Hello, my name is Amanda Phelps and I was very hesitant to put together this LFEBridge, even after requests and suggestions to do so. I felt like there are others out there in more need of support. I have come to realize, at this point, that our family also needs the support and prayer of others to make it through this rough time and relieve some of the stress in order to promote healing. My husband, Mike, had a small dime sized sore on his leg last October, from hitting his right calf on his truck. Is was painful and did not seem to heal. Within a month, we were in the emergency room to get some help for the pain, which only resulted in the doctors concern for his blood pressure levels. They said once the pressure came down, his leg would heal up. By the end of December, the wound had grown to silver dollar size and caused excruciating pain. He saw a wound doctor who sent us to a cardiologist due to his symptoms leaning towards peripheral artery disease (PAD). He was unable to sleep at night and was not able to put his leg up on the bed. The cardiologist performed an angiogram in January and found 1 artery having 100% blockage while the other 2 had 70-80% blockage. After this procedure, we were told that the wound should start healing with blood flow. 1 month later, Mike was sent to OSU Medical Center ER, to be admitted and evaluated over night due to extreme leg pain, chest pain, and wound pain. This resulted in another angiogram of the right leg a few days later. "The wound should start healing." Mike has continued to have regular visits with the cardiologist office, wound appointments weekly and biweekly, and started to see a dermatologist in May. By this time, in May, the wound had continued to grow to about 4 inches or more and is now almost bigger than my entire hand. The wound doctor and eventually the dermatologist diagnosed him with a rare autoimmune condition called pyoderma gangrenosum (PG). This is usually associated with having another autoimmune such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or Crohn's disease, of which he has not been found to have. They have been treating his PG with steroids, antibiotics, debriding creams, and CellCept (an immunosuppressive drug used to prevent organ transplant rejection). In Mid-June, Mike had a seizure like episode and was discovered to have a blood sugar of 896 and was diagnosed with steroid induced diabetes. He was sent from Bailey Medical Center ER to Hillcrest South and admitted for 4 days. After tapering off of the steroids over the next few weeks, he was thankfully able to completely come off of the insulin shots. That diagnosis had definitely tripled our stress and added another doctor to his list, our son's endocrinologist. Around that time, we had decided to get a 2nd opinion and start seeing a different wound doctor at Hillcrest. Through all of the visits with wound care and dermatology, there has not been the improvement they would expect to see with pyoderma. The wound, although the flesh looks somewhat better, continues to be at a stand still or slowly growing, and he is having continued swelling and ankle and calf pain. The dermatologist has decided to refer Mike to a different cardiologist at Oklahoma Heart Institute to check his blood flow. They have also referred him to a dermatologist at the OU College of Medicine in OKC. He was moved up to see the cardiologist today and had 3 tests that will be scheduled as soon as insurance approves them, followed by a possible heart calcium scan and vein procedure. The reasons for needed support come from the fact that Mike has been unable to work for the past 4 months, adding him to my school insurance has taken an extra $800 out of my paycheck monthly, all of his office co-pays are $50 or more and testing is even more expensive on our part. Our summer has consisted of a hospital stay and 2-3 doctor visits per week. He is on a total of 15 daily medications, which have copays ranging in price. I am in charge of changing and cleaning his wound bandages daily, which is also getting expensive. We are a family of 5, on a single income (teacher salary) until further notice on top of having a son with type 1 diabetes, that requires regular medications and devices. We are just asking for any support to help with the added stress this unexpected health journey has brought us. The medical bills are piling up, including full hospital stay and ambulance bills that show no insurance coverage at this point, and we are trying to still provide some normalcy for our kids as much as possible. Thank you for reading this long description and thank you for any donation or prayers.
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