Miracle Max: Leg Wound and Sepsis Case

Warning: This article contains graphic wound images. Viewer discretion advised.

I was sitting in the house one morning trying to get motivated to comb my hair and go to work when my phone rang. It was my receptionist. “Doctor Jones, you’d better come out here.” My morning commute is about 30 feet. I left the house and walked over to the clinic to see what was up. What I saw was a young chocolate lab with the most grizzly wound I have ever seen in twenty years of veterinary practice. “Max” had been riding in the back of his owner’s pick up. He was tied up, which is a good thing, but he had too much rope…bad thing. He had just enough rope to go over the side of the truck bed and hang there. Being a 5 month old lab with limited brain function (it is a well-established scientific fact that the labrador brain does not begin to operate until the age of two) over the side of the truck bed he went. The owner who was slightly “over lubricated” did not notice Max’s predicament. The poor dog’s back leg got tangled up with the truck’s tire. It was a long time before the inebriated owner noticed. When he did notice, he rushed Max…home…so he could go on a three or four day drinking binge before going to the vet.

By the time I saw Max he was in real trouble. All the flesh and 1/4 of the bone on the inside of his leg between knee and ankle was gone. The remaining bone was completely flat as if someone had taken a large belt sander to the leg. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Max also had a fever of 106 degrees and was septic. When I pinched the end of Max’s toe, he weakly pulled up the leg. He had some other significant nerve deficits…couldn’t tell whether his foot was upside down or right side up, but the fact that he pulled it away gave me hope that there was enough functional wiring  to keep him from dragging the leg. I told the owner what the cost and commitment would be to try to save Max and he elected to give him to me and go away. He is currently enjoying the hospitality of the State of Idaho for serial DUI.

Now, in a case like this, modern medicine has two solutions, amputation or euthanasia. The tissue loss was just too extensive for any sort of surgical solution or grafting. Because of previous successes with wounds, I was convinced that we could make a difference with herbs. Because of Max’s critical condition, I put him on IV antibiotics to combat the systemic infection. I also put him on several herb formulas (see below). Then I made a poultice of powdered herbs and water and wrapped the leg.

After 48 hours, Max’s temperature was still 106 degrees and he was fading. The infected bone marrow was getting the best of him and the IV antibiotics were doing nothing. I switched antibiotics. After another 24 hours Max was worse and his fever was still above 106. I was concerned. Why was it that the powerful IV antibiotics weren’t killing the infection in the bone marrow? Then it hit me; it was because most of the circulation to that bone marrow was still on the truck tire! OK, I thought, time to turn up the heat!

I discontinued the antibiotics and went right to the source of the problem; the sheered off and infected bone. I took some powdered Goldenseal and Calendula, made a paste with water, and rubbed it into the exposed bone marrow. I then wrapped it in the poultice again and increased the frequency of  Immunity – Support and INFXN – BugBuster formulas to every two hours. I also added straight Echinacea root powder at a rate of 1 rounded tsp every two hours. Within 12 hours Max’s fever was gone and he was eating.

I have seen a lot of miracles in my practice over the years but this turn-around was absolutely astounding to me. Now that the infection was under control, it was time to get Max’s wound healed. The poultice contains a number of herbs that accelerate cell division and speed healing but I wanted to do more so I added Bone, Tissue and Cartilage internally. This is a new formula I had worked up only a few months before meeting Max. Like the poultice, it contains herbs to aid and accelerate wound and bone healing but it is given orally and does its work from the inside out. As shown in the pictures, the results speak for themselves. After two months of daily  herbal therapy, Max now has full use of his completely healed leg. The only evidence of his injury is a scar running up the inside of his leg. He runs, jumps and plays with the best of them and all nerve functions are completely normal. He was adopted and has a wonderful new home. Even after all these years, the power of herbs and the body’s ability to heal continue to astound me. I’ve had several similar wound cases over the years but none of the others had bone loss exposing the marrow and none of the others had the systemic sepsis. This case was truly amazing for me to watch. Below are a few photos of Max’s progress. They are pretty graphic but hang in there…they get better.   

Day 1: Note the flatness of the bone surface. The periosteum (outer bone layer) was completely gone exposing the marrow.

Day 1: This is the other side of the same leg. Skin is missing from about 1/3 of this side.

Poultice application directly on wound. The poultice was applied daily. After about 2 weeks I started going 12 hours on, 12 hours off. I wrapped it with gauze and vet wrap.

Image

Day 6: Wound is already granulating (the lumpy appearance) this usually starts at about 10-14 days.

Day 10 

Day 14: Wound starting to contract over bone.

Day 16: Wound contraction and filling continues 

Day 30: Bone is completely covered

Day 45: Just waiting for skin and hair now.

Day 60: Almost done. Max has full use of the leg. 2 weeks later wound is completely closed and looks like the white scar on his ankle all the way up.

Max’s adoption day! On his way to a new home. Happy, healthy and still dumb as ever!

As, I mentioned above, over the years I’ve done many more cases healing serious wounds with herbs. I’ve learned a lot in the years since Max came through my door and I’ve developed a lot of techniques and made some discoveries that can make this process much less labor intensive and easier for both the herbalist and the critter. These days, I’d handle this case differently in several ways. When I did this case years ago, The HomeGrown Herbalist School had one lesson on wound management. Now there are five, each of which is much deeper and more comprehensive than that first lesson was.

The day may come when it’d be a good thing to know how to manage a serious wound using only plants growing in your yard. If you’d like to be ready for that day, have a look at The HomeGrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine. I’d love to join you on that journey.

Doc Jones

14 thoughts on “Miracle Max: Leg Wound and Sepsis Case

  1. Hairstyles says:

    Thanks for your helpful article. One other problem is that mesothelioma is generally a result of the breathing of dust from asbestos, which is a cancer causing material. Its commonly noticed among staff in the building industry who may have long experience of asbestos. It could be caused by residing in asbestos covered buildings for a long period of time, Inherited genes plays an important role, and some people are more vulnerable to the risk compared to others.

    • Dr. Patrick Jones says:

      They were hosted on a site I used ages ago. I’ll get them reposted to our current host. Thanks for the Heads up :0)

  2. Angela says:

    Hey there! I would love for the pictures to be added back to this blog article as it is a great testimonial to the healing power of herbs. Can you see about getting the photos back up?

  3. amy krug says:

    Truly a miraculous story. Loved the fact that you invested the effort in Max whereas so many would’ve put him down. Would love to see the pics. Thanks for your incredible, loving work. So amazing.

  4. Linea Payne says:

    I wish we could see the pics. There’s just the little icons. I wanted to forward this to my Dad with 2 infected legs and sepsis who wont hear a word about herbs. He will just poopoo it without the photos to ‘prove’ it works. Oh well, what an amazing story either way.

  5. Natalia G says:

    Hi there! Can you let us know when the pics are back up? Would love to see them! Reminds me of a milder story of my friend whose tip of his thumb got lopped off while at work. Our friends were beekeepers at the time so just honey and fresh bandages every day grew it back completely!

  6. Jodie says:

    How did you manage his pain while you did this? Truly I’m amazed and filled with hope when I see this!

  7. Sharon R Horn says:

    Hello Dr.,
    I am a seasoned surgical nurse…these pictures of the dog Max’s healing process is truly amazing!!! I would like to see more pictures & stories!!!
    In your large Medical Kit which I love with all the tinctures & real 1st Aide items… What about gunshot wounds? In hunting accidents…like tourniquets?..I didn’t see you pull out any tourniquets for large femurs…& arms size…or the closures for a chest wound to keep the lung from sucking…Some of these Medics that’s been in war zones talk about first aid kits with these…a few of those kind of items in their first aid kits from probably their bad experiences overseas in war… I’ve seen pit-bull dog bites almost tearing off the limbs of children at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital…What about Snake-bites? We had a dairy farm growing up; I saw a cow recover from a poisonous snake bite on her neck it was about 12 or 15 inches in diameter… it all sloughed off 6 -12 months or more before it began to heal it kind of looked like blackish gangrene,her body isolated it…there was no way to put a tourniquet on it being on her neck/ My Dad sewed up cow-tits & did a lot of his own veterinarian work unless it was life & death=something he couldn’t do= he called a veterinarian so I learned a lot & have a lot of experience with animals & people healing…I want to lean more!!! WOW… the way that dogs leg healed-up…= I am wondering if elderly people that have big dicubus ulcers on their tailbone & hips & ankles & heels half gone of their feet right to the Bone= if this kind of Herbal-Meds would heal them up better than at the hospital or nursing homes? Over seas out in the jungle on a mission trip I sewed up a teenager machete cut 4 to 6 inches on a kid’s arm thank God he passed out we had lidocaine a doctor was watching me overseeing me & told me to do it but the suture was like fishing-wire real heavy nylon… it was so hard to tie!
    When I was young my husband got bit by recluse spider = he’d been on antibiotics for over a month=his muscle was sloughing out the hole on his leg; he was on crutches for months & months !!! His whole leg was swollen up so big from his ankle up…He was in great pain!!!
    I read the Back to Eden book about Goldenseal Tea. I had him drink that tea (1cup)every 2 hours & then I put the tea bags after extracting the tea to drink out of it..I put the warm to hot tea bag right in the hole & on the hole= it was so much puss.. you wouldn’t believe it stunk so bad..6 inches of pussy-muscle was sliding out of this hole in his leg….Well when I started this Goldenseal Tea treatment it began to heal amazingly!!! Do I believe in the Goldenseal Tea! I used to gather herbs, dry them out, save them but when you get busy working being “on call” & all that one gets to forget…ya have to live close to the hospital for emergencies …away from the country ..I’ve kind of got away from all natural…Thank you!!!!! I’m glad Off-Grid Doug & Stacy introduced me to your information!!! This is great, very inspiring!!! Thank you again,
    From Sharon Horn

    • Dr. Patrick Jones says:

      Hi Sharon,
      Yours in Italic
      Mine in Bold

      …these pictures of Max’s healing process is truly amazing!!! I would like to see more pictures & stories!!!

      We have lots of case studies in the School.

      In your large Medical Kit which I love with all the tinctures & real 1st Aide items… What about gunshot wounds? In hunting accidents…like tourniquets?

      We are putting together a emergency and trauma course. That course will describe a kit for major traumas like amputations where a tourniquet is a good idea.

      What about Snake-bites?

      I use the Venom & Sting Formula internally and topically. We have an entire class in the school on venomous bites and stings. I’ve treated lots of cases with remarkable results.

      My Dad sewed up cow-tits & did a lot of his own veterinarian work unless it was life & death=something he couldn’t do= he called a veterinarian so I learned a lot & have a lot of experience with animals & people healing…I want to lean more!!!

      We teach basic suturing and some even better techniques for wound closure in the school. There are five or six lessons just on wound management.


      WOW… the way that dogs leg healed-up…= I am wondering if elderly people that have big decubitus ulcers on their tailbone & hips & ankles & heels half gone of their feet right to the Bone= if this kind of Herbal-Meds would heal them up better than at the hospital or nursing homes?

      Yup. I’ve treated a number of decubitus wounds on tailbones and other places in old bed-ridden folk or diabetics. Many of those clients had been going to wound clinics for a really long time with no results. All of them healed up completely and quickly with herbs.

      When I was young my husband got bit by recluse spider = he’d been on antibiotics for over a month=his muscle was sloughing out the hole on his leg; he was on crutches for months & months !!! His whole leg was swollen up so big from his ankle up…He was in great pain!!!

      I’ve addressed a lot of spider and rattlesnake bites. If you use the right plants at the right times, there isn’t any tissue loss and everything heals up fine. I use the Venom & Sting Formula topically and internally. We discuss such wounds in a lot of detail in the school.

      I used to gather herbs, dry them out, save them but when you get busy working being “on call” & all that one gets to forget…ya have to live close to the hospital for emergencies …away from the country ..I’ve kind of got away from all natural…Thank you!!!!! I’m glad Off-Grid Doug & Stacy introduced me to your information!!! This is great, very inspiring!!! Thank you again,
      From Sharon Horn


      I know a nice fellow that can help you get back into it. :0)

      The HomeGrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *