Hi Mrs. D.

No, he doesn't have pain (he does have discomfort), but no pain. He does have the neuropathy if he sits or lies down. NOt when he stands up. But he rarely stands up because he can't.

I hope someone can answer my question about walking on the heel of the cast.

Thanks much

no expert here...but if the cast doesn't have the rubber bumper on the bottom..it's normally not meant to walk on. which means the dr didn't want it walked or he would have ordered a walking cast.

Melody,
if they mean for him to walk or put weight on it, he'd have a heel built into the bottom of the cast. No heel means no weight in my experience and believe me I've had a lot of it. I tore tendons loose from my ankle, they took a tendon from the back of my calf and spliced the tendon in my ankle. No heel, no weight was what I was told. And tell him NOOO coathangers inside it to scratch. (yes it will get itchy) He needs to support his weight on his good leg and the crutches. Yes, it will be difficult. He's a strong man. If I can do it he can, let him do it, don't hurt yourself.

You can call your doctor on Monday to see how much if any weight he can put on it.

Billye

Excellent information.

I did not know about the heel on the cast. You all gave good advice.

Alan is doing just fine. No scratching, no coat hangers. We don't have any wire coat hangers anyway.

But I shall tell him what you said. See, I knew he couldn't walk on the heel, I just wanted to find out if he could put ANY weight on it.

Thanks SOO much. Now I know.

I just walked over to Alan and told him what you guys said about the rubber tip thing on the heel.

Alan says to me "Oh, there's a rubber thing here". I said 'there is?? really?? and he says "yeah feel it". I went over to the bottom of his cast and it was hard as a rock.

I said "what are you talking about, there's no rubber thing on your heel". So don't put any weight on it".

He said "I remember the doctor and the nurse saying that if I had to, I could put a bit of pressure, but not too much". Now I remember that too because I was there when the nurse said that.

But be that as it may, unless it's absolutely necessary, he's staying in the wheelchair and on the couch.

Thanks much for all the good information.

Mel

Hi MelodyL

My husband, David, started about 12 years ago when he was approx. age 40 of having some numbness in his toes. At some point he got a cut on the bottom of his foot that bacause he couldn't feel all that much it got infected. Several doctors later, they diagnosed it as peripheral neuropathy. Eventually his foot got infected to the bone (has had multiple bone scans-forget the medical name) and he had one or two toes on his left foot taken off (it all blurs on whether they did his second & third toe together, bottom line both were gone). he got some orthotics for his shoes that he says really helps keep pressure points off certain areas of his feet. Now after multiple surgeries (debredments too many to remember) he has his big toes remaining on his left foot. He has had some problems with his right foot but so far has lost no toes. He has really high arches & his toes draw up so that seems to put pressure on his toes & of course makes the way he walks put pressure on the bottom where he gets callouses. He also about 5 years or so ago has noticed tingling, pain, loss of feeling in his hands.
This seems to be genetic as his older brother (17 years older) just last week had all of his toes taken off plus part of his foot due to unhealed infected bone. (he doesn't listen to the doctors). A younger nephew (age 40-son of the one who doesn't listen) has begun having some numbness in his feet and I think another nephew has begun also with numbness. So far none of the women in David's family (he has 6 brothers & 4 sisters) has had any problems. The doctors don't have much of an answer as to why for any of this. He is having more bone "shaving" next Wednesday. Hope it's just that & not the remaining toe. (I think we have helped his doctor-podiatrist-put his kids thru college!)

For your husband, make sure to keep careful watch on any sore on his feet as infection is impossible to get rid of once it gets a stronghold. Any signs of redness, red streaks, swelling is a sign that there is infection. Xray shows some of this but the bone scan shows up with more definition.

RozzieM

Rozzie:

Yeah, I know all about the infection thing with the foot ulcers. He's been there, done that. The very last time he got an infection was many many months ago, Might have been a year. Oh, I remember what happened. He was bleeding and because he has absolutely no feeling in his feet, he just started taking out the skin around the ulcer. There was an actual bigger hole than there was before.

I looked at him and said "are you out of your mind, you have an infection, you don't go putting your hands in there and taking out the remaining area."

I had to literally drag him to the podiatrist who yelled at him. The podiatrist debrided it and I have never seen a hole so big in my life. He told us to come back in three days. You would not believe how fast this man heals (because he is not a diabetic). His hole was almost closed.

The doctor marveled and said "look at this, you would never know that three days ago, he had a whole bigger than a quarter"!!!! The doc had put him on antibiotics at that time.

But thankfully there has been no infections since. Just his darn ulcer and debridement after debridement, shoe boot after shoe boot.

Oh, my husband just made a video and we are uploading it onto youtube. I'll post it right on this thread.

You'll get to see him and his humor and his cast and his wheelchair. We find it very helpful in his recovery.

Take care,

Melody

Alan just made the video.

It's amazing, how one can be in so much pain (even after a percocet), and then when he gets up in the morning, he can sit in the wheelchair and be laughing.

I don't know if the endorphins, or it's the weather, (he does not take any pain meds during the day, only before bedtime), and only since he had the operation. Normal pain meds don't work on his neuropathy. I think the Alprazolam works better at his going to sleep. I don't think tonight he'll need a percocet. Just the alprazolam.

Anyway, here is my Alan, in fine form, saying HI!!! to all of you!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrhlrGJ7co

bone infections (osteomyelitis) and tissue infections are very different. Osteomyelitis never goes away, the best you can hope for is that it remains dormant and that you dont get a flareup or they dont come that often. Osteomyelitis is difficult to treat and can reactivate due to many circumstances, breaking a bone, having hardware put into your body, etc.

If I didn'tt know Alan I would say he's high,but knowing him by cyerspace,
he's a joy and cute,I mean funny..Mel when I was doing the nurse thing
casts that have pressure can break down . There are walking casts
his doesn't look like one..Besides they want him on crutches,which I
absolutely cannot use either..Did they give you a paper that said not to
pressure on it.

Can't wait to hear what they have to say next week...Mean while kept
attacking him it's very good for your heath and his, ahhh a woman's work
is never done..My 2 son's are in town when they get in i'll show them
Alan video..,He looks good Mel,watch your back,I worry about you toooo.
Hug's to all Sue