This was no later than 7pm when a specialist doctor came in to see me. By this point I was in a hospital gown, with a catheter in, hooked up to roughly 5 IV lines, and breathing with assistance of an oxygen mask. I told the doctor I had likely overdosed on a research chmical which caused tremendous vasoconstriction. I directed them to my jeans I had worn in to the ER in which I had written down the chemical formula of the drug I feared caused the bulk of the damage.
DOC - 2,5-dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine
They had never heard of this before ever. They literally printed out the wikipedia page...
I was informed that my arteries and veins in my feet had collapsed on themselves. There was absolutely no detectable blood flow from my ankle down and very very little bloodflow from the knee to the ankle.
They werent sure what to do and it was becoming late so I was left in ICU overnight.
Between monday may 18th and tuesday may 19th my feet became exceedingly black from the toe to the ankle and the doctors feared the worst. I was finally convinced to notify my family by this point. After 48 hours of being in the intensive care unit.
My family is very religious and very much against drugs so I was much too embarrassed to call them prior...
By tuesday, I had nearly 15 IV lines in my arms pumping me full of every vasodilator, blood thinner, and whatever else they thought might save my feet. I was in incredible pain. Really starting to fear the worst now the specialist came in and told me nothing in the IV's was working, my veins and arteries were too far collapsed, and it was very unlikely my feet could be saved. By this point my calfs had become very swollen and bruised looking. I was developing compartment syndrome. My legs were filling with blood meant to go to my feet.
On Thursday May 21st, an emergency faschiotomy was performed on both legs to release the pressure and blood buildup. The surgery left me with 4 faschiotomy wounds, 1 on either side of my calf, on both legs. I was put back into ICU and was kept alive via 15 IV lines and an oxygen mask. I was continuously dosed with IV fentanyl for the pain for many days, closer to a week.
On Saturday May 23rd, I awoke in ICU to find my surgeon looking at my legs... He informed me the fashiotomy had not released enough pressure, the blood was continuing to build up, and I was scheduled for amputation of both legs from the knee down. The amputation would take place Monday May 25th at 11am. I cried all day the next two days..
Awaking from my fentanyl induced coma on monday, the day of my amputation. I was more than plesently surprised my the surgeon with good news. Sometime over the previous two days, my veins and arteries had shown improvement, and my amputation was cacelled in favour of increased drug intake to try and once again save my feet.
A miracle too place that night. The next morning I awoke with feeling in my feet and ability to wiggle my toes. The doctors were no word of a lie astounded and told me it didnt seem possible. They could not pinpoint what drug was doing the trick because they had given me over 55 different drugs via IV... They said they literally through the book at me. Dumbfounded how I had managed to improve, they told me my calfs had regained bloodflow almost overnight, and a small pulse was noted in my feet.