Born with Wonky Feet

I watched a video the other day which shows the main parts of a heart transplant. It was amazing to watch, and really shows how far medical science has come and how advanced it is. That they can take a vital organ, like a heart, and replace it with another and it works perfectly fine. Bloody awesome. So having watched that I decided to watch a video which I have been wanting to watch since researching about amputations. It is a video which shows a below knee amputation being performed. I wanted to watch it out of curiosity and so that I can see what will be happening to me and my legs. I have watched a different video of the procedure, its an animation which was very helpful but it isn't the same as watching it actually happening as it looked, obviously, fake and unnatural. So feeling pretty confident that I wasn't going to throw up over the laptop I clicked play. What a fool... It was easy going at first, the surgeon explained why the surgery was being performed, then he mar...

I went to see Mr W. at the rehabilitation clinic to find out whether he would be willing to perform the amputations. The last 2 months leading up to this appointment have been emotional. I just kept thinking about what he would say and if he would agree. Not knowing whether to make plans just in case he said yes. If he said no then I know I would feel depressed but annoyed as then I would have to go back to Mr R at Chelsea & Westminster to discuss my next move, and possibly end up having a triple arthrodesis, which I do not want. If he said yes then I would be having my legs amputated which in itself (although it is what I want) is going to be stressful and slightly terrifying. So on we (my wife and I) went on the 3 hour journey to Roehampton by bus, tram and train. We have to go the long way round so that we can use the wheelchair accessible stations (come on Boris!), which is a pain as it adds over an hour to the journey. The bus we got from the train station was an old bus and...

Here is part 2 of my update. As I missed the appointment, due to moving and not receiving the letter, I had to get another referral, this was in January 2014, back to Mr. R at Chelsea  & Westminster... in June! So having waited nearly 6 months I was excited. I had to have some x-rays of my feet, 8 in total, and then I spoke to Mr. R again about having an amputation. He threw me another curve ball, this time he said that he wanted to just reconstruct my feet so that I would walk in a more "normal" way and the foot would be in the correct position. But there is no guarantee of pain relief. I think he understands that that I do not want the fusion now as he didn't really mention it. Mr R. said that he feels like the amputation isn't, ethically, the best option and he wants to try other routes first. But he referred me to one of his colleagues, Mr. C, who is also an orthopaedic surgeon to get his opinion.  This is the consultant who I had actually asked to see in t...

So I realise that it has been a long time since my last post, and this post has been sitting as a draft for nearly half a year. This is part one of what has been happening, otherwise this post would be too long. In August 2013, I went to Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton,  which is where the rehabilitation clinic is, and it was an amazing day. Not only were all my questions answered but I learnt a whole load more about the procedure, the recovery, the different types of prosthetics and about the clinic.  The hospital is amazing and very well equipped. Luckily, both the consultant and physio that I saw there were in agreement with me that I am making the right choice in having the amputation over the triple arthrodesis and were very positive. I will get so much more out of having an amputation. I left there excited, extremely happy and relieved that potentially I would be having the amputation in the near future. The consultant at Roehampton referred me for an appointm...