It started on a Monday morning. Patrick Hughins awoke to red splotches and shooting pain running down his lower right leg. Confused by the seemingly out-of-nowhere rash, he went to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, where he was prescribed some pain medication and antibiotics.
Patrick went home that night and awoke Tuesday morning with worsened pain. By that afternoon, he was calling an ambulance. “I couldn’t walk. It had swelled up so much I couldn’t move it,” Patrick recalls.
By the time he arrived back at St. Mary’s, Patrick’s leg had swelled to twice its normal size. “My leg kept swelling and getting bigger and bigger,” Patrick says.
The hospital contacted Great Basin Orthopaedics’ Dr. Richard Hayes. After assessing Patrick’s condition, Dr. Hayes ordered an MRI and ultrasound and subsequently recommended surgery.
“Patrick’s condition was an atypical presentation of infection, blood and fluids pooling in the lower leg causing intensive swelling and pain,” Dr. Hayes explains. “Without timely treatment, the muscles could have died. We don’t see infection in this manner often, but whatever the cause, surgery is required to control it and restore normal blood flow.”
Patrick was eventually released from the hospital and is able to walk on his right leg once again. Despite some residual swelling, he is in much better spirits today.
“Dr. Hayes saved my life,” says Patrick. “I tell him that every time I go and see him. He’s great.”