health

Hi! I'm the OP of this. I lost my leg because of a clumsy accident. In 2013 I tripped walking into my kitchen, and cut my foot on a piece of tile (we were redoing the floor, and only had half the room done). I ended up in the hospital for about a week with an infection. Two weeks after getting out of the hospital, I suddenly got a fever that spiked so quickly, and got so high, I couldn't remember my own name. I was in the hospital that time for 84 days. This second infection got out of control. To this day, they don't know why or technically what it was (on record it's a severe case of cellulitis), but within twelve days of being admitted, I started getting small blisters from my toes to my knee. At thirty days, I was running a fever almost every night (fine during the day), and had lost feeling in half my leg. By sixty days, the blisters had ruptured and I had bigger blisters in some areas, and holes in other areas. They did a surgery where they basically shaved my skin off, thinking that would stop the blistering. Which it did. Once they did that, I was able to go home. But what should have taken a few weeks to heal, took almost a year. I had infections off and on throughout the year, and was on antibiotics at least once a month, every month. In December of 2014, I got a cut on that same leg. Within a week, it was blistered up again. I was back in the hospital, and back on heavy antibiotics. At this point, I had massive nerve damage in the leg, and couldn't feel most of; what I could feel was painful. I'm 28, and there were days when I couldn't walk, because every step felt like I was splitting my skin apart. They never got these blisters under control. The blistering never went past my knee. There was almost a line where they stopped, around my leg. I've had cuts on other parts of my body without an issue, so we don't why this happened or what technically caused it. When they couldn't get the blistering under control, they upped the antibiotics. When I started to show signs of kidney failure, we discussed options. I was able to keep my knee, but lost the leg a few inches below it. I don't have a prosthetic yet, and for the most part I'm okay with it. It's not pain free, but it's not like it was before. One of my brothers, from the minute I woke up from surgery, has been calling me Peggy (my name is not even close lol), but it's all in fun. To keep my spirits up. I'm not overweight, not diabetic and was never really sick until this. It just happened. I guess sometimes things just happen.

Hello everyone! Yes I do have insurance, but the last time a friend of mine needed an ambulance the bill was still over $1500 after insurance. Also yes, in America you do have to pay when you go to the hospital. Luckily the water park just so happened to be built directly next to a fire station, so they just wheeled me over there and treated me on site. I was very dehydrated, and when I blacked out I was actually in line to get a water from the concession stand but I had been waiting in line for over 30 minutes in the heat which didn't help.

Thank you all for the support! I would've never thought that this would get published. I first wanted to point out that we were on vacation out of state, very expensive vacation with a very expensive meal. Although that doesn't excuse his remarks/actions, I can see why he was in a bad mood. We had a pretty tense "vacation", there were a lot of people everywhere, foreigners that couldn't speak English, and a lot of things that my parents aren't open minded towards. I constantly have to remind my parents that "there is nothing you can do about it so don't worry about it". The comments you guys left were hilarious and I'm thankful for the ideas you gave - even if it wasn't the most serious.

OP here. Thank you guys and girls for all this amazing support! I am truly humbled. #17, I have read and re-read your message. Thank you so very much. #108, Congratulations to your mom! It is always great to hear of other people's success. #134, 49 days and going strong. Well done! Take it one day at a time. To everyone I haven't mentioned, please know that I have read all of your comments, and I will continue to read them every day. It is support like this that keeps me going during the difficult and dark times.

My coach just sent back question marks. I'm pretty sure I'm more embarrassed than my mom.

I tend to walk my dog at night, when there are fewer distractions and prejudiced people around to have to deal with. I like to think she keeps the shady figures away when she stops and growls as we pass dark alleys and side passages.