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SATURDAY April 3 , 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels April 2, 2004 A meandering path to a cure By Steve Zimmerman Ashland Daily Tidings Lee Cornutt is one lucky man. Cornutt is a diabetic who, thanks to the work of several medical professionals, the right insurance and a lot of luck, was able to save his right foot from sure amputation. Cornutt said his tribulations started as just a blister on his right foot. "It started out as a blister on the ball of my foot," he said. "And being me, too stubborn to Photo by Satsuki Doi | Ashland Daily Tidings go to the hospital, I tried to home cure it and it got worse." Finally, it got bad enough that Cornutt had to go to the hospital on July 4 of 2002. That was when it was decided he would have to have surgery, which took place that day. "Dr. Morrison came in and did the surgery and that started the road to recovery," he said. "He had quite a bit of work. The wound was about three inches long, about an inch wide and about one-half inch deep. Being a diabetic, it took forever and a day to heal. In fact, there is still a little spot left." Cornutt's surgeon, Dr. Doug Morrison, talked about the surgery and what Cornutt faced when he became involved in Cornutt's case. "The surgery is called a debreedment, which means he had a large open ulcer with exposed bone, tendon and muscle," he said. "It was awful. It was one of the worst cases I have seen. "My attempt was to remove as much dead tissue as possible to get down to healthy bleeding tissue. And then, create an environment where new tissue can grow in." Morrison explained that diabetics have a hard time getting rid of dead tissue. Their blood supply is so bad that they don't have the capability to both heal and get rid of that dead tissue. So it has to be done surgically. Morrison said the surgery is less common today. "That is because diabetic care is so much better today than it used to be," he explained. "It is tedious because you have to go through the whole wound and clean things up. It is definitely not elegant surgery." And there was the possibility of losing some of the use of his foot due to the precarious nature of the surgery. "It was a big hole with no skin to cover it," Morrison said. "And skin is really important to protect and act as a barrier to keep infection out. He didn't have the barrier and he is a diabetic so his ability to fight infection is decreased." Morrison said the prognosis was bleak for Cornutt to save his foot from amputation. He added that he was surprised he has done so well. "He wasn't living in a very good environment," he said. "Most of the time you would like to keep people off their feet and let the wound heal. But here was a guy who has to do everything for himself. He didn't have the support mechanism a lot of people have." About a year ago, it got to the point that it was time to possibly take off Cornutt's foot. That is when an angel appeared in the person of Karen Adams and the nurses at the Wound Care Center. "Karen just made up her mind that she was going to fix it," he said. "And she did. I had a similar situation on my left foot but I was smart enough to take it right to Karen and she took care of it." When he found out he might have to lose his foot, Cornutt was devastated. "I am a professional driver," he said. "If I lost my foot, even though they say these new prosthetics are great, it wouldn't be the same. Without my foot, there is no life." Adams tried several types of bandaging with no apparent success. Finally, in near desperation, she tried a device called the Wound VAC. "It is a little package like a fanny pack," Cornutt said. "You have tubes running down your legs and under your foot that pulls all the drainage out of the foot and into this canister. You had to wear the darn thing 24 hours a day and what an ordeal that was." There were times when Cornutt considered having his foot amputated. "There were a lot of times when I was thinking that way," he said. "But then I said, 'No, I can't do that either.' Karen had put too many hours of her time in and so I said if I could get it healed it would help her to know what to do in other cases." And, having the Office of Medical Assistance Program, an advanced form of public health insurance, allowed the VAC to be used on Cornutt. On average, the VAC costs about $150 per day to use. He said the VAC unit, his insurance, and Adams saved his life. "Without that insurance allowing me to get the treatment I needed, I would say I would be dead," he said. "Karen is one of the most wonderful women ever placed on this earth. She has been 99 percent of my recovery. 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