Need oxygen? Find out what you need to know
about hyperbaric oxygen therapy at Aspirus
Wausau Hospital. Call
800-847-4707
.
FOR MOST PEOPLE
,
noticing a
small crack or cut on their toe
wouldn’t be much cause for
concern—it’s likely to heal in a few
days. But for Jon Zwirschitz, the
small crack that developed on one
of his toes had him on the verge of
losing his entire foot.
Zwirschitz, who has diabetes,
went from having to deal
with what was seemingly an
insignificant cracked toe to facing
the possibility of having his left
foot amputated in a matter of
months. It all started when he
noticed his toe was not healing.
“About a week after I first
noticed the crack in my toe, I went
to the doctor because it didn’t
seem to be getting any better,”
says the 61-year-old Mattoon,
Wis., resident. “We tried some
different salves and medicine,
but nothing worked, and I dealt
with it always throbbing for nine
months.”
Zwirschitz’s doctor informed
him that his toe wasn’t healing
because of his diabetes, which
can cause circulation problems.
His foot was not receiving enough
blood flow to help his toe heal.
me that he had never seen one fail
so quickly,” Zwirschitz says. “Right
after that, the other four toes on
my foot became infected, and they
all had to be amputated.”
The second amputation
occurred just a month after he lost
his first toe, and now Zwirschitz
had only two options—restart
hyperbaric treatments and hope
that his body would heal after the
six-week oxygen therapy treatment
period, or amputate his entire
foot. It was an easy decision for
Zwirschitz, who did not want to
lose his foot.
“They told me that if I chose
amputation that I wouldn’t have
to do hyperbaric treatments, and
I told them ‘But I’ll have my foot,
and that’s important,’” he says. “I
told them I wanted to stick with
the treatments, and they said if
I want to keep fighting that they
would work with me.”
After
those nine
months passed
without any
improvement,
his toe became
infected, and doctors
had no choice but to
amputate.
Kick-Starting
the Healing Process
After his toe was removed,
Zwirschitz began hyperbaric
oxygen therapy at Aspirus in
an attempt to promote healing
after surgery. Hyperbaric
oxygen therapy treatments
over an extended period of
time can stimulate healing by
delivering oxygen in a pressurized
environment to tissues that aren’t
getting enough oxygen naturally
because of poor blood circulation.
Zwirschitz also underwent a
vein grafting procedure where
doctors attempted to reroute
blood flow in his leg to improve
circulation.
“Within a day or two, my doctor
could tell right away that the vein
graft had failed, and he even told
e
Healing Power
of
Hyperbaric
Oxygen
erapy
Jon
Zwirschitz
12
Pathways •
