damn dude. That’s rough. One of the worst things I ever saw was a young lady who contacted flesh eating bacteria in a foreign country while on vacation. She was diagnosed with “flu like symptoms” and went home and her flu like symptoms were actually flesh eating bacteria that took both her legs above the knee within a few weeks of her return from vacation.
I have never been that close. Had an injury to my toe that was a slow healer, yep Type II. It did heal and that’s when it hit the fan, the wound stopped draining and the toe went from normal color with no smell to slightly pink at bedtime to black in the morning. When I woke my bed was SOAKED from sweat and it was pouring out of me in waves. I lost 30 lbs in 10 days from sweating and being on the toilet constantly.
They said they would take the big toe for sure and maybe all of them and perhaps half the foot if thing were really bad. I woke up with just the big toe gone but with a trench across the base of the other ones, all their bones exposed to the naked eye. The surgeon came in every morning and debride my wound, the guy is amazing, and is a general type surgeon, he said he doesn’t believe in specializing and prefers to take ‘em as they come.
The hand however was assigned to another surgeon by the hospital and I’m not blaming her but I don’t think she wasn’t as diligent as the 1st. At some point a small wound or bite developed about the size of a dime and they honestly never pinned down the cause. There was puss that they flushed out 2Xs daily by soaking in saline and eventually by draining with a tube, then she drilled another “window” on the other side of the hand creating a tunnel through my hand, by the time she operated the 2nd time two tendons were eaten through but the infection stopped.
This was Feb 2020 just as Covid hit and Infectious Disease were all over my case, glad I got out of the hospital when I did after 14 days - the initial Maderna outbreak happened in my town a week later. I honestly don’t think I would have survived if it spread through the hospital
I’m still going to a podiatrist once weekly to get my foot debride, still not in a real shoe - just an open one. I have a nurse come in once a week to check my vitals and to inspect the wound for inspection.
Lots and lots of deep breaths, my lungs were shot for 6 months.
The wound been closed for about two weeks now but the skin is thin and ripe for a blister - already had one at the amputation site, a month setback. Now I’ve developed cellulitis or perhaps phlebitis on the same leg above the knee - waiting on ultrasound results.
So I can see how fast one’s health can change on a dime post age 60. RIP to Tanya.
I’ve survived the Blizzard of 78, Obama, Gangrene.