Dr. Ebonie Vincent has seen a lot of unusual things in her career, but patient Troy still managed to shock the foot and ankle surgeon with his unusual request in a PopCulture exclusive sneak peek of Wednesday’s My Feet Are Killing Me. After being diagnosed with a Lisfranc fracture underneath a massive bony tumor on his foot, Vincent breaks the news to Troy that there could be more going on with his health than they first thought.
“The Lisfranc fracture pales in comparison to what this tumor represents,” Vincent explains. “So we have to do the work to figure out what there is to be done about this bone mass.” While the bone tumor could be benign, there’s also a chance it could be cancerous, and that determination will mean everything when it comes to the plan ahead.
Troy admits he was “terrified” to hear Vincent bring up cancer, especially with a family history of breast and skin cancer. “You know, the more information you know, the better able you’re able to tackle your issue,” Vincent reassures him. The next step is to take Troy into surgery for a biopsy of the bone. “If it’s benign, we schedule this longer surgery; we remove this entire mass,” Vincent continues. “If it’s cancerous, I can’t in good faith, fuse your bone and do this huge surgery. You need to go and see an oncologist.”
The oncologist will be the one to lay out a plan for how to “kick cancer’s butt,” and if Troy goes into remission with his potential cancer, he can come back to Vincent for a second shot at healing his foot. “I just need to be responsible and make sure that we’re taking care of you medically, you know?” Vincent tells her patient.
Absorbing this information, Troy responds, “When you get the bone, I want a piece of it so I can make a gauge.” Vincent asks, “Like for your ears?” to which he responds in the affirmative. “It’s way better for you ’cause it’s more healthier ’cause of the bone and like, it’s not some plastic,” he explains. As Vincent repeats the request in disbelief, Troy acknowledges it’s a “weird” request.
“To be honest, I’m gonna have to mostly send everything to pathology,” Vincent admits to Troy, telling him to take it up with the pathologist after they’re done with the bone. To the camera, the doctor admits it may be one of the stranger moments of her career. “I’ve never had anyone ask for their bone as a trophy or anything,” she says. “I have had people ask for like, their [surgical] K-wires, you know, they wanna make little earrings and stuff out of them. That’s also weird. But this one takes the cake.” My Feet Are Killing Me airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.