Thu. Oct. 21 2004 5:59 PM ET
Health
N.S. woman baffled as flesh on hands, feet dies
CTV.ca News Staff
A medical mystery is confounding doctors in Halifax, where a woman is watching as flesh on her hands and feet die, and doctors can't say for certain what's causing it.
Margie Lamey of Thorburn, Pictou County, has had plenty of health problems over the years. She's had heart attacks that have led to open heart surgery, two kidney transplants, and has been on dialysis since April because of kidney failure.
About a month ago, her fingers started to turn black.
It started with a crack in the skin along the finger that was unbearably painful. No treatments worked and the problem only worsened.
Her family doctor had her hospitalized on Sept. 24. The illness has become so painful, she can no longer walk and needs a wheelchair.
"When I came in here, I could walk. Now look at me," she told ATV News in Halifax.
The skin on Lamey's hands and feet appears to be dying. Two biopsies have been done but nothing has been conclusive.
Her doctor now believes Lamey is suffering from a rare disease called calciphylaxis.
It's an illness linked to kidney disease, often afflicting patients who've had kidney transplants and are undergoing dialysis. But its cause in still unknown.
It's also highly fatal as the dying flesh can often lead to sepsis, or blood poisoning. Sixty to 80 per cent of patients don't survive.
Lamey will go home for a short visit with her husband this weekend and will be back in hospital Monday, hoping that doctors can finally give her some answers.
