Amputees Support Group
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma or surgery. Many have undergone amputation or have been living with a missing limb since birth. In either case, life as an amputee can be challenging. This is the place to find others going through the same experiences as an amputee. Share your thoughts, troubles, and solutions with the community.
Hi! I’m Nicole & I’m twenty years old. In October I was diagnosed with DVT and compartment syndrome & had to have 14 surgeries. Sadly, the nerve damage was severe and I have no feeling from my knee down. I am considering amputation so I can have my life back & not be stuck with crutches forever. I just wanted to know if anyone had any advice or could tell me anything about the whole process? Thank you so much!
Sorry to hear about the trouble you've been having and hope what ever direction you go I hope things work out. I'm Allen, 52 years old and I'm a "recent" right, below the knee amputee. I'm coming up on the one year anniversary of my amputation.
My story ... I got a bad bone infection in my right heel...over the course of about a year I got 4 more bone infections in my heel (the wound never really healed because of the infections). Over that year I had 9 surgeries. With the 5th infection, I had a choice..keep going the way we have been..or go with the amputation. I talked with doctor about the pros and cons of both...there wasnt much of an upside not doing the amputation, so I went with the amputation.
So step one...should you do it... only you can decide. Sit down with the doctor and have a serious discussion about it...weigh the pros of cons of each, whats the long term prognosis of each decision. Will you improve...will you get worse? Do you have other medical conditions that may impact either decision. One thing to consider..would the amputation be above the knee or below the knee? I don't know the answer it may not make a difference in the end, but obviously there is a little more involved with an above the knee amputation.
Second...if you get the amputation the process. I'll be speaking about below the knee. The recovery from the amputation take minimum a month (assuming there are no set backs). The process to then get your prosthesis will probably take about another month or so (if every thing goes smoothly). Once in a prosthetic, the first year is busy, probably go thru 3 more sockets and a number of trips to see your prosthetist, involving a lot of learning and adjusting to changes with how work with your prosthetic and also in your life.
So how is my life as an amputee? Great...I do everything now that I did before my foot problems began, including coaching sports and hiking thu the woods and working at my job that involves a lot of walking and moving lifting heavy material. I also drive, no special devices. I do not regret for one second the amputation, as my doc said...you can get your life back.
Whether below the knee or above the prosthetics they have for both are amazing.... check out youtube and you can see the stuff amputees can do and how good the prosthetics are.
Well I've rambled on but if you have more questions or want more details on the prosthetics process feel free to ask.
Allen