He came in around 4 pm in the afternoon. His wife and son came in with him. An old chap. In his 70's. He held his foot and was in an obvious agony. He had developed sudden pain in his foot in the morning and it had become numb and cold as he put it. It was turning a greyish colour by the time he came in and it was ice cold.
His popliteal pulses were present and good. As per our routine he wasn't candidate for exploration. However attempted to send him to vascular surgeon in an attempt to save his foot. However , the vascular guys also thought the same as us and sent him back,
With nothing more to do , he was put on heparin and anti-coagulation and painkillers to wait for the eventual amputation. He was admitted for the foot to turn black and smelly before we could chop it off.
But he improved dramatically. By next morning his pain was gone. His foot was warm. His foot was pink. The blackening colour gone.
Hmmmmmm
Every time he sees me now, he thanks me. Thanks me for saving his foot.
And I feel embarrassed and ashamed for we were just being masterly inactive...
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