused and flummoxed. So we continued on until the end of Jan 2017 with similar results as before. So we decide to do some work on the wound to try and help it heel (we were reorienting it). So back in the hospital for 6 days and 1 surgery...but wait. Sure enough when my doc went in she found a block of bone? and almost entirely encasing ...yep..an infection. It was so encased that I literally had no symptoms and hide it from the xray and mri. So in the process of cleaning up my doc ending up having to remove my Achilles tendon.
So out of the hospital with another picc line (the in hospital picc line team remembered me, it's nice to be remembered). I get back to work in late Feb. My podiatrist and wound care nurse both feel I would benefit from hyperbaric oxygen treatments. So I end up doing that 5 days a week for 2 hours a day (if you're interested I can go more into that) at 100% oxygen at 2 atmospheres (like scuba diving to 33 feet). I do that for about 2 months (60 dives).
We com to about the end of April 2017 and the doctor from the HBOT has to periodically recertify you for treatments. So he is in checking me out looking at the wound and realizes ...yep..another infection. So he is swabbing the sample and I'm texting my podiatrist's office (yeah I had it like that). So after my dive my podiatrists calls and basically..if it is something that I haven't had before then a picc line makes sense...if its something I had before then she (and the infectious disease doc) didn't feel another picc line made sense and we would have to talk (never a good thing). Yea you guessed, it was something I had before...
So my conversation with her basically covered 4 things to do....take Cipro for 6 weeks and risk rupturing my left Achilles = bad...cut out the heel complex basically, no guarantee and left with a floppy foot = bad, do a outpatient surgery where they apply antibiotic straight to the bone area = a shot, ok, or amputation. We went with option 3 , they actually used bone shaving for me to apply the antbiotic. We had a long conversation about getting this ordeal over for me and quality of life and I told her as long as she had something in her bag of tricks I'm game for a fight..as she walked out of the room she said..I don't have many tricks left. And it wasn't lost on me that she had included amputation. Things went well with the procedure.
The procedure was on a mon..went to see my podiatrist for my weekly visit first thing in the morning on Thurs, everything looks good...at work I start getting chills and fevers...I go to HBOT and happen to have to see the doc there....that fast..an infection..he's talking to me..I'm texting my podiatrist. Off to the ER I go...I stop at my podiatrists office for her to take a look and she agrees.
May 15...my podiatrist walks in...shaking her head...the MRI shows the infection spreading to adjacent bones and at this point she feels amputation is for the best. It was everything she could do not to start balling her eyes out telling me. I knew right then that was what I was going to do..she said we could keep going..but it would probably it would probably just be more infections and probably end with an amputation but on an an emergency basis and maybe higher up. She went to see some other patients...I took a few moments to wrap my head around it..she came back and I told her. She thought it was the best...I can get back to living and she said..when she saw me and my foot the other evening..she wasn't worried about my foot, but me going septic so she definitely thought this was for the best.
She called my wife...the doc did break down telling her. The doc (she really really took it hard, she wouldnt let my name be mentioned in the office for weeks) and my wife took it the hardest. I was ready to go and get things going.....So that's how I got to be a right bka.
I'm not embarassed..not ashamed..I dont hide it...I wear shorts ALL the time.
It was an eye opening experience on so many levels and I'll be happy to talk about them. It doesnt bother me to tell the story or talk about....so if you want to talk about it or my other observations I'm game.
I've been back to work...coaching..and doing my photography..so things are good!
