A British man has revealed that his wife refused to sleep in the same bed with him because his toes kept falling off after losing circulation. Simon Charlesworth from Bridgend in Wales was admitted to a local hospital a few years ago after a flu infection progressed into pneumonia and later sepsis, Wales Online reports. While he ultimately survived, the aftereffects of his health challenges are still being felt.
- Charlesworth spent 10 days in an induced coma. He became so ill that doctors had no choice but to place him in a coma to allow his body to heal and try and help him. When he did awake, he was sent to intensive care for a full month as he continued to recover. Thankfully, he escaped with his life, but that doesn’t mean his health was completely restored. In fact, he’s still seeing the aftereffects of his illness even now.
- His wife just couldn’t bear some of the aftermath. As Charlesworth revealed, his wife couldn’t bear sleeping in the same bed with him once he was released from hospital as his toes kept falling off! “My wife refused to sleep in the same bed as me as she didn’t want to wake up with a detached toe beside her,” the 61-year-old recalled. “Some have come off in my hand while applying antiseptic lotions, some in bed and, by far the worst, some have come off in the shower. Can you imagine putting your socks on in the morning and thinking ‘I’m sure that toe was there last night’?”
- This isn’t as rare as you’d think. If you’re wondering how someone’s toes could just fall off out of nowhere, you’re not alone. However, this isn’t as hard to understand as you might think. “I remember looking down at my toes and wondering why someone had put black finger bobs on them,” he recalled of waking up from the coma. “At some point when I was in a coma my blood pressure dropped and they gave me [medication] to increase it rapidly again. But in doing so it pushed blood towards the organs while starving the extremities – it’s basically like suffering frostbite. The soles and heels of my feet came off all bar an inner layer of soft skin, my fingers peeled, my nose peeled, but luckily it was just my toes which got it really badly.” How crazy is that?!
- His first toe came off four months after he got home. When Charlesworth finally got to come home from the hospital in April 2018, all of his toes were black but still attached. That all changed about four months later when the first one fell off. “The actual falling off bit was not painful. I used to have a shower every day and then spray all my toes with antiseptic to try and stop any infections. The toe came off as I was rubbing it with Germolene,” he said. “It was a shock more than anything else. Even though my toes were in a terrible state I still wasn’t expecting it to happen.” By December 2019, all 10 of them had fallen off.
- He never would have expected he’d get so sick. Prior to his hospitalization, things were going well for Charlesworth. He was well on his way to becoming a teaching assistant when all of a sudden, things went terribly wrong. “I’d just started the practical side of a teaching assistant’s course for a local primary school. I was into my second week of that [when I became unwell],” he said. “I woke up one morning and I felt like I had the flu. I thought I’d have a shower and see how I felt afterwards but I ended up pulling down the shower curtain. My wife came home in the afternoon from work and found me virtually unconscious on the bed in the spare room.” Despite the difficulties he’s experienced, thankfully he’s still alive!
