Hot spot that ended in a hospital stay.

I post this as a cautionary warning to others. I really hope no one ever has to go through what I did a few weeks ago because it was absolutely no fun and could have totally been avoided if it was not for my stupidity and ego. I got a new pair of shoes for Christmas :) and was excited to start wearing them and breaking them in. All was going well but I noticed that a hot spot on my heal was starting to form. It would always hurt when I put my shoes on at the beginning of a gym session and walking around between boulders but it always miraculously went away after 15 minutes or so. I did not pay much attention to it because even though it was agonizing and caused me to limp it always seemed to quickly go away as the shoes warmed up. I continued pushing through this pain for far too long and eventually, the hot sop on my heal ended up popping and becoming an exposed wound. For some reason despite quite obviously looking raw I stupidly did nothing. Over the next few days the dry winter air and the wound being constantly reopened nullifying any healing that was taking place. Ok ok now actually getting to the point. I woke up one morning and there was a bright red stripe from the wound on my heel all the way up to my inner thigh. Further, I could not put any weight on my leg as doing so send agonizing pains up my leg and the red infection stripe itself was painful to the touch. I was prescribed an antibiotic by my doctor. This however did nothing to stop the infection and I had to go to the ER. I had cellulitis caused by either staph or strep bacteria. There they put me on an IV and I needed to stay the night (so scary because of COVID). Thankfully they found an antibiotic that worked and in 24 hours my leg got much better and I was able to go home. I now make sure to be EXTRA careful with covering anything on my feet that could lead to a similar infection. 

TLDR: treat your feet well and cover any exposed wound because hospital stays and IVs are never fun!

Dude, your lucky you didn't lose your foot, or even your leg. Lots of antibiotic resistant bacteria out there that will kill you if you aren't careful. 

gross

Sounds like you walked around barefoot at the gym with a split blister on your foot. An someone else at the gym had a skin infection, and you stepped somewhere that they stepped. 

This isn't really so much about foot injuries, as it is just paying attention to exposed wounds in general, and covering them up when you exercise. 

This is a super common issue in mixed martial arts. I've gotten skin infections twice from this exact thing. Once was really bad because I took awhile to go to the doctor. They lanced my hand three times. They said I would've lost it if I waited a couple more days.

Edit; showering is huge. If you shower right after exercising, then you have a very small chance of developing skin infections. 

Dude, crazy.

I had a friend who developed a bad case of trench foot while camping -  an infection set it, somewhat like you described, shooting red streaks up from the foot, total inability to put weight on it. IV & hospital stay, and the doctor said the same thing Buck said - lucky you still have your foot. He also developped that out of a bad habit he had that eventually led to a minor injury becoming much worst.

Glad you managed to get care on time...

It's not the hot spot that caused the ER visit, it's the refusing to dress the wound for days after. 

Even in a healthy young person, there is always a chance that any break in the skin can result in cellulitis, and cellulitis is almost always staph/strep. I had it happen about 10 years ago in my crotch after I had a chafing situation from spending too much time hanging out and drinking beer in a wet swimsuit. It hurt a lot. A few days of Bactrim + Keflex and I was right as rain. Luckily, my johnson didn't fall off.

Did you need that hospital stay? The evidence says probably not, unless you have diabetes or are immune suppressed. It takes about 24-48 hours for cellulitis to respond to antibiotics and the odds are that you would have improved on the oral antibiotics from your PCP, unless they chose something woefully inadequate. That said there's always a chance things get worse and I'm glad you're doing better.

Jimmy Downhillinthesnow wrote:

Even in a healthy young person, there is always a chance that any break in the skin can result in cellulitis, and cellulitis is almost always staph/strep. I had it happen about 10 years ago in my crotch after I had a chafing situation from spending too much time hanging out and drinking beer in a wet swimsuit. It hurt a lot. A few days of Bactrim + Keflex and I was right as rain. Luckily, my johnson didn't fall off.

Did you need that hospital stay? The evidence says probably not, unless you have diabetes or are immune suppressed. It takes about 24-48 hours for cellulitis to respond to antibiotics and the odds are that you would have improved on the oral antibiotics from your PCP, unless they chose something woefully inadequate. That said there's always a chance things get worse and I'm glad you're doing better.

This could be a new frontier in online gambling

Zach L wrote:

This could be a new frontier in online gambling

There are lots of clinical trials of IV vs oral antibiotics for cellulitis, so I guess there's probably a way to gamble on that? It takes a lot for me to admit a healthy young person for cellulitis--so maybe this dude just looked like shit when he came in (sorry, OP), or he's got some health problems, or the doc he saw was just old school.

That said I have met one person who got a small scrape on his elbow hiking in Hyalite which rapidly progressed to necrotizing fasciitis and multi-system organ failure. He survived after the surgeons lopped off all four of his limbs, but he later had bilateral hand transplants, so that's kinda cool. 

Mx Amie wrote:

It's not the hot spot that caused the ER visit, it's the refusing to dress the wound for days after. 

You also don't need to go to the ER for this. I went to a clinic that's connected to a hospital for my hand infection. I cant remember what they're called, but it's becoming more and more popular (and they have a name for them). The IV antibiotics were injected into me in the hospital itself. I went back two more time for the lancings, the first lancing had like 1/4 cup of puss come out of my hand. I was super fortunate, and got a brand new antibiotic 100% free thanks to my insurance. It would've been $6000 without insurance, and the doctor said that very few insurance plans covered the medication. If it didnt get approved, I would've had to go for 5 or 6 one hour IV sessions with a different medication. Slept at home the whole time

It all started from a TINY cut where my pinky connects to my palm. 

put a bandaid on my heel goby after reading this thread lol

Jimmy Downhillinthesnow wrote:

He survived after the surgeons lopped off all four of his limbs, but he later had bilateral hand transplants, so that's kinda cool. 

I'd like to add this to the list of nominations for the least silver of all silver linings.

Did you return the shoes to REI ?

Imagine losing your leg because your not willing to admit your shoes don't fit right.  

Jimmy Downhillinthesnow wrote:

That said I have met one person who got a small scrape on his elbow hiking in Hyalite which rapidly progressed to necrotizing fasciitis and multi-system organ failure. He survived after the surgeons lopped off all four of his limbs, but he later had bilateral hand transplants, so that's kinda cool. 

Are you talking about William Lautzenhiser?

https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/arm-hand-transplant-lautzenheiser

PNW Choss wrote:

Imagine losing your leg because your not willing to admit your shoes don't fit right. properly care for an open wound.

FTFY!

Jimmy Downhillinthesnow wrote:

Even in a healthy young person, there is always a chance that any break in the skin can result in cellulitis, and cellulitis is almost always staph/strep. I had it happen about 10 years ago in my crotch after I had a chafing situation from spending too much time hanging out and drinking beer in a wet swimsuit. It hurt a lot. A few days of Bactrim + Keflex and I was right as rain. Luckily, my johnson didn't fall off.

Did you need that hospital stay? The evidence says probably not, unless you have diabetes or are immune suppressed. It takes about 24-48 hours for cellulitis to respond to antibiotics and the odds are that you would have improved on the oral antibiotics from your PCP, unless they chose something woefully inadequate. That said there's always a chance things get worse and I'm glad you're doing better.

It sounds like the "stripe " going up the leg might have been lymphangitis as a complication of cellulitis. A lot of centers will treat lymphangitis as an indication for admission and observation on IV antibiotics.

The Traddest Dad wrote:

It sounds like the "stripe " going up the leg might have been lymphangitis as a complication of cellulitis. A lot of centers will treat lymphangitis as an indication for admission and observation on IV antibiotics.

Yes, it was the concern of lymphangitis the caused the admission. Also, I am really glad that this cautionary tale is making some others treat their feet better because I would hate to have anyone go through what I have!

Size your shoes properly next time. New shoes aren’t supposed to hurt your feet in any way or cause blistering. 

Similar story, w/ work shoes. Spot on top of foot-didn’t do anything except wear looser shoes. Boss asks what’s wrong-tells me to call doc ASAP. Doc says no room-it’s Friday, so I set it for Monday. Boss follows up-doesn’t like answer. Call doc back-says come right in. They point out multiple red veins up my shin to knee-which I hadn’t seen looking down. 4 days of quarantine, blood draws every 2 hrs, binge watched Law & Order, on Valentine’s weekend. Dress your wounds and monitor them!

Marc801 C wrote:

Are you talking about William Lautzenhiser?

https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/arm-hand-transplant-lautzenheiser

They made a movie about it! Stumped! No that not one: