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I have had a nasty turn for the worse. I first reported trouble with the second toe on my left foot back in February, specifically with an ingrown toenail. The toenail had to be removed, and I was placed on antibiotics for the infection that had developed around it. I've been on antibiotics of one kind or another almost non-stop since then. The infection never did completely go away. I had Silvadene cream and other ointments prescribed. None of them totally wiped out the infection. In the past few weeks, the toe itself has become extremely painful to the touch. The infection was just a small spot on the outside, but the pain involved the skin covering the two end bones of the toe. My podiatrist had no explanation. A week ago, I began to experience swelling in both my legs from the foot to the knee. Walking became almost impossible. The podiatrist finally ordered a nuclear bone scan to see if anything was wrong with the bones of the toe itself. As it turns out, I have a bone infection. Osteomyelitis of the tip end bone and possibly the second bone. There's no way to confirm with a biopsy or MRI, since the bones are so small. He gave me two options - a referral to an infectious disease specialist, or amputation of the toe. I had an appointment with my regular doctor to discuss an upper respiratory infection later that same day, so I decided to let him consult on the decision. My doctor immediately recognized what was going on with my foot and legs, and connected the two. He said that the bone infection was causing the swelling (edema) in my legs. He prescribed a diuretic for the swelling, but couldn't do much about the pain since I'm already on oxycodone. He then checked out my mouth and throat and confirmed the upper respiratory infection, complicated by a case of thrush in my mouth (a fungal/yeast infection). He switched out my antibiotic to Augmentin and added Fluconazole tablets to my already huge mix. In the end, he ordered a stat referral to an infectious disease specialist in an attempt to save my toe. I'm hoping the referral comes as early as Monday. I doubt it will, but I'm going to ride them hard on the matter. This hurts too bad to leave it alone.