I’ve had neuropathy in both of my feet for several years. I can stump my toe and never know it.  It is a blessing and a curse.  I’ve had blisters on my toes and feet so bad that it would take months to heal. The bad part is that I never knew I had these blisters until it was too late.  I have tried to check my feet several times a day since then.  I wasn’t too surprised when they told me that I had broken a bone in my foot as well as having several fractures on the top of my foot.  The scary part is that I don’t know how I did it.

Two weeks ago, I woke up to get ready to go to church and noticed my right foot had swelled badly. I first thought of gout.  I treated my foot for gout for a couple of days and when it didn’t get any better, I made an appointment to see a doctor.

The doctor took X-rays and took bloodwork. The doctor told me that I had osteomyelitis, an infection in the bones of my foot, and that I needed to go straight to the ER.  Fortunately, I live on the way to my hospital, so I stopped and packed a bag grabbed my wife, and went to the ER. Nine hours later I was finally seen by a doctor. A CAT scan and more bloodwork were performed.  I was seen by no less than five different doctors, and all speculated the same thing. It all depended on a scheduled MRI that didn’t happen for another two days.  Yes, I was finally admitted and had to wait until an MRI was performed.

I had an orthopedic surgeon come see me and he was the only one who offered another scenario.  All the other doctors were saying the only way to stop the infection was to amputate my leg. The orthopedic surgeon suggested that I had Charcot Midfoot, a rare occurrence that diabetics with severe neuropathy can get.  Basically, it makes your bones brittle and if not treated can cause amputation of a limb or two. If the MRI showed infection that would mean several months of heavy antibiotics with the possibility of amputation of my foot to start off with.  If the MRI showed no infection, my foot would be put in a splint and I could go home and schedule an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon for follow-up appointments.

At approximately 11 am I was wheeled off for my MRI.  At approximately 2 pm I was told that there was no infection, and I was cleared to go home once my foot was put in a brace. At that time I was told that transport had been called and should be there within the hour. At 8:15 pm the transport finally arrived but not after my daughter called the hospital and complained.

Once home there had to be several changes.  A knee scooter, a shower stool, and a toilet rail had to be ordered to make my life a little easier.  I’ll be laid up for at least six weeks, maybe longer.  I’ve called and left a message with one of the doctors.  Hopefully, they’ll call me tomorrow to set up a follow-up appointment.  I’ve also got several other doctors to call tomorrow to reschedule appointments.  Oh, one other thing.  I live in a house with stairs leading to my living area.  I’ll have to call the fire department to get me in and out of my house.  This should be fun.