Fervent Prayer, Careful At-Home Wound Care Deliver Positive Results
I’m a diabetic since the 1990s. I have been injecting insulin up to three times a daily. Complementing the insulin, I take a weekly shot of OZEMPIC, as well as oral medication. I have been as much as 150 pounds overweight since 2011.Three years ago, I was injecting three hundred units of insulin daily. Even with that much insulin, my blood sugars were not controlled. Today, I’m injecting a mere six units daily. I can say I’m fully in control of my blood sugar levels now. During the last two years, I have shed more than eighty pounds. I am now the size of the ‘1980s model Fred’.
However, all those years of uncontrolled blood sugars took a toll. I suffer from diabetic retinopathy for which I see an eye physician regularly. Medicine is injected directly into my eyes every six weeks to quell retinal edema. I also suffer from diabetic neuropathy—especially in my lower legs and feet. I have no feeling in my toes, and only dull sensitivity in my feet. I am prone to blisters and sores on my feet and legs. I heal slowly, very slowly.
It was concern about my right foot big toe that took me to a foot specialist two weeks ago Friday. My uneducated opinion was that a blister had become infected.
Dr. David Orsini is a friendly, immensely intelligent, and efficient physician. I trust him. He did NOT find my right big toe to be a mere blister, infected or not. I was told the infection ran deep—all the way to the bone. He treated me, wrapped the wound, sent me home with antibiotics and the admonition of just how serious a wound it really was. The word ‘amputation’ may have been in the warning.
We returned last Friday, mid-morning, to my physician’s office for follow-up. I was apprehensive. He got right down to business. Dr. Orsini proceeded with deep concern to use a scalpel to peel away the diseased skin. No anesthetic. He peels. He scrapes. He pokes and jabs. It’s okay, though, I don’t feel a thing. I feel nothing. I’m not even sick to my stomach. And yet my foot hangs off the exam table, pointed toward the floor–a steady drip-drip-drip of bright red blood splashing in a small pool on an absorbent pad. Susie jokes: ‘At this rate you’re going to need a transfusion.’
Dr Orsini acknowledges her joke with a chuckle. He adds quickly: ‘This is good. The foot has good blood flow. And the wound is trying to heal!’
I went to his office Friday expecting to be scheduled for a surgery in which at least my big toe would be amputated. I returned home with a new lease on life for my big toe. A reprieve.
‘I never see this.’ Dr Orsini claimed. ‘Yesterday, I amputated toes of other patients because wounds did not heal. Because your last A1c results were normal. . . and your vascular studies showed no blockages… because of the diligent wound care since I last saw you–we will continue with the antibiotics and at-home wound care. No surgery for now.’
Praise the Lord! — FM
