For me, that's how it all started. I didn't know I had diabetes, and I was very resistant about going to see a doctor. Walk-in clinic doctors never gave me a proper diagnosis and just told me to go to emergency. That didn't sit well with my anxiety, so I avoided doing that.
I had two serious ulcers on two middle toes and a HUGE ulcer on my left ankle, and I ended up being unable to walk, though I was still managing to walk short distances before I finally managed to find a family doctor. When she saw my foot, she literally started to cry, and called me, "You poor, poor man," and just that acknowledgement of the pain I was in brought me to tears. She convinced me to go to emergency that day, and I will be eternally grateful to her for that.
That's how I found out I had diabetes.
I spent over a month in the hospital. My prognosis when I went in was that I had a greater than 50% chance of losing my leg below the knee, a 90% chance I'd just lose my foot, and my toes? Well, we won't worry about that for now. I had almost zero blood flow to my left leg and my good leg isn't so good either.
Fortunately, we've got the best vascular team in Alberta right here in Calgary. I got a double-bypass to get blood flow happening again, and once that healed, they worked on the three ulcers.
Thank God I started to heal. Even towards the end of my stay, I had one surgeon that wanted to amputate four of my toes, leaving only the big toe. They said a lot of ridiculous things, like I'd still be able to walk no problem, quality of life, etc., but I resisted that, and they gave me the chance to try to let it heal. Long story short, the healing process has been very hard on me and difficult, but with the supports I had, they seem to have mostly healed. I keep injuring that leg (broken ankle - twice now) and I'm currently trying to get that to heal, but all I've lost so far is one toenail.
I'm probably going to end up getting at least part of that leg amputated but I'm fighting it every step of the way.

I’m glad that doctor finally got you the help you needed.

How is your blood glucose control? If you haven’t done so already, I’d like you to join my team. I’m rooting for you. I care.

Thank you.

I’m glad to hear you’re doing better. One thing I’ve learned since I was diagnosed back in 2004: diabetes is nothing to mess around with.

Since you were undiagnosed for so long, I’d ask your doctor to refer you to an eye clinic, too. You’re at a higher risk for glaucoma and retinopathy now, too.

My BS numbers are normally good. When I got out of the hospital, my diet drove them up (btw, I had no idea that the insulin pen required needle tips because my pharmacist didn't give me any, so my numbers went waaay up - into the 20's). Getting my numbers to go back down, I got them down very fast, and that was a scary experience - almost as bad as the threat of amputation was at first.
Now though, the numbers are generally good, and my doctor says I'm doing everything right. I wish I could quit smoking too; I was on the right path but then started stress-smoking again, but I'm going to tackle that once things get more stable for me.
I added you to my team.

Severe on my left foot in 2011. Unfortunately osteomyelitis had set in the foot bones beyond the ones that were taken out. I battled chronic infections in that foot until just before Christmas 2017, where systemic gangrene in the foot necessitated amputation of the foot.

Watch your cuts, ulcers, and sores!