The recent flu outbreak continued to ravage certain parts of the country this week, and for the second time in four days a Texas man was forced to have parts of his lower body amputated.
Joei Smith of northern Texas came down with the flu back in December and had been battling it for over a month. Smith told CBS affiliate WLTX 19 on Thursday that doctors are going to amputate all of his fingers and toes in order to keep him alive.
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“I got there at 12 a.m., and by 3 a.m., they were telling me I only had 24 hours to live,” Smith said when he was rushed to the hospital back on Dec. 29.
“From the flu came sepsis and pneumonia,” Smith said. “All the fingers are basically going to be amputated.”
The station reported that Smith’s hands and feet had turned black and blue as a result of the flu symptoms. Smith said the pain they caused was “devastating.”
Smith had to be treated for the flu, pneumonia, sepsis and kidney failure when he was rushed to the hospital. The medication they gave him caused a massive increase in blood pressure, hence the discolored extremities.
More than 50 people in Dallas County have died as a result of the flu outbreak. Smith isn’t even the first man in Texas to make headlines with an amputation this week.
Brian Herndon, a 51-year-old Father had to have his feet amputated on Wednesday after being admitted to a hospital in Forth Worth. He had contacted the flu back in early January, but went into septic shock on Jan.5 and had to be airlifted to a hospital on Dallas.
The shock caused blood clots to form in his extremities, and as a result he lost both of his feet and parts of both legs.
