This is the most common question I get these days:
“Can’t you live with this disability and wait until a medical solution will be available? An amputation sounds like a radical move”
This is a tough question and trust me it keeps me up at night.
There’s no wrong or right answer to this especially due to the fact that my condition is not life threatening.
It’s directly related to me being in the driver seat (yes I do love to think I have control…), pain tolerance and how I perceive my life can be in the future.
With too many injuries to count, including 11 broken ribs, broken sternum, broken left arm, 2 collapsed lungs, femur shattered into 17 pieces, liver, head and face lacerations and numerous other injuries, it’s been almost impossible to know what will heal and what will not.
But now, almost a year later I am left with 2 major conditions:
a shattered femur and deformed right ankle with avascular necrosis of the talus.
So far treatment suggestions offered by specialists are not in line with how I see myself live as normal life as possible.
Many suggested treatments are attempts to fix and patch this terrible injury.
I spent hundreds of hours researching, studying and talking with professionals and people who chose these surgical interventions to see if this would be a viable solution for me. They all had to endure multiple surgeries with (in my opinion) questionable results.
It’s a fine balance between taking control and finding solutions you can live with, vs giving your power away and relay on others to do this work for you.
At the same time I did extensive research on elective amputations and what it meant to live life as an amputee.
I approached active amputees and a few highly competitive ones to learn and experience directly what an amputee life looks like on a daily basis.
At this time – I would be over the moon if I had even fifty percent of their freedom and day to day capabilities.
So to answer this tough question… no it’s not an easy decision but as of today I found peace with it and decided to move forward with an elective amputation. Time will tell if this was the right decision 🙂
Till next time 🙂
– Erez