The consultant was an expert in his field, with the air of a man who knew what he was doing.
So when Robert Carew-Hunt was told his grossly swollen legs were a sign of lymphedema - a build up of fluid caused by damage to the lymph system, he accepted the diagnosis and was discharged from hospital with a packet of support stockings to reduce the swelling.
Unfortunately, the specialist was wrong. The swelling was, in fact, a sign of undiagnosed diabetes and although Robert went on to display other, classic symptoms - such as an ulcer on his big toe that wouldn't heal - a succession of clinicians missed the signs, so that by the time his diabetes was finally diagnosed eight months later, Robert had suffered serious tissue damage.
He has since had two toes amputated on his right foot and has Charcot foot in his left - an excruciatingly painful degenerative bone condition caused by high blood-sugar levels damaging blood supply and tissues. It ultimately leads to chronic deformity.
'It has been a long road to be able to walk at all since losing my toes, and I'm still in a lot of pain,' he says.
'I'm not a vengeful person by nature. But I'm frustrated and angry that I was seen by so many medics and yet for months not one suspected diabetes.'
His condition meant that Robert, then in his early 50s, had to take early retirement from his job in the civil service.
Tubbier than you'd prefer?: Like a million Britons, you could be suffering from undiagnosed diabetes.
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