November last year, I admitted myself to my local ER, with an infected big toe on my right foot. I had smashed it a couple months prior, helping my brother move a heavy dresser, and initially thought I was just gonna lose that toenail. I've had nerve damage in my toes ever since I was 18, I weighed close to 400lbs at the time, and worked 12 hour shifts, overnights at a convenience store, wasn't allowed to sit, and wore the worst shoes that have ever existed. After about six months of that job, my toes went permanently numb, worse in the big toe, getting better as you move into my smaller toes, so I didn't notice that what I thought was just a black toe nail, was actually a completely broken distal phalanx. When the toe nail finally fell off, I thought I had an ingrown toe nail that had formed underneath, kept it bandaged for awhile, until I noticed one day I had some red streaking and swelling in the foot. At the ER they confirmed a bone infection and admitted me for further tests and a likely amputation. A1C tests came back showing my blood glucose levels had been in the 240 range for at least the last 6 months. I spent a week in the hospital, had my right great toe removed, a picc line put in, and got sent home for six weeks of IV antibiotics.
I took the diabetes diagnosis to heart, immediately changed my diet, started exercising (as much as I could), and dropped from 270lbs, currently down to 225lbs. I'm on 500mg of Metformin twice daily, and haven't had to use insulin since I've been out of the hospital, and have successfully kept my blood sugar between 90 to 130 without much issue. Beginning of January, a follow up with my podiatrist showed that my second toe was starting to develop fractures, within a week I had a blister on it, which ultimately led to having it removed to the first joint. That partial toe, never looked right after, was red the entire time, and after they took stitches out, the right side of that toe just wouldn't heal, so I just had the rest of it removed towards the end of February.
So this whole time, maybe starting a month or two before me, one of my best friends dads has been undergoing the same process. They removed his big toe, second toe got messed up, and they did a partial amputation. His got worse, he bandaged his partial poorly, leading to his 3rd toe getting infected, and they took all the toes on his right foot off around the time they did my partial. Now, he's rubbed a blister on his foot, and they are working towards preventing infection of his metatarsals.
My podiatrist says my last 3 toes are good pink healthy toes, and that I shouldn't have to worry as much about running in to possible issues with them, but given whats happened to my friends dad, I'm paranoid. I've lost 2 toes and am on leave from work till at least April 23rd. I've talked extensively with my podiatrist, endocrinologist, and primary care providers, who all assure me that I'm doing great, and have no recommendations on what to do better or differently, but still feel like I'm just gonna wind up on a surgery table again until I don't have a foot.
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