A UK woman has undergone 55 surgeries after a simple scratch on her leg led to a severe infection. Now, she is imploring doctors to amputate her leg.
According to Wales Online, a woman named Michelle Milton, who hails from country Essex and is a mother of two, went on a fishing trip with her brother Martyn in 2019. On her first day of the trip, she slipped on some rocks. At that time, a nylon fishing line in her right pocket got stuck in her leg.
The simple scratch became infected, causing her leg to swell, and she also developed a fever. Four days later, she visited Basildon University Hospital in Essex.
The doctors tried to stop the infection, but her wound was resistant to antibiotics. It prompted the doctors to perform surgeries on her infected leg. This 40-year-old has undergone 55 surgeries, which include skin grafts, wound irrigation, and tissue removal. It all created a gaping hole in her inner leg, and she is highly resistant to antibiotics.
According to Wales Online, Milton says, “I never thought a fishing line could cause so much damage. I just want my leg off.” She also expresses that every day is filled with agony, and I've begged them to take it off. They keep cutting away at my leg. I can barely walk or sit down. There's going to be nothing left of me.
Milton said that in August 2019, when she first visited the emergency room, the doctors gave her antibiotics. The wound started to weep pus, so the doctors decided to do an X-ray on her leg. And they again sent her home with antibiotics. They had no idea what was going on; the pain grew, and the infection spread across her leg. The doctors just discharged her and prescribed antibiotics.
In December, she underwent a washout, which is a procedure to clean the open wound. But this procedure makes her wound wide open. She underwent 4 skin grafts, 30 washouts, and 21 debridements to remove the damaged tissue. But it can't stop the spread of infection.
Basildon surgeons, in October, completed a washout procedure, and to suck out the pus, they fitted the wound with a pump. The doctors also say that the infection is spreading down to her right leg, and if the infection continues, then she needs to amputate the leg. She also may develop a blood clot due to the ongoing infection.
Milton is a mom of a 17-year-old daughter and a 20-year-old son. She said, “I don't know how much more I can take. I haven't been a mom in years. My mom is doing everything for my kids." She said nothing seems to work, none of the treatments help at all, I can't believe a simple scratch had left me like this.
Currently, Milton is in the hospital. She is waiting for the results to confirm if she has developed a blood clot in her right leg.
(Input from various media sources)
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