A crack in my husband's heel led to the threat of losing his leg.
My story is a warning to others. In December last year, my husband Jim had a crack in his heel. He went to his GP and was told to put cream on it. Two weeks later, there was no improvement so he returned to his GP. At the second visit the same advice was given.
In January 2015 he visited the diabetic nurse. She cleaned out the cracked foot and found a sock fibre which was stuck in the cracked foot. She suspected an infection had developed and prescribed antibiotics. One week later there was no improvement, so more antibiotics were given.
All this time my husband was in severe pain. In February of this year, my husband visited a different doctor and he was asked to return the next day for swabs to be taken. Two days later, my husband couldn't stand the pain any longer. I tried unsuccessfully to get him another appointment at the surgery, but could only get a phone call from doctor. The doctor advised him to go straight to hospital. He was admitted as an emergency o hospital with a necrotic heel ulcer and put straight on IV antibiotics.
One week later he was transferred to another hospital specialising in vascular treatment. Jim spent seven weeks in this hospital under the threat of losing his leg. I had a two-hour bus journey each way to visit. I visited him every day. Fortunately he did not lose his leg. The healthcare staff were able to heal the ulcer after doing a second angioplasty. He was discharged in April under the care of the district nurse for wound care.
Last Wednesday he suffered a heart attack due to his second infection since leaving hospital. He is now back in hospital at square one being treated with IV antibiotics for an infected heel, only this time he is in the Acute Cardiac Unit.
