I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Off-Topic => Off-Topic: Talk about anything you want. => Topic started by: Ohio Buckeye on September 19, 2007, 07:40:31 PM
-
Today was hard. Part of my big toe and partof the toe next to it are
not going to survive this ordeal. He said the heel is still improving tho.
I'm thankful I have my foot. Trying to accept this. Lots of women lose
their breasts to cancer and this is toes so if they can handle their problem
I should be able to handle this. He is going to put a graft on my heel to speed
up healing. All the pain I've been thru with them and I really thought they
would make it. Thanks for praying and thoughts. Told me to come up with
a date. Thinking about Oct. after I have my 2 dialysis clinic appts. early in
month cause he said I need to stay almost totally off of it for at least 5 days
after the graft is sewn on. I'm not going to make it to LV. Hopefully next
year.
Thanks again.
-
Oh yes, they did another leg study and the blood flow is still good
in my leg and foot.
-
Ohio Buckeye, you have been through so much and put up a good fight trying to save the toes. i am sorry. We Buckeyes are fighters. Stay strong. We are here if you need us :grouphug;
-
I dont get it?? Why NOW do they decide to put a graph in your foot so it can heal faster? why didnt they do that long ago and try and save your toes?? :banghead; Am i missing something here? :urcrazy;
Sorry to hear the news O.B. You'll be allright, remember you have us behind you and beside you ALL THE WAY... We love you :grouphug;
-
:grouphug; OB :grouphug; It could be worse, I think if you had not struggled with the wound center and the pain you went through it would be worse. Sorry it has come to this but maybe once that is taken care of the rest will heal a lot quicker. All the best thoughts and Prayers for you OB.
-
OB my thoughts and prayers are with you.
-
Sorry to hear that O.B. Your a strong person, i know you will get through this.
Thinking of you.
Amanda
xxoo
-
Sorry to hear this O.B. you will continue to be in thought and prayer. :grouphug;
-
I'm sorry to hear about your problem. It's great that you're getting some good news tho! Keep fighting! :boxing; :cuddle;
-
Sorry to hear, but our continual caring thoughts and prayers are with you. Hang strong!
-
I just saw this O.B. Oh man. I agree, WHY oh WHY didn't they do the graft earlier??? Durn doctors. We'll be thinking of you, and please let us know when you have the procedure, so we can pray for you, and the doctor. :grouphug; :grouphug;
-
As this sinks in it gets more difficult instead of easier.
I've fallen in love with my toes.
Have to make appt. for physical which has to be done before surgery
and try to figure out how I'm going to be off my feet this amt. of time at least.
My toes hurt really bad now and as gross as it sounds he said if I wait too long
they came come off by themselves. I am terrified that I will wake up and
find a toe lying in bed. That would freak me out.
I am trying to think positive and think that with a heel graft and toes taken care
of maybe I will finally start healing and can start driving again and living again, doing
things with grandson, etc.
don't know date yet.
-
So sorry OB. Your so strong, I know you will get through this and were all behind you hun. :grouphug;
-
Goodfynina, I don't know. All I know is I just had to keep waiting for my next appt.
getting worse while I was waiting. The surgeon I was going to was not helping me
at all and had me soaking my foot twice a day. When I decided to get a 2nd opinion I
had to wait to get into for that. He immediately said he thought I had a leg blockage
and had me in getting a leg study in 2 days. Then I had to wait a week to go back
to see him. Then I see him and he tells me about blockage and recommends a
vascular surgeon I have to wait to get into see. Then I see him and he schedules
a stress test and angioplasty for like 2-3 wks later. In the meantime my foot is getting
worse and not getting blood. Finally I was so sick and weak I called and said I needed
this to be moved up. They said my dr. was out of town that's why it was scheduled
later. I said they find another dr. I need it done soon. I felt like I wasn't going to
make it. Then when they did my leg they found a major heart blockage also I didn't know
about. It seems like after they found the blockage and realized my foot wasn't getting a
blood flow they would have hurried me through. Then this wk. when I had a leg study
to make sure the artery was still open, the doc. said he was surprised I didn't have a graft
on my heel. Then the next day the foot wound dr. told me he was doing a heel graft and
about the toes. It is such a long story and ordeal. don't know why gaft wasn't done sooner.
-
So sorry OB. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Prayers for a very speedy recovery... :grouphug;
-
:grouphug;
Thinkin of ya OB
Tamara xxx ooo :cuddle;
-
So sorry to hear about the foot problems, OB.
It does sound like you are dealing with it well and are putting things into perspective.
keep on those doctors and get as much info and as many opinions as you need to make yourself comfortable.
-
OB, I'm so sorry! I know it must be hard to face losing a part of you. Just know that I am thinking of you and sending lots of love and prayers your way! :cuddle;
-
O.B. Just thinking about you and hoping your doing good, keep your Faith my friend :cuddle; Love ya bunches
-
Thanks for the thoughts Goofynina.
It looks like it's going to be scheduled for Mon. Oct. 8th about 8-8:30.
I have to see him Weds. to get prescriptions, have to get some kind of boot
to keep pressure off of my foot, and another special shoe. ugh.
Physical Tues. morn., dialysis clinic appt weds. afternoon. so it is going to be a
busy week then I'm going to be off of my feet for a while. I surely hope and
pray that this will be the beginning of the end of this year long ordeal. I want to
drive again, work again, wear regular shoes again, be able to go
to the groc. store, etc. and to be PAIN FREE!!!!!!!
My toes and heel are in pain every day even with pain med. I like my foot dr. at the
wound clinic but dang it took me too long to find him.
I will be outpatient.
Say a prayer for me on that day, (and several before then).
Thanks.
-
awww..OB it has been a long road hasn't it. Well I do hope it gets better soon. Please keep us updated when you can. I really do keep you close in my prayers. :grouphug;
-
Aww O.B. Sorry to hear that. You best believe my prayers are with you (as always) ;) And no worries, i am sure you will be up and about and driving and working and all that again real soon (but that doesnt excuse you from spending time with us ya know) ;) :P We love ya O.B. :grouphug;
-
:cuddle; OB :cuddle;
-
:thx;
-
:cuddle; sending lots of prayers your way
EDITED: Fixed :cuddle; icon error - Sluff/ Admin
-
I missed this thread until now. OB, I'm with you (in thought). I do know what it's like to not be able to get around, and not be pain-free, but i can't BEGIN to imagine what it's like to be losing your toes. I just hope it fixes the problem for you and gives you back some normality.
-
Well, Mon. am is my surgery. I probably won't be on the site for a while.
I will miss you all for a few days. I wish I could go to Vegas to meet many of you.
Please pray that the graft will help my heel to heal and the toes heal good and
will be pain free. I hope this is the beginning of the end of this ordeal.
Everyone is being so helpful providing transportation and bringing me in meals, etc.
I have the most caring friends. So fortunate.
Take care all and God bless!!!
Jan, aka Ohio Buckeye
getting ready to watch Buckeyes play Purdue. GO BUCKS!!!!
-
O.B. You take care and we will be here waiting for you. :2thumbsup; We will miss you also but we know what you are going through and we understand :grouphug; You just take care of your foot and get well soon and remember, we love you sooooo much. :cuddle;
-
hope all goes well ob, take care :cuddle;
-
getting ready to watch Buckeyes play Purdue. GO BUCKS!!!!
Hope your team wins! :)
-
OB good luck and I will be praying for you and hope the surgery is a success. :grouphug;
-
OB- hope all goes well. Saying prayers for you. Wish I was in Columbus to visit. :grouphug;
-
OB i'll say extra prayers for you, hang in there and we'll be here waiting for you return :grouphug; :cuddle;
-
Keeping you in my prayers :grouphug;
-
OB, I hope all goes well, good luck :grouphug;
-
Well, Mon. am is my surgery...I hope this is the beginning of the end of this ordeal.
Everyone is being so helpful providing transportation and bringing me in meals, etc.
I have the most caring friends. So fortunate.
Take care all and God bless!!!
Jan, aka Ohio Buckeye
getting ready to watch Buckeyes play Purdue. GO BUCKS!!!!
OB, Best of luck with your surgery. Be optimistic, don't let anyone discourage you - especially the non wound care doctors. It is a specialty for a good reason - cutting edge new techniques are always emerging. It took Rolando 4 years to heal a heel wound (diabetic, brought on by calciphylaxis) and it was interesting to watch the new treatments emerge. He's sleeping now, next to the computer as I write. I look at his foot and instead of a mass of bandages, he has on a sock. Instead of extensive wound care, we now only have to moisturize it. His shoe (special for now) is under the bed. Wounds will teach you patience.
You said something about a boot to keep pressure off? Is it a waffle boot? Rolando has used one whenever something new was put in place on his heel. It was immensely helpful. He even stood up in it and it held up and protected (definitely not what it is designed for, but we have no choice since he only has one leg for transfers).
The question of why not earlier for the graft was presented. For sure the blood supply had to be (re)established first. Also, in reading your posts, it seems that your wound needed and was debrided of dead tissue each time you went to the wound care center. In our experience, the wound bed needed to be healthy (stable, clean, and "beefy red" as they loved to say) before anything positive could be done - apligraf (growth factors), wound vac (capillary development), oasis graft (scaffolding matrix), and/or a regular graft. Perhaps that's why it has taken this long to get to the point of surgery.
-
hi
I'm still home right now.
OMG, 4 years.
thanks for the helpful info from someone who's been there.
Can Arlando wear a regular shoe yet? Does he still have pain?
The wound dr. told me that the graft has tiny antibiotics in it that open
over a 90 day period so I have antibiotics in my heel for 90 days. that's interesting.
Said I can't get it wet but it can't dry out from the mineral oil.
I don't quite understand if the graft is absorbed by the body or how they know if it is
healing with the graft on it if you know what I mean.
Have a good time in Vegas.
-
OB, sounds as if the procedure went pretty well. That IS interesting, you have a steady infusion of antibiotics. Why they couldn't do that earlier, who knows. I'm glad you have people taking care of you.
-
:2thumbsup; Awesome info Alene and very interesting too, thanks for sharing that :thumbup;
O.B. Thinking of you and no worries, tomorrow will be over soon and you'll be back home and on your way to recovery :yahoo;
-
:cuddle;
Sending hugs your way OB!
-
hi
I'm still home right now.
OMG, 4 years.
thanks for the helpful info from someone who's been there.
Can Arlando wear a regular shoe yet? Does he still have pain?
The wound dr. told me that the graft has tiny antibiotics in it that open
over a 90 day period so I have antibiotics in my heel for 90 days. that's interesting.
Said I can't get it wet but it can't dry out from the mineral oil.
I don't quite understand if the graft is absorbed by the body or how they know if it is
healing with the graft on it if you know what I mean.
Have a good time in Vegas.
Interesting! Tell me about your graft - is it your own natural skin "harvested" from another part of your body or is it something else? I have read about these antibiotic beads before but they were never used on Rolando.
No, Rolando doesn't wear a regular shoe yet. It has only been a couple of months since the heel has healed.
It is a Darco sandal - not fashionable, but not ugly either. We are still looking forward to real (diabetic) shoes.
Regarding pain... As bad as diabetic neuropathy is, there is one good aspect - he could never feel the wound care or the wound on his foot. He could feel the ones higher up on his leg (negative) but they healed faster (positive). I would be optimistic that the surgery will relieve your pain. They will no longer be constantly irritating your heel by debriding and with the establishment of new skin, it will be protected. Regarding your toes, our wound care doctor told us that tissue death hurts a lot. He said that that's what the pain from a heart attack is - the death of heart tissue. And, your toes too have been subjected to the constant, irritating debriding. You will most likely experience some post surgical pain, but then I am hoping and expecting that your foot will begin to feel much much better.
-
Thanks for the info.
This graft will be artificial skin but will have particles of my skin in it from the
edge of my wound and probably some good skin from the toes. He said having
some of my own skin cells in it would be a good thing.
The heel pain is bad but the toe pain is almost unbearable.
The dead tissue smells bad also.
I got a special surgical shoe that has no toes in it and no heel.
It is rather uncomfortable. I feel better with no shoe on.
I've had one I've been using but this one seems to be better made
and sturdier, but ugly and awkward.
Am looking forward to wearing a regular shoe again (and a pair of hose).
I will be grateful to have the painful debriding behind me. (I hope).
I had no idea before this what wound patients had to go through.
I have a new respect for them.
I'm glad you get to make the trip to Vegas. wish I could.
It would be great to meet you in person.
My surgery is 8:30am. As much as I dread it and hate it I hope it will bring
healing. thanks for the encouraging words.
I needed to hear some today.
Let me know when he gets to wear a regular diabetic shoe.
-
good luck :grouphug;
-
So, today is Monday - today was the day for the surgery, I think? I'm not sure what the time is in the US, but I'm looking forward to hearing an update in the coming days, or if anyone knows OB on a personal level, I hope you can update us before then.
-
OB, we send you good thoughts and wishes and prayers and a great big A-B-R-A-Z-O :cuddle;
The Buckeyes won, now it's your turn!
-
Good luck! I hope everything went well and continues to do so! :cuddle;
-
Sending good thoughts and prayers your way today O.B. Looking forward to hearing from you again soon. Get Well Soon :grouphug; Love ya friend :cuddle;
-
Been thinking about you all day, O.B. Hope you doing OK. :grouphug;
-
{{{HUGS}}} and good wishes coming your way OB.
:grouphug;
-
Hope it went well :thumbup;
-
Hope all went well OB.
Sending you good thoughts your way.
Amanda
xxoo
:cuddle;
-
Thinking of you O.B. Hope you are doing fine and you come back soon :cuddle;
-
OB
Hope you are doing better. Sending positive thoughts to you.
willieandwinnie
-
OB, hopefully all went well for you, and the pain is relieved as well. :grouphug;
-
Hope to hear from you soon and that it's all good news.
-
Yeah, lets turn this bad news thread into a good news one ! :grouphug;
-
OK, it has been more than a week. Does anyone know how OB is doing? Like Tamara said, we want to rename this thread!
-
I hope she is doing ok..
-
Prayers for a speedy and complete recovery.
-
10 days has anyone heard from OB??? Hope all is well.
-
OB hasn't been on since October, 7th. I'm really worried. Does someone have her Emergency Contact info?
-
OB hasn't been on since October, 7th. I'm really worried. Does someone have her Emergency Contact info?
Hi - thanks skyedogrocks - Thankfully we do have her contact info - I just called OB and she told me she has been staying at her friends house since the surgery. (OB I hope I got all this info correct!) One toe graft seems to be ok but the other looked better last week and seems swollen this week. They aren't sure how her heel has taken to the graft, and may have to explore more options. She has been staying off her feet and that is why she hasn't posted. Her pain level is a little less and she's been able to cut back on pain meds, which she is happy about. I asked if she would like some snail mail and she said that would be great - so if you want to send her a card or note please PM me for her home address. She will have her friend pick up her mail.
She asked about some of our members, about Vegas and about the fires here in California. I hope she improves - she's been through so much already!
-
Thanks for taking the time to contact OB Karol. It was nice getting an update.
-
Thank you Karol, for finding out how she is. I'm glad she's safe, and with friends. :grouphug;
-
Awww our poor O.B. Come on Friends, we need to get these prayers to O.B. so she can get her foot healthy again. Thank you so much Karol for contacting her and updating us. :grouphug;
-
Thanks Karol for checking on her. I am glad she is staying with friends. We miss her! :grouphug;
-
Thanks Karol, good to hear O.B. is doing OK :thumbup;
-
thanks karol OB hope your up and about soon take care :cuddle;
-
:bump;
Just wondering if anyone had heard from OB
Thinkin of you OB :grouphug;
-
OB come home!!! Hope all is well.
-
I hope she is enjoying the OSU games and feeling much better. I never got to tell her that I made "buckeyes' for everyone at Vegas!
Hope you are doing well, we miss you! :grouphug;
-
I was going to send her a card, but I'm a major slack-o and didn't get around to it. :oops;