It has been 5 years since Travis Hayden-Rowe made this beautiful video celebrating 6 of our courageous patients' struggle with diabetic foot disease. 3 of them have passed away since. The diabetic foot is a marker for death but the wound isn't what leads to their demise. They die of heart attacks and strokes. We need to do more to recognize this fact and treat the factors that lead to this end. The presentation of the diabetic foot should not be just an opportunity to heal a wound but more so, a chance to alter that person's destiny by optimizing their cardiovascular risk factors. BP, chol, weight, exercise and smoking. Blood pressure and cholesrterol are easy to start. Drugs can manage most. The lifestyle modifications are harder but that is where our frequent contact with these patients while fixing their wounds, comes into play. We must use the huge amount of time we spend with them and our medical knowledge to educate the patient, deliver an understandable message, empower them and manage the root cause of the problem in front of us. Diabetes is a deadly disease. We need to do more to change that narrative.
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