Dragging Feet, Pulling Legs, Etc. - UPDATED

This morning at the crack of dawn I visited an orthopedist selected by my PCP. According to him, old and new X-rays combined indicate that my right foot and ankle should be amputated below the knee. I asked about alternatives; like most surgeons, he was contemptuous of nonsurgical options. He said modern medicine could drag out the process of losing the foot for years, nonetheless losing it in the end, whereas an amputee stands a reasonable chance of returning to something of a normal life within a year. Hmph, said I, and thanked him for his candor.

I immediately sought advice from my PCP, the aforementioned Dr. B. He promptly suggested another option that needs to be investigated, and is attempting to arrange me affordable admission for a major hospital's wound care center, which also deals with diabetes-related injuries. Tomorrow (Friday) I meet with their admissions department to determine what kind of deal we can strike for self-pay. If we agree, I will be admitted immediately to begin stabilization and attempted disinfection of my increasingly messed-up foot. That suits me, because even getting from room to room at home is nearly impossible right now. I have a pretty good borrowed walker and a really heavy, almost unusable rental wheelchair in house; I presume I'll take the first of those with me in case I'm admitted, and I'm resisting dumping the wheelchair in the bayou (instead returning it and finding something more suitable).

Which brings me to the YSS. I doubt I'll be able to post it from Memorial Hermann hospital; I have no wifi privileges there that I know of, and I doubt a daily list of my complaints would be of much interest anyway. If I come back home tomorrow, you'll hear from me that night. If not, I could be gone three weeks or more. I presume y'all will take care of things for me.

I know it's not yet Friday, but note that Samantha is getting very finicky about taking some of her medical treatments. She's been exceptionally sweet to me lately; keep your fingers crossed for her well-being as well as mine.

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UPDATE: the new doc at the hospital's wound care center says the wound is completely healed (yay!) but that he is not an orthopedist, and I need one of those to determine what I really should do. He did offer one observation: the original orthopedist was waaaay premature and overbearing in insisting on immediate amputation unless my life was in serious danger; that he needed far more info to make that determination, and that I should never be bolted into such a decision in such haste... and with so little basis. I'm glad to know that more of the medical profession is sane than not. (Some of these guys have offered unsolicited opinions... on health care reform, unasked by me. So far, no one backs Obama's version, but some object for my reasons and some for reasons that sound as if they came from a Tea Party mailer.)