Medical Update: Feet

March 30, 2023

Medical Update: Feet

While I was recently in the hospital (March 25 to 28, 2023), it was discovered that I had cellulitis (infection) in my right leg. I had been dealing with infections in both of my feet due to diabetic ulcers in both of my feet. My podiatrist prescribed X-rays of both of my feet (three each) and an MRI of my right foot, checking for osteomyelitis (bone infection). I was taking oral antibiotic pills before I entered the hospital; I received one bag of intravenous antibiotic in the hospital,  plus I continued taking the oral antibiotic in the hospital; and I continue to take the oral antibiotic now at home again.

I received a text message from my podiatrist during the evening of March 28, 2023, with the results. He told me that the X-rays had "some abnormal findings," and MRI was "negative." He said that we just have to watch both of my feet for now. He wants me to have X-rays of both of my feet done again in about a month or so. If it gets worse, he will schedule a "three-phase bone scan."

I have been hospitalized with many cases of cellulitis in both of my legs at different times and different legs in recent years, often having to do a six-week-long regimen of daily intravenous antibiotic infusions through PICC lines in my arms.

I also had osteomyelitis in my left foot, causing me to have four surgeries on it: one to remove part of a decayed bone; one to remove a joint and bone fragments; one to remove more bone fragments and scar tissue; and one to remove a benign tumor that was growing within a diabetic ulcer.

This time, I entered the hospital on March 25, 2023, with shortness of breath; and severe and painful muscle spasms, including what I thought were gall bladder spasms due to gall stones.

While in the hospital, my cardiologist ran me through a battery of tests on my heart about a year after my open-heart surgery. All is well.

On March 9, 2022, I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery. In May 2023, I had two more surgeries: one to remove sternal plates that became loose and to deal with an infection within my chest. My chest was open for a week with a wound vacuum sucking discharge and the infection out of my chest 24 hours per day. I then had another surgery to close my eight-inch-long, vertical incision in my chest. A third surgeon clipped the tips of my ribs and then reattached my chest muscle flaps to my body. He then attached seven sutures that left me with eight holes in my body from my lower neck to my upper belly.