You Thought You Knew Me

A Day To Remember

May 17, 2010:  The day my world turned upside down.

Everything started the day before. I woke up with a simple rash on my foot, nothing major. Then that little rash engulfed the whole top of my foot. Air pockets began to form under my skin and blood trickled from the pores on my foot. Not a pretty sight. I just thought it was an infected bug bite................

So my mom took me to the ER. The minute the doctor saw my foot, he was on the phone with Children's hospital. They thought I had necrotizing facititis, a flesh eating bacteria. So I was loaded into an ambulance and transferred to Children's Hospital of Milwaukee.  

I was poked and prodded with so many needles that I was ready to slap the next person to bring one into the room. But there were no more needles. Instead I was rushed to the OR for emergency surgery. They had to remove any infected tissue before it got any worse.

The doctors ended up removing an benign mass from my foot. They also had to remove a large amount of the tissue on the top of my foot. But instead of stitching it up right away they stuffed it with gauze. Waking up to that was one of the most painful experiences I have ever had.  

I was released two days later only to be rushed back after 24 hours. The infection was back. But this time it was on my left foot. This time they did not do surgery but did admit me for another three days. But not even a week later I was back again. But this time was different.

The doctors accused me of causing the rash by poking myself with my little sisters diabetic supplies.  They also blamed the air under my skin on me saying I had been injecting air under my skin. That was the last time I ever went to that hospital willingly. I had appointments with my surgeon which I hated.  

But the doctors refused to see me until I had been cleared by phsyce. So I went close to four months without treatment. The whole time the surgery wound on my foot remained open. It never healed. My last appointment after I was cleared was with my surgeon. He once again accused my of doing this to myself. That was the last time I ever went back to that hospital. I hate that hospital.

But that isn't the end of the issue. It was only the beginning of everything.  

The wound on my foot has yet to heal. I have had four surgeries trying to fix it. None of them have worked. I am in constant pain and battle chronic infections caused by being on and off antibiotics so frequently. My life is falling apart and all I can do is stand and watch.