So there are things in life that you think only happen to other people...
Getting my leg amputated was high on the list for me...
The first sign I had of a problem was on Christmas Eve... I went to visit Dad so I could follow tradition and open one of my presents early. I scanned my card to enter the lifestyle village where he lives and when I drove down his street, I could see he wasn't exaggerating when he said they were having a street party... 3/4 bottle of scotch and a number of jelly shots later, I decided to head inside and get some sleep. It was after 1 am both Dad and I were surprised to see blood on the floor where I was walking... I had been walking bare foot on the road so I just assumed I had stepped on a stone or something Not thinking any more about it, I carried on with my life. Not even when the same thing happened at my sisters house on New Years Eve.
It was after this I noticed both feet had what looked like burst blisters on the bottom. Me being a typical male, I didn't go to the dr but decided to try and treat myself. I started a nightly routine of rubbing antiseptic cream and wrapping my feet in bandages. It worked for my left foot but not for my right. My right steadily got worse and further ulcers appeared... But I persisted, after all, my left foot improved...
I noticed I was starting to get sick... Fevers... Lethargic... Nausea... I went to the Dr who went down the road of thinking I was coming down with the flu... I never did tell them about my foot though... what would that have to do with me feeling sick???
I knew I was in trouble though when I tried to go to the shop and I couldn't physically get myself the 20 metres across the road to my local Woolies!!! I hadn't kept any food or liquid down for about 3 days at this point and I had to call my dad to come pick me up to drive me across the road to the shops. I was wearing thongs that day and he noticed the bandage around my right foo. I told hime not to worry about it after he asked. "I'm taking care of it" That was a Friday... Over that weekend my toes on that foot started to turn black and by the Monday, I was ready to go to the Dr.
Never a good thing when a Dr looks at your foot and states "I'm not touching that... Go to hospital"
January 25 2016 was the first Emergency room visit... Triage Nurse saw me walking in and immediately put me in a wheelchair and took me through to a cubicle...
Alarm Bells ringing, usually there is at least an hour wait in the waiting room before you go in. A few hours later, after being hooked up to a drip of antibiotics and x rays of my feet taken, I was told I need to be transferred to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where I would likely need to have at least 3 toes amputated. I was taken to a ward so I could wait for an ambulance to transfer me...
6 am on the 26th (Australia Day) I began the 45min journey to the RAH...
I was taken directly to emergency where one nurse looked like she was going to faint after looking at my foot. By 10 am I was in a ward, fasting as I was going to be operated on within hours... Being a public holiday, I realised I must be in a real bad way and it was said that if I had waiting too much longer before presenting myself to the hospital, it would have been likely I would have died...
This was operation no. 1 and amputation no. 1. Middle 3 toes of the right foot
Getting my leg amputated was high on the list for me...
The first sign I had of a problem was on Christmas Eve... I went to visit Dad so I could follow tradition and open one of my presents early. I scanned my card to enter the lifestyle village where he lives and when I drove down his street, I could see he wasn't exaggerating when he said they were having a street party... 3/4 bottle of scotch and a number of jelly shots later, I decided to head inside and get some sleep. It was after 1 am both Dad and I were surprised to see blood on the floor where I was walking... I had been walking bare foot on the road so I just assumed I had stepped on a stone or something Not thinking any more about it, I carried on with my life. Not even when the same thing happened at my sisters house on New Years Eve.
It was after this I noticed both feet had what looked like burst blisters on the bottom. Me being a typical male, I didn't go to the dr but decided to try and treat myself. I started a nightly routine of rubbing antiseptic cream and wrapping my feet in bandages. It worked for my left foot but not for my right. My right steadily got worse and further ulcers appeared... But I persisted, after all, my left foot improved...
I noticed I was starting to get sick... Fevers... Lethargic... Nausea... I went to the Dr who went down the road of thinking I was coming down with the flu... I never did tell them about my foot though... what would that have to do with me feeling sick???
I knew I was in trouble though when I tried to go to the shop and I couldn't physically get myself the 20 metres across the road to my local Woolies!!! I hadn't kept any food or liquid down for about 3 days at this point and I had to call my dad to come pick me up to drive me across the road to the shops. I was wearing thongs that day and he noticed the bandage around my right foo. I told hime not to worry about it after he asked. "I'm taking care of it" That was a Friday... Over that weekend my toes on that foot started to turn black and by the Monday, I was ready to go to the Dr.
Never a good thing when a Dr looks at your foot and states "I'm not touching that... Go to hospital"
January 25 2016 was the first Emergency room visit... Triage Nurse saw me walking in and immediately put me in a wheelchair and took me through to a cubicle...
Alarm Bells ringing, usually there is at least an hour wait in the waiting room before you go in. A few hours later, after being hooked up to a drip of antibiotics and x rays of my feet taken, I was told I need to be transferred to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where I would likely need to have at least 3 toes amputated. I was taken to a ward so I could wait for an ambulance to transfer me...
6 am on the 26th (Australia Day) I began the 45min journey to the RAH...
I was taken directly to emergency where one nurse looked like she was going to faint after looking at my foot. By 10 am I was in a ward, fasting as I was going to be operated on within hours... Being a public holiday, I realised I must be in a real bad way and it was said that if I had waiting too much longer before presenting myself to the hospital, it would have been likely I would have died...
This was operation no. 1 and amputation no. 1. Middle 3 toes of the right foot