Mario Camilleri

It all began in 2012 with an ulcer. After two days of pain, I asked my daughter-in-law, who is a masseuse, to massage my leg. She agreed, but after 20 seconds, she stopped and advised me to visit A&E at Mater Dei. I took her advice, and the first doctor who saw me brought a mirror to show me the bottom of my foot where I had a 4mm ulcer. Next came Mr. Said, who used his small finger to dig the ulcer to 10mm, then 50mm wide. All this without me feeling any pain. They immediately prepared to operate, and that day, they amputated two toes, the small one and the one next to it. The following day, Profs. Cassar visited and warned me that I might lose the whole foot because I had already developed gangrene. That was big news, but there was nothing I could do other than agree to the amputation. When I recovered, I looked at my bandaged foot and concluded it was still there. In fact, they had amputated all my toes.

Then, just four days after my operation, a nurse woke me up at 1 AM in the morning and told me that they were taking me for some tests. I had an ultrasound and CT scan, and they discovered a 10mm stone in my kidney. In the morning, Profs. Cassar and Mr. Zammit told me that the stone needed to be removed. I agreed immediately, but it was not so simple. Because of my condition, I could have a heart attack, a kidney attack, thrombosis, or all of them, and I would not survive the ordeal. I asked the doctors whether they advised having the surgery, and they agreed that I should because I was like a time bomb.

Thankfully, everything went well with the kidney stone removal. It took 15 months of frequent visits to the Tissue Viability Unit and Paola Health Center for my foot to heal completely. Here, I'll stop for a moment to thank the staff for their devotion.

After the amputation, I was referred to VARU at St. Luke's Hospital, and the first words I told Simon, my physiotherapist, were, "Good morning, Simon, I want to walk again." He looked at me in the eyes and replied that if I followed his instructions, I would walk. And indeed, eventually, I did walk. Four months later, I took the first step. Thank you, Simon Cilia!