PATIENT FOCUS

Last summer, 17-year-old Kyle was helping his uncle and cousin lower and install a steel fire pit with a come-a-long and chain when all 2,000 pounds of it started tipping. Kyle tried to compensate by pulling it to one side when it slipped bringing the full weight of the fire pit down on his foot.

After five heart-wrenching minutes, they were able to free his foot, but the damage had been done. The massive weight of the fire pit had broken all of the metatarsal bones in his foot.

Kyle’s doctor, Timothy Flock, MD, of Lewiston Orthopaedics performed surgery to relieve the pressure in his foot. It was revealed he had compartment syndrome, which is increased pressure in a muscle compartment, as a result of his crush injury. Without treatment, it can lead to muscle and nerve damage and problems with blood flow. In severe cases like Kyle’s, if the pressure lasts long enough, the muscles may die and the limb may need to be amputated.

Dr. Flock referred Kyle to Tri-State Hospitals’ Wound Healing Center because he feared the wound would have trouble healing on its own and was concerned that he would have to have his foot amputated.

The staff at the Wound Healing Center knew that beginning treatment immediately was critical to saving Kyle’s foot and opted to do so even though insurance approval hadn’t been received yet.

After Kyle began receiving wound healing treatments, including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, his mom Angie says “the foot actually began to heal very quickly and we didn’t have to do surgery. I believe this saved his foot.”

The staff at Tri-State is “absolutely the most professional, caring, wonderful crew I have ever seen or worked with. I work in a hospital setting and being an EMT I have been in and out of a lot of different facilities. Tri-State, as a whole, has always been one of our entire crews’ favorite places to transfer to. They are across the board the best. The Wound Care Center is no exception.”

Kyle has recovered fantastically and has avoided having another surgery to plate and pin the broken bones since they have lined themselves up and begun to repair adequately on their own. He has full use, strength and movement with his foot and is pain free.