[coffeebuzzbuzz]

**Warning: Gross Medical Descriptions**

My neighbor is wheelchair bound because he is missing a leg. I never talked to him much, but my bf has. He found out that he was in the navy during Vietnam. I assumed that is how he lost his leg.

Well, last week an ambulance took him to the hospital. My other neighbor keeps an eye on him a little, but wasn't able to for a few days. Somehow his organs started to fail(it might be because he is diabetic) and he has been hospitalized since. I don't want to be nosy, so I am not pressing her for more info than what she says. She first told me his daughter never visits him at his apartment. So I thought, wow he is so neglected. Then she told me he was covered in maggot filled bed sores. I was like wow, he is really neglected! At some point I said something about him being injured in the war. She said, oh no he has only been amputated for seven years. Apparently he had an ingrown toenail that got so infected it became gangrene. He let it spread up his leg. She said it was because he hates doctors.

Ok, now I'm wondering why would someone let themselves go to that point? I have had plenty of ingrown toenails, some infected, but I aways eventually get them taken care of. 1) an ingrown toenail alone Hurts Horribly and 2) I don't want to lose even just a toe.

I'm assuming a decaying limb would hurt like hell, be impossible to move with, and smell awful. How could someone live like that? And how long would that take?

I'm sorry if this is too much. I tried googling this with no results. I am just a curious person, and confused about a fear of something as bad as this.

[pegasus]

I woud think that the person has diabetes, people with diabetes have to take extra care of their feet due to the effects of their illness and circulation issues. Often times someone with diabetes cannot feel their feet very well so if they stub their toe or have an ingrowing toe nail, they cannot feel that. So it can actually be easy for someone to have to have an amputation if their diabetes is not controlled very well.

Other than that there are many people who hate going to the doctor and mental health issues (self neglect is part of many psychological issues) that would stop someone seeking medical attention.

[coffeebuzzbuzz]

I could see that, except he waited til his entire leg from below the knee had gangrene before he got help. I guess I don't see how someone could put up with that kind of pain. :/

[*Laurie*]

My husband is a Vietnam vet, my BIL is a Vietnam vet, and I know loads of Vietnam vets. I cannot think of a single exception to V-vets having major issues with authority figures, including doctors. As a group, it seems to me that, to a dangerous degree, V-vets resist getting healthcare.

Also, I've noticed that most V-vets have a built-in belief about 'manning up' to excess...for example, my husband will be thirsty on a hot day, but will flatly refuse to drink water because 'in Vietnam we had to ration water'. Well, Vietnam, for my husband, was 47 years ago. But he still carries the brainwashing he received with him- in full force.

From your description, I'm pretty sure your neighbor has PTSD, just as most Vietnam vets do. Their minds were insidiously bent during that war. It's easy to judge, but let me tell you...those guys' heads were seriously messed with.

[healingme4me]

Well, as to why someone would allow their health to reach such a level. I think that it's really complicated.
Something similar happened to my exbf's father. He used to patrol one of the highways here, back when they patrolled, so the story went. He'd stepped on a tack, and hadn't realized there was an infection. There's always been a sense of "I'm tough, I can treat it myself." In society. My grandparents grew up in an era where one didn't just didn't buy health insurance and doctors housecalls were pricey. Not that in today's day and age people don't self diagnose all over the internet.
So back to the exbf's father, whom I had grown quite close to, I'd call him Dad, he'd call me Daughter.
Yes, there was diabetes, but which came first, the infection or diabetes? I'd seen the gangrene. Seen the amputation (s). Visited the rehab as he learned to walk on prosthetic leg(s). I remember the dialysis and the eventual kidney transplant. I saw how easy it is, once one's health reaches that point, it's an uphill battle. Not that he didn't have positive energy. I remember being the last person he spoke with on the phone before coma. And saying soothing words to his fear.
It's easy, so to speak, to battle depression with health issues.
Sores happen from not moving and bathing. Sounds like depression.

[Thunder Bow]

He needs to be placed in a skilled nursing facility. It is to risky to leave him living all alone.

[HeavyMetalLover]

Originally Posted by LauraBeth

My husband is a Vietnam vet, my BIL is a Vietnam vet, and I know loads of Vietnam vets. I cannot think of a single exception to V-vets having major issues with authority figures, including doctors. As a group, it seems to me that, to a dangerous degree, V-vets resist getting healthcare.

Also, I've noticed that most V-vets have a built-in belief about 'manning up' to excess...for example, my husband will be thirsty on a hot day, but will flatly refuse to drink water because 'in Vietnam we had to ration water'. Well, Vietnam, for my husband, was 47 years ago. But he still carries the brainwashing he received with him- in full force.

From your description, I'm pretty sure your neighbor has PTSD, just as most Vietnam vets do. Their minds were insidiously bent during that war. It's easy to judge, but let me tell you...those guys' heads were seriously messed with.

I thought the same thing about it possibly having something to do with PTSD, myself , when I read the OP. I have a few friends & family that are V-vets. One of them has pretty severe flashbacks and I'm short with black hair. Anyway, one night, he had a flashback and thought I was Vietkong (sp?) He used to be Delta Force so he's dangerous when in the midst of a flashback. He had me tied up in a chair with a gun to my head before I could get him to snap out of it with help.

Basically, I screamed my head off that I was a friendly until another friend , who heard me, and is also a V-vet, talked him down. Very scary stuff... and it took A LOT of coaxing to get him professional help for his PTSD. He's doing much better now, but my heart really goes out to these vets. Our vets coming back from the Iraq/ Afghanistan areas are also dealing with some major PTSD issues. They are dealing with some seriously ****ed up stuff!! They also, though not to the same degree, are dealing with a public that doesn't appreciate them at all when they come back home. And they're just kids, most of them!!

Wow, I kinda jumped on my soapbox there. Sorry for that.

[*Laurie*]

Originally Posted by HeavyMetalLover

I thought the same thing about it possibly having something to do with PTSD, myself , when I read the OP. I have a few friends & family that are V-vets. One of them has pretty severe flashbacks and I'm short with black hair. Anyway, one night, he had a flashback and thought I was Vietkong (sp?) He used to be Delta Force so he's dangerous when in the midst of a flashback. He had me tied up in a chair with a gun to my head before I could get him to snap out of it with help.

Basically, I screamed my head off that I was a friendly until another friend , who heard me, and is also a V-vet, talked him down. Very scary stuff... and it took A LOT of coaxing to get him professional help for his PTSD. He's doing much better now, but my heart really goes out to these vets. Our vets coming back from the Iraq/ Afghanistan areas are also dealing with some major PTSD issues. They are dealing with some seriously ****ed up stuff!! They also, though not to the same degree, are dealing with a public that doesn't appreciate them at all when they come back home. And they're just kids, most of them!!

Wow, I kinda jumped on my soapbox there. Sorry for that.

Yes, we keep repeating war and keep having messed up vets. Vietnam vets, though...they really had the cards stacked against them in so many ways. A horrifying war that was never declared a war, very little support from the U.S. & other nations, and not even being recognized as veterans until at least a decade after Vietnam ended (after all, 'Vietnam wasn't like WWII!'). The Vietnam war situation was really a mess, a serious blight on our country's history - and I fear that as time passes, Americans have either forgotten or have never learned (younger Americans) how severely Viet vets suffer with PTSD.

Your example of your friend who mistook you for VC (Vietcong) is very typical.

I have little doubt that PTSD (and the self-destructiveness that often accompanies it) plays a role in the sad story coffeebuzzbuzz shared. And I'm not sure that many people really understand the depth of mental health hell most Viet vets live with.