Almost exactly a year ago, I posted that my husband was diagnosed with Charcot's foot by an orthopedist, who indicated that the foot problem was beyond his expertise and recommended a different doctor. The primary care physician couldn't seem to get a referral, continued to deny the problem, and finally dropped our insurance, having done NOTHING aside from cluck his tongue, essentially, about the continued worsening of my husband's foot.
The foot continues to be disfigured (grossly so - HUGE masses of bone grow on the top and outside of his foot). He is no longer able to walk on the bottom of his foot, and despite building his own cam-walker to provide some modicum of comfort (even the custom ones from the occupational therapist were causing rug burn type scrapes on the outside of his foot) with added padding, etc., he simply cannot wear it all day, without excruciating pain and swelling.
Soooo....when he walks around the house, he walks on the outside of his foot. This is a relatively new development, in say, the last two months or so. I am terribly worried that this new doctor is going to be left with no choice but amputation. I don't know...no one seems to know what his condition is, let alone how to treat it...He does NOT have diabetes, and no one has ever mentioned neuropathy, although he does have some reduced sensation, and my guess is that although he has pain, it is nowhere NEAR what it should be based on the condition of his foot. (on the xrays, it is impossible to distinguish where his ankle ends, and the top of the foot begins, and you cannot even see the various bones, until you get to the last of the toe bones, in a top view of the foot. A side view shows a mass about 5 inches deep on the top of the foot, with again no visible distinctions among the bones at all)
In any case, I suppose I am simply pointing out that sometimes the only way to get a doctor's attention is to get a new one. Our old one couldn't get a referral in eight months (probably didn't really try), but our new doctor managed to get one in 4 days. Hmmmm.
Thanks,
Jennifer Jensen
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