Hi Rina:

I'm afraid Alan is way past the Aloe Vera stage. His foot ulcer is re-curring due to a malformation of the bone in his foot. That is why it heals, then re-occurs.

I just got off the phone with the Wound Treatment Center. Told them all about Alan and he was on the other phone. It was very interesting. I asked about hyperbaric oxygen therapy and she said "oh yes indeed but a person must qualify for that, and when I said "what are the qualifications?" she said "well, does he have a bone infection? and I said "no", and she said "Oh he just has an ulcer that does not heal?" and I said "yes", and I further said "He is not a diabetic" and she said "really???" and I said "the podiatrist said his ulcer gets better and then gets worse because of a malformed bone, and she went "Ohhhhh, I get it, well, usually, if that's the case, we just shave down the bone". And Alan immediately said "yeah, but my doctor said he can't do that in my case" (we don't know why).

So this person said "every case is unique and there's many things we do here". So we gave these people all the information they needed to check with Alan's insurance. And we are waiting for a call back.

He will go to his podiatrist on Thursday, we will say we want him to see a wound treatment specialist and we will get copies of his latest x-rays, and whatever. That's the best we can do. Oh, by the way, the lady at the wound treatment center told me not to use a betadyne wash anymore, (I haven't for a while). She said "use simple saline instead", (that's what I've been using). I bought sea salt recently, and I just put a bit in some warm water, and rinse and put the dressing on his ulcer. There's no more hole but there is dried blood and I have no idea what will happen on Thursday.

So we shall see.

bye for now, Melody