Health Care & Medicare May Not Have Saved A Foot But It Saved My Life.

[TheMastersNemesis]

I have been on a journey through a medical hell I never thought I would ever experience. Going from a totally active and self sufficient 70 year old to a helpless heap has been a huge awakening and humbling experience. What began as a bout with gout ended up with a lost foot and huge dose of reality. WE ARE ALL vulnerable to what happened to me in this new age of "drug resistant bacteria". Thank God for the fact that I had health insurance through Medicare and my co insurance.

Now I face different life. And still face some lengthy rehab. My story could be anyones story. And during my journey I also heard many other stories worse than mine. And I saw more suffering than I care to remember.

Since the end of February I have spent 2 weeks in the hospital, 3 weeks in a rehab center (nursing home), 2 weeks at home, another week in the hospital and am now at home again on a 30 day antibiotic pump. By the end of this journey I will have had 53 days of antibiotics to kill off what has invaded my body. I got this second machine after my second stay in the hospital. More about that later.

The day I lost my foot I also woke up to a wound in my other leg 5 inches long, 1 1/2 inches with and 2 inches deep that had a vacuum pump sucking out the infection. (The new technology is to heal such wounds from the inside out). By the time I am finished with this pump it will have been a part of me for over 2 months with a dressing change every other day except weekends. . That is the one thing that has gone right so far.

Having health care coverage probably saved my life since I was diagnosed with Sepsis Syndrome due to a staff infection in my foot that began as gout. Somehow infection got in. That care was actually excellent if not a bit myopic. They were so focused on my foot infection they did not realize I had it in my right leg calf until just before amputation surgery. Practicing medicine is more than science it is an art and diagnosing and treatment are sometimes a guess.

After 3 weeks in rehab on a sore right knee. Two weeks at home and my knee swelled. Back to the hospital and now infection was under the right knee cap. Now a fourth surgery to flush the knee of that bug.

I met so many dedicated and professional nurses and caretakers that I am forever grateful for their service. These professionals work hard and have tremendous responsibility. What they do means your life literally. They work with no extra help virtually all the time.

You do not realize how important health care is until you have to use it. I look at health care as a right and NOT an earned privilege. I have no patience with anyone who says we should deny health care to the sick. Over all I received excellent health care during this ordeal.

I will share some other information that really is important. In the future I will share my conversation with certain doctors. The most important talk I had was an "infectious disease doctor" and what we face in the future. And we must all be concerned.

[shenmue]

1. Mercy!

[Zorra]

2. Thanks for this dose of reality.

Having worked in nursing at one time, I recommend this post. No one is invincible, or invulnerable to life altering health changes. One day you are fine, then the next day total shit hits the fan.

Healthcare is so critical, and it is my firm belief that we need Medicare for ALL ASAP.

So sorry for your troubles, TMN, and thanks again for this wake up call.

[Mnemosyne]

3. Glad to hear you are recovering. I hope your recovery continues with no more issues arising.

I have walked on two non-joined fractures, one in my fibula and one in my tarsus, since 2001. It took me four years to convince the doctor something was wrong after the initial finding of a broken tibia, They finally found out my Achilles tendon was badly torn when an MRI was done. It was too late for help by 2005 because by then the bones had become necrotic.

If I had had insurance things would have been so much different.

I read 'The Coming Plagues" in the early 1990's and it terrified me. I've had infections that have taken two and three antibiotics to clear up. People just don't understand have serious the resistant bacteria problem is now. Sadly, they will in the coming years.

Sorry you've had such a bad year.

[TheMastersNemesis]

4. I Hear You. Here Is Some More Of The Story.

Due to the circumstances of my infection the bug also effected my right leg as well. For one the bug had settled in the lower calf of my right leg. And it also was in the right knee of my right leg as well. The following is what is amazing about what happened during treatment.

The "Baker's cyst" which everyone has and controls the fluids in the knee burst in my right knee and that event allowed the bug to migrate to my lower calf. Right up to the surgery my wife and the surgical nurse kept urging the surgeon to look at the my leg. I was still a bit conscious and the look the surgeon had when he realized something was wrong I will always remember. It was a WFT moment. He ordered and MRI the night before the "amp" surgery. He then realized he had to deal with that. So I ended up with a large part of my right calf cut into.

After I went to the rehab center I spent 3 weeks rehabbing on a hurting right knee. My last hospitalization was the result of having to deal with an infection in that knee. The knee probably had some infection in it and was suppressed during my 23 days of antibiotic therapy. When that ended it began to grow again. According to my wife the white count in the fluids they flushed out of that knee was 129,000. Based on my talk with the last doc I saw, the latest infection is pretty treatable.

As good as the care was it seemed that doctors who specialist can be a bit myopic and sometimes fail to look at the whole picture.