So we need a new doctor. They could have been able to stop this infection. But they didn't. If they just let Yao rest for several games after Tmac came back, he may be OK now. Now who is responsible for this big loss?
I had it and it's fast! During the evening, I had stubbed my already injured toe. By noon the next day it was red, burning, and sensitive to the touch. The infection had taken hold. At that rate, by time the medication would be effective, it's another 24-48 hours (or more) of pain & suffering. Surgery gets it RIGHT THEN & elminates the risk of it spreading to other parts of the body. I had surgery. They cut open my toe, did whatever it is they do . . . scrape the infected bone, remove any infected tissue. This all happened in day surgery. I do not remember how long it took to get back on my feet.
But even JVG is not that smart. We were at those games before last a few minutes. The point is how the infection got to bone before the physician decided to do surgery. They claimed Yao has been on antibiotics. That's not jsutified. If oral antibiotics did not work in a few days, physician should give IV antibiotics and rest Yao, not waiting of rinfection spread to bone. They should be a little bit more aggressive. I am not sure whether it's physician did not exam Yao carefully, or JVG wanted more wins. It takes some time to develop Osteomyolitis from skin infection. And team physician is definitely responsible for monitor that daily.
Naaaaaah, Yao Ming had gone under a dose of antibiotics for a long long time and the infection had not gone away. His toe problem has been there for a long while, and in Chinese reports/articles, every time right after matches, he would have to soak and wash his feet/toe in ice water + antibiotics. And as explained by Tom Clanton, the physician that operated on his toe, the situation got worsen during the 6-game road trip when he had been stepped onto his toe several times (One noted incident: He got stepped on by Danny Fortson twice during the match with Supersonics). That could have torn up some cracks in his nail or tissues that let the bacteria creeked into the bone. It is very obvious that he had developed very acute, serious and probably a chronic Osteomyelitis that required surgery to clean the infected bone via scraping and irrigating the area and/or to remove any fragments of dead bone or tissue that may prolong the infection. Don't under-estimate Osteomyelitis, as when it become severe, it could end up in amputation. Luckily for Yao Ming's case, the infection now is restricted to his left toe only, and had not spread over to other parts of his left foot. http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid= 11642
Well, as I've said and confirmed from what Tom Clanton said, luckily for Yao Ming, the Osteomyolitis that had developed is of the least-severe level, and was only limited to the bone of his left toe, not yet spread to other parts of his left foot, and not severe enough to warrant an amputation.
Thanks, everybody, for the info on Yao's osteomyelitis. It sounds like a serious thing to have, especially the (apparently very slight) possibility of amputation. In view of all that, I'm with cenbo and scutmb: why weren't the Rocket doctors more aggressive in treating the infection? If Yao has had the infection for months, the docs should have concluded long ago that the antibiotics weren't working. Why did they take such serious risks with Yao's health and the Rockets' future?
okay, long post with lots of medical jargon coming up.... anyway, as a medical resident, let me just say that osteomyelitis is a difficult thing to diagnose especially if you have low suspicion for it in the first place in someone like yao... non-diabetic, no history of osteomyelitis, no fevers, able to play basketball, etc. the blood tests for it are "non-specific" meaning that if they are positive, it may be osteomyelitis, but it often isn't (like when a ref calls a foul on yao). routine x-rays to try and detect osteomyelitis aren't very "sensitive" meaning that that they may miss a lot of cases before they eventually pick up one (like a player with a low shooting percentage). and in terms of symptoms, not all patients manifest with the classical symptoms of acute osteomyelitis like fever, chills, bone pain, warmth and swelling of the affected area. yao's had problems with that toe for awhile IIRC and I guess the doctors thought it was due to some other problem rather than osteomyelitis. The thing is though, even if the x-rays were negative, they should have done a MRI (if they had any suspicion of osteomyelitis) which would have gave them the diagnosis since it has high sensitivity and high specificity. I dunno if Yao has any metal in his body... maybe he does and thats why they never did an MRI.
Just read an article quoting the captain of Yao team (Zhang Mingji) indicating that Yao is likely to play in the all star game. He thinks that Yao might begin training before the 6 week timeline. I guess that the optimistic return date for Yao probably will be one week before the ASG. I am speculating that he might return on Feb. 11th to play against the Jazz at home. If we can go 22-8 in the 30 games, we could get in the playoff race assuming that we can win 10-11 games before Yao returns.
According this Chinese article (by YangYi) http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2005-12-23/07161951370.shtml The infection was initially caused by the busting of a blister on his big toe. Damn, those Reebok shoes suck!
Does anyone read what I've been saying? My situation was *VERY* similar to Yao's. First the toe was injured (losing his toenail), then it was aggravated (Fortson stepping on his feet), then the infection set in. It happens very fast. When I hurt my toe the 2nd time, it took 12-14 hours before the infection was noticable & painful. My point of all this was the DOCTORS had no clue it would result in Osteomyelitis. They were treating something superficial & with the Fortson stepping, it aggravated it, allowing the infection to settle before you realize it was serious. Will Yao lose a toe? Not likely. They caught it early enough. Might his toe show some disfiguration? Probably. Mine is crooked & the nail is rough STILL & it has been almost 20yrs since I had Osteomyelitis.
Osteomyelitis did this to my left toe. Notice the scar, right in the middle & the roughness of the nail. When I injured my toe the 1st time, it was right at the base of the nail, right where the incision was made. So, Yao's might be where he had the blister . . . There is no pain, or anything else, except for the slightly off angle & just being a tad shorter . . .
Not quite like that Just kidding, I was taking a bite of a snack at the exact moment I came upon your pic. It caught me off guard I guess you can say.
