Diabetic limb salvage, in plain language

Limb salvage is not a slogan. It is a sequence of ugly, practical decisions: is there pus, is there bone, is there blood flow, can this tissue take a stitch, and can this person stay off the wound long enough for any of that to matter.

I spent 11 years in the Wound Healing Center at Memorial Pembroke. Dr. Liliana Heath spent 8. We still take cases that arrive with someone else’s note that the leg is a lost cause. Sometimes they are right. Often they have not tried external fixation, aggressive offloading, or a vascular conversation that should have happened two months earlier.

Ilizarov training in Kurgan was not a vacation. External frames let us stabilize bone and protect soft tissue when internal hardware would sit in a dirty field. That is a specific tool for a specific mess.

If you or a parent has diabetes and a wound that has been “watched” for weeks, do not wait for a primary-care slot. Call the office. Bring a list of medications, recent A1c if you have it, and the shoes you actually wear — not the pair in the closet.

We work across Memorial Regional, West, Pembroke, Miramar, South, and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. If you need the hospital, we already have privileges there.