Steven

Steven was a patient here for about four months. He had worked at one of the major manufacturing plants in our community for over 20 years. When the factory closed, he lost his health insurance as well as his income. At the time he came here, he was still receiving unemployment compensation – at a small percentage of what he had been earning.

His health history included femoral-popliteal graft, or in lay language, a by-pass for the major arteries in his right leg. He presented at the clinic with his great toe purple in color, open sores on the bottom of his foot and was only able to walk a few feet at a time. He came in with slippers on – the pain in his foot was so great that he couldn’t wear shoes.

He was started on an antibiotic and wound care for the open sores. An arterial Doppler of the right leg was ordered. The ultrasound showed that the graft was totally occluded – there was very little blood flow to his leg. There was also a hematoma, or bruise in his right groin.

We were able to get him into a Vascular Surgeon here, but he needed more than could be offered locally. We finally were able to get him into a nearby university hospital, where he was treated with IV antibiotics. He ultimately lost his foot, and then lost his leg below the knee. He was fitted with a prosthetic leg, and was managing fairly well, until he fell and broke his hip.

He is one of those people who if it weren’t for bad luck, would have no luck at all.

I have heard that he recovered from the hip surgery, was doing fairly well except for some phantom leg pain. When surgery was done to address that issue, he ended up with a non-healing wound on the leg, and it looks now like he may lose his leg above the knee.

If he had had insurance, he would have gone much sooner to a healthcare professional to address the wounds on his foot. He might have been able to save the foot and the leg. His life would/could have been much different.