Beacon specialist creates path to healing for patient with long-standing foot pain

Catherine Pierce had all but given up on a stubborn foot wound that refused to heal after two long years of a seemingly impossible battle. After several doctors and failed treatments, she was ready to abandon hope. Then, a chance referral would lead to an unexpected solution and long-awaited relief for Catherine — so she could finally start living again.

A simple accident

One day about two and a half years ago, Catherine was looking after a few callouses on her feet, and she accidentally hurt her big toe. The resulting wound stubbornly refused to heal.

What made matters worse was Catherine’s struggle with neuropathy, a condition causing nerve dysfunction, which had progressively worsened over about eight years. As a result, she experiences numbness in her feet.

“I can’t tell you how many bandages I went through wrapping it up,” she says.

Catherine sought relief at a wound clinic, where she was told that she needed better shoes and for other callouses on her feet to be scraped. She did that for a while, but her wound didn’t improve.

She thought, “There’s got to be another way.”

A different physician suggested a treatment that involved treating the wound with collagen, but this led to an infection. Suggestions from other physicians didn’t make things worse, but they didn’t make things better, either. Catherine’s search for relief from her wound went on for well over two years. “It was hindering everything else I was doing,” she says. “It was painful. It limited my activities.”

A ray of hope

Not only was Catherine running out of places to seek help locally, but she was also beginning to run out of hope. Catherine tried one more wound clinic, where she was referred to Dr. Jonathan Abiera, foot and ankle surgeon at Beacon Bone & Joint Specialists.

Dr. Jonathan Abiera

Her first conversation with Dr. Abiera was like a breath of fresh air.

“His bedside manner was just wonderful. He just seemed like he was listening to everything I was saying,” she recalls. Best of all, he had a plan, immediately setting him apart from the other providers she had seen.

“Wound care and podiatry go hand in hand,” Dr. Abiera explains. “In wound care, you need to make sure the wound has enough blood flow, there is no underlying infection, a patient has proper nutrition and their medical diagnoses are controlled. In the setting of a wound on the bottom of the foot, you also need proper offloading.”

Offloading refers to reducing pressure on the wound; this pressure can prevent healing. “I have a great team at the wound care center, and our Nurse Practitioner, Brett Hooker, made sure all the proper testing was done prior to meeting Catherine,” Dr. Abiera says.

Catherine’s tests showed that she had no health conditions that would interfere with her healing, except for proper offloading.

“When I met her, the wound had been open for over two years. I was very upfront with her and told her we should try a few more conservative treatments, but if she does not make any progress, surgery was the next option,” Dr. Abiera explains.

Knowing that a lingering wound takes not only a physical toll on the patient, but an emotional one, Dr. Abiera wanted to act quickly. “I did not want to waste any more of her time.”

The surgical approach

After the conservative treatments were unsuccessful, Dr. Abiera suggested something Catherine wasn’t expecting: surgically removing part of a bone that was putting pressure on her toe.

“We run away from pain in our lives, but sometimes, pain is a good thing,” Dr. Abiera says. Foot pain is part of the natural system of checks and balances that tell your brain, there is too much pressure here. The body then makes adjustments, and typically, he says, a foot wound will heal on its own.

“With her nerve damage, normal walking caused her wound to worsen,” he says. “I recommended we alter the pressure point in her foot by removing a piece of bone. I assured her that she had a low risk of developing issues with healing a surgical incision on the top of her foot because it was not a pressure point.”

Catherine was skeptical about adding another wound to her foot. But his proposal seemed to be her best option, especially given that due to neuropathy, her nerves could not be fixed. Dr. Abiera was able to get her scheduled quickly, and two weeks later he performed the outpatient procedure on her foot.

An answer at last

Remarkably, just two weeks after the procedure, Catherine reported that her toe wound had already healed. “I keep feeling the bottom of my toe because I can’t believe it!” she says.

Now she’s looking forward to a special reward, something that wouldn’t have been possible without her foot healing. “I’m taking all eight of my grandchildren to Disney World,” she says with a smile. “I wanted them all to go there at the same time so they can experience it together.”

Catherine’s journey to this joyful celebration was long and winding, but she’s finally able to reclaim her life. Dr. Abiera is delighted for her. “Healing is always two ways. I’m so grateful that Catherine trusted me to help her when she had no hope.”

“My family and I love anything Disney,” he adds. “Knowing she is able to enjoy herself and create memories with her grandchildren is priceless. It was a pleasure treating her. Her kind words mean more to me than she knows.”

Catherine shares advice for others who might be losing hope — as she was before meeting Dr. Abiera. “If you’re not getting the results you need, keep trying until you find someone who listens,” she says, adding how Dr. Abiera even gave her a hug at the end of her treatment.

“I was giving up, but I found a miracle worker.”

Learn more

When your daily life and routines have changed because of bone fractures, joint, muscle or tendon pain, it’s time to see the experts. Beacon Bone & Joint Specialists provide expert orthopedic care while helping you get back to doing what you love.