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View Full Version : Greenish toe?????? OMG!



Macculloch
05-22-2009, 03:12 PM
My husband just text this to me....he said he thought it was dirt but when he tryed to wash it off...it didnt come off?
http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/tlkjlr03/Toes.jpg

Macculloch
05-22-2009, 03:28 PM
It kinda looks greyish, and green, and black I guess...

Jack
05-22-2009, 06:26 PM
I think it is a bruise. Not caused by an impact necessarily, but just a small burst blood vessel. Not sure if this is due to Wegener's or the drugs, but I get them all the time.

Sangye
05-23-2009, 12:49 AM
Has his doctor seen it? Anything weird around a joint (even without Wegs) should be checked out.

Macculloch
05-23-2009, 03:21 AM
No he hasnt...I think he is trying to get ahold of him today....and you know it culd possible be a bruise because he is on blood thinner.

Doug
05-24-2009, 01:04 AM
You have to be on the outlook for dry gangrene, too. I think you guys are wise to refer this condition to your doctor. Some Weggies get little (or big) spots of this dry gangrene on their skin. I had a few on my back, though I don't recall being aware of them until they were more advanced. I was already weeks into treatment by then, and they were starting to heal and slough off. Weird. Below, a link to definitions of the three types of gangrene.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangrene

andrew
05-27-2009, 06:45 AM
You have to be on the outlook for dry gangrene, too. I think you guys are wise to refer this condition to your doctor. Some Weggies get little (or big) spots of this dry gangrene on their skin. I had a few on my back, though I don't recall being aware of them until they were more advanced. I was already weeks into treatment by then, and they were starting to heal and slough off. Weird. Below, a link to definitions of the three types of gangrene.

Gangrene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangrene)

If that was the case, wouldn't the toe above the joint be affected too and not just in one spot?

Doug
05-27-2009, 08:02 AM
If that was the case, wouldn't the toe above the joint be affected too and not just in one spot?

I don't know. Makes sense. On the other hand, the dry gangrenous spots on my back didn't have joints associated with them. I think, then, they don't necessarily have to start above the joint in this case, these spots. See a doctor and have a professional assessment is the point made. :confused:

Macculloch
05-27-2009, 02:27 PM
He wont call his doctor, or even try to contact anyone! I am convinced that it is Dry gangrene!! because it seems to look like its spreding or getting bigger.....this is why i hate how the military wont move us out there...he needs to be close to me or he wont get things done that needs to be done!....

How do I convince my husband that WG is serious! and he needs to be on the ball with things!

Sangye
05-27-2009, 09:06 PM
(Sometimes bruises heal by getting larger and looking worse first. Even so, until you know it's a bruise for sure-- gotta get a doc to look)

He might be in shock and denial. Everyone goes through that phase early on, but some tend to get stuck there longer than others based on their personality type. I think you've said before he tends not to get involved on his own behalf?

It's important that he "snap out of it" quickly, however. Especially since he's far from you, and because he's in a situation without Wegs specialists. (Not to mention one that encourages him to stay quiet and behave himself!) His life will depend on his ability to find his voice very quickly. No one can do this for him.

He can remain in denial and/or passive and watch parts of his body be permanently destroyed. That's a fact. Does he want to lose one or both kidneys? A limb due to gangrene? Does he want to live on oxygen his entire life because his lungs got so damaged? How about a tracheotomy? These are not remote chances, they are immediate.

I think telling him that and asking him to spend a couple hours reading the stories on this forum would do it. He needs to understand that it's HIS body to protect. Try all you might, but you can't do it for him. He will live with the damage, not you. In his life with Wegs, there will be many symptoms only he will know about-- most are not obvious to others. If he doesn't tell his docs, he could die from them.

Jack
05-27-2009, 11:13 PM
Good post Sangye. I have to agree with every word of it.

Most of the members of this site would have acted differently in the early stages of their illness if only they had had the knowledge.

Doug
05-28-2009, 01:44 AM
I can only add: Kick your husband in the butt (figuratively) and read him exactly what Sangye wrote. If it is a bruise, no problem. If it isn't, he doesn't want to let it go till Sangye's list describes his status. Get tough with him if you have to, and it appears you do. Here's the face you make: :mad: p.s. Amen to what Jack wrote. Both he and Snagye come to this forum with horrific medical histories, and speak with considerable authority on its treatment.

Macculloch
05-28-2009, 03:04 AM
OMG yes!....I have told him all this and ive told him he should start coming on here and talking to other people that have WG so he doesnt feel so alone...and has support...but he is so sluggish out there, and would rather watch sports on tv i guess....

I will keep trying! THANX!

Sangye
05-28-2009, 08:27 AM
I was diagnosed by my local pulmonologist. He drove me to the ER on my second visit, as it was clear I was dying from lung hemorrhage, which had been going on for 3 months by that point. We got the Wegs diagnosis on the way out of his office.

He was very compassionate, and came to see me every day, several times a day. He'd stay for an hour and we'd talk. Every time he saw me for that first week, he repeated like a parrot, "Wegener's is deadly. If you don't treat it, it's 100% fatal. It can kill you quickly. Without the treatment, you will die. If you do only some of the drugs or alter the treatment, you will die."

It was annoying, but it really helped me not sink into denial for one minute. I later learned he was so persistent because he'd lost a patient to Weg's a few months before me. She didn't know she had Wegs, and showed up at the ER in kidney failure. He was her ICU doc.