Should i amputate my leg

Smoothing out the bone will allow tissue and muscles to adequately cover it, and the surgeon may even stitch the muscles to the bone to help strengthen the area.

The first day after the surgery is often the hardest as you process that what was previously just theoretical is now a reality. The wound will be dressed in bandages and compressions socks, and possibly also elevated or put in a stint, to help reduce swelling, which is very likely after surgery.

Ensuring swelling stays down and the residual limb — the part of the limb still attached to the body — shrinks is a priority during this time. Proper healing will make it easier to fit a prosthetic limb later on. The nurses and physiotherapists will be the professionals you see the most immediately after the surgery since you will likely be receiving oxygen from a machine and getting fluids from an IV drip.

You may also have a urinary catheter attached to avoid you needing to get up to use the bathroom since the wound will need to be kept stable. Rehabilitation will begin within a few days, but it will mostly be very simple and gentle stretching exercises to help you maintain the range of motion in all your other limbs.

The physiotherapist will likely also guide you through some exercises to prevent blood clots from forming. As it was before surgery, it is still important that you communicate any discomfort or concerns to your rehabilitation team. This includes any pressure points in the bandages or any pain in the residual limb. The wound itself will take anywhere from four to eight weeks to heal fully, but you will likely only remain in the hospital for up to 14 days.

The lengthy stay in the hospital is to allow doctors to monitor your healing and keep an eye on any conditions that may interfere with proper healing, such as diabetes or hardening arteries.

They will also prescribe painkillers and other medications to prevent infections. What is the recovery after amputation like? Well, the short answer is that it's long and can last years. The long answer is that amputation is not just the physical loss of a limb — it is also the readjustment of a person's very way of living and requires relearning how to do many things that were once second nature. If you plan on getting a prosthesis, it may be months before you are fitted for your artificial limb, which makes physical therapy one of the most important parts of your recovery.

A part of rehabilitation is strengthening the muscles in your remaining limbs, and another part is helping you work towards independence. In the beginning, physical therapy will be difficult and frustrating, but just remember that it is the first step to getting back on your feet — figuratively and maybe even literally.

Your therapist will not expect you to strain yourself on the first day. Instead, you will start with gentle movements that will gradually become more active and strenuous.

You will learn how to exercise the muscles in the other parts of your body, which will be used more than they were before the surgery. When you have been discharged from the hospital, an occupational therapist may visit your home to see if it needs any adjustments to accommodate your change in mobility. For example, you may need to have a ramp installed. You will continue to see more of the hospital in the weeks after since you will need to return to change your bandages and let the doctor see how your wound is healing and how you are adjusting to your new life at home.

You may end up returning to have sutures removed, after which you will start wearing a compression sock on your residual limb to help it shrink even more. The shrinkage is necessary because it molds the stump, which helps it fit the prosthesis easily and more comfortably.

The stump will be a healing wound and, like any other healing wound, it needs to have adequate care to speed up healing and prevent infections.

It is best to avoid submerging the stump in water, such as if you take a bath. Like with any major surgery, there are risks of complications involved with amputations.

These can include:. The need for further surgery is also a potential, especially if there is pain, such as from nerves that have thickened, or if more tissue needs to be removed. Once you are discharged from the hospital, you will need to learn how to do everyday activities with your revised body. Your rehabilitation team will be able to provide you with the appropriate mobility devices as well as living aids to help you ease back into your everyday life.

These devices will be crucial as you get used to embarking on your usual household tasks and activities with your residual limb, and they are designed to help amputees become more independent. Both physical and emotional recovery is something you will be doing from the time of your surgery on, but while physical recovery likely has an end date, emotional recovery can be ongoing. Physical recovery includes physiotherapy, which you will likely have to do three to five times a week.

As we mentioned before, physical therapy may seem like a chore, but it is one of the most critical parts of recovery since it helps the body adapt to its new normal. Physiotherapy exercises are designed to help you learn how to redistribute your weight and balance with missing lower limbs or exercise your other limbs, which will be used more often, without injuring them.

These exercises are designed to help a person return to their regular routine by relearning how to do everyday activities. The exercises help you strengthen muscles to be able to better control limbs. Similarly, rehabilitation will also help you learn to live without the limb that has been amputated, which will decrease the chances of developing phantom limb syndrome. Learning to care for the existing limbs — especially if the amputation was a result of a disease, like diabetes — and actively taking better care of the existing limbs to keep them from coming to harm are also necessary lessons during physical recovery.

Once you are fit for a prosthetic limb, you will learn how to move with an artificial limb and get used to living life with it.

You will also learn how to care for your prosthesis. There are no wrong feelings when it comes to amputation, which is why emotional recovery is as important as physical recovery.

The psychological impact of an amputation can run the gamut of emotions, with grief and bereavement being some of the most common emotions. The grief is sometimes strong enough to be likened to the death of a loved one. How other people view your body may also have changed, and coping with that is another significant factor. Negative thoughts are extremely common and very much normal during this time, and they can be as mild as temporary frustration or sadness to suicidal ideation.

Your rehabilitation team should be on top of these thoughts and, once you are discharged from the hospital, you may be directed to counseling or therapy to help you deal with these feelings constructively.

Feelings of negativity are more likely to be present if the amputation was done suddenly — such as after an accident or similar trauma. Without the opportunity to get used to the reality of what amputation means, it can be incredibly difficult to cope with it in the aftermath.

Sometimes, there is an inability or unwillingness to accept the amputation as reality. Some people may refuse to accept that they will need to alter their lifestyles because of the amputation and may refuse help. Other times, post-traumatic stress disorder is possible, especially when the amputation is the result of severe trauma.

Possible the most common psychological side effect of amputation is phantom limb syndrome, which is when you believe you can feel the limb that has been amputated. While most amputees feel like they can sense the amputated limb, not all of them feel pain in it. The phantom sensation comes from the spinal cord and the brain. Phantom pain, on the other hand, is still a bit of a mystery.

Theories about the cause of phantom limb pain suggest it has something to do with the brain's reorganization after amputation. When a limb is amputated, the communication between the neurons in certain nerves and the brain is broken. Eventually, those neurons are reactivated and begin communicating with the brain again by responding to input from the nerves that remain. Sometimes, putting pressure on the residual limb is the trigger for this communication, causing the amputee to feel phantom pain.

Both phantom pain and phantom sensation are common occurrences and tend to affect older amputees. It can develop immediately after amputation or even weeks, months or years later. Stress, anxiety and fear are all potential triggers for phantom pain, and the pain itself can range from sensations of aching and cramping to burning or shock. Many people find that they no longer experience phantom pain once they have a prosthesis, but some home remedies can help alleviate phantom pain, including:.

Approximately two or three weeks after the surgery, you will be fit for a prosthetic limb. The wound has to have healed well enough to begin the fitting — which involves making a cast of the residual limb. It can take upwards of six weeks if the wound is not healed properly or is taking longer to heal. A prosthesis generally has seven parts :.

Once it is healed, the prosthetist will take a mold of your residual limb using plaster or 3D imaging, which be then be altered to better fit the residual limb. A socket will be created to fit the stump comfortably, and a temporary, diagnostic prosthesis will be attached to it. The socket fit is crucial since that part will be right up against the stump and needs to be extremely comfortable for both comfort and safety.

The temporary limb is used to make adjustments based on your individual needs. The temporary limb helps test various combinations of components to adjust comfort, stability, functions and efficiency. Since each prosthetic limb is unique to the person donning it, many adjustments and trials need to be made before the final product is ready.

Generally, you will need to visit your prosthetist between seven and 18 times, and there will be about 16 temporary or sample pieces created before the final one. A higher amputation may require a prosthesis with more parts, or an athlete may want an extra prosthesis specifically for sports. For example, a bicyclist may need alterations to an arm prosthesis and bike to ride safely. It is normal to feel some pain when you first don your new prosthesis since your body will need to get used to the new addition.

Still, it is always a good idea to describe any and all pain or discomfort — like pinching or poking, for example — to the prosthetist, just in case the artificial limb needs to be adjusted in any way.

You will need to do a lot of work to recondition your muscles and relearn activities, balance, and coordination. Rehab can last as long as 1 year. You may have been fitted with a temporary artificial leg while you were still in the hospital. If this is the case, your doctor will teach you how to care for it. If you are getting an artificial leg, you may need to get used to it before you go back to work and your other activities.

You will probably not wear it all the time, so you will need to learn how to use a wheelchair, crutches, or other device. You will have to make changes in your home. Your workplace may be able to make allowances for you. Having your leg amputated can be traumatic. And learning to live with new limits can be hard and frustrating. Many people feel depressed and may grieve for their former lifestyle.

It's important to understand these feelings. Talking with your family, friends, and health professionals about your frustrations is an important part of your recovery. You may also find that it helps to talk with a person who has had an amputation.

Remember that even though you've lost a limb, it doesn't change who you are or prevent you from enjoying life. You'll have to adapt and learn new ways to do things. But you can still work and take part in sports and activities. And you can still learn, love, play, and live life to its fullest. Many organizations can help you adjust to your new life. For example, you can go to www.

This care sheet gives you a general idea about how long it will take for you to recover. But each person recovers at a different pace. Follow the steps below to get better as quickly as possible. Follow-up care is a key part of your treatment and safety. Be sure to make and go to all appointments, and call your doctor or nurse call line if you are having problems.

It's also a good idea to know your test results and keep a list of the medicines you take. Call anytime you think you may need emergency care. For example, call if:. Call your doctor or nurse call line now or seek immediate medical care if:.

Watch closely for any changes in your health, and be sure to contact your doctor or nurse call line if you have any problems. Author: Healthwise Staff. Care instructions adapted under license by your healthcare professional.

If you have questions about a medical condition or this instruction, always ask your healthcare professional. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Important Phone Numbers.

With partial amputations, the goal is also to preserve the rest of the foot or leg. Diabetic foot syndrome is one of the most common causes for leg or foot amputations.

Although more and more people are living to an advanced age and the number of persons with diabetes is thus rising, the number of amputations is changing very little. This is thanks to better care and new possibilities for affected individuals. Reduced perspiration causes the feet and legs to dry out and crack. Sugar deposits in the nerves cause affected individuals to lose feeling so they no longer notice their cracks and wounds.

Diabetes mellitus severely impairs wound healing. When sores are subjected to stress, the wounds get bigger. The tissue becomes inflamed and dies off. There is also a risk that the foot and leg become inflamed more quickly because blood flow is disrupted by diabetes and the cells die off. The frequency of amputations after accidents — including for example work and traffic accidents — has decreased considerably in the Western world.

There are many reasons for this, including higher occupational health and safety standards. Progress in the fields of intensive care and surgery means that nerves, vessels, bones and soft tissue of injured limbs can be restored in many cases, so an amputation as the last resort is unnecessary. Amputations due to cancer are relatively rare. Frequently however, there are tumours close to the knee or in the area of the hip.

About half of all amputations in the area of the hip and pelvis are due to tumours. The goal of an amputation in such cases is to save the patient's life by preventing the spread of cancer cells that would affect other parts of the body. Since Louis Pasteur described the effect of antibiotics in , amputations due to infections have become extremely rare.