The Operation

I sat on the trolley waiting to go into the theatre, Cedric and the transfer nurse were still with me. As we waited the surgeon appeared and came over to apologise for the delay once more. He said that he was going without his dinner to make sure that the operation went ahead and did not get delayed again, and then he vanished to scrub in. I said my goodbyes to my Cedric and went in to the theatre to be prepared for the operation. It had been decided that I would have an epidural rather than a general anaesthetic, as it gave the best chance of controlling the pain after the operation and was less traumatic on the body. I must admit that I was not enthusiastic about this idea, but put my trust in the surgeon, who was the top vascular surgeon in the city. Unfortunately I was now dehydrated because of not having been able to eat or drink for the past three days while awaiting the procedure and so I was put on three litres of saline drip to re-hydrate me, but after three attempts they gave up on the epidural and went for a spinal block. All this took a good forty minutes and then I was presented with a choice of music to be played through the headphones while the leg was removed. The music would drown out the sounds of the saw, etc and there was a curtain between me and the surgeons so that I could not see. It was weird and a while later I watched a nurse walk off with my leg wrapped up in a towel. Twenty minutes later I was wheeled out into a recovery room where my vitals signs were monitored for an hour. I was then transferred back to my bed in the ward where Cedric was waiting and we were able to laugh and joke about it while I had my first meal of the day. I had a morphine pump that I could administer myself to counteract the pain as the effects of the spinal block wore off , but for me the pain had gone with my useless leg and I hardly needed to use this. I had it removed twenty four hours later as I did not need it. Another of my prayers was answered because I came off the morphine completely despite having been on it as a pain killer for the past ten months and I did not suffer any withdrawal symptoms at all.

I lay in bed and for the first time in so many years I was without pain. It felt so good that I could have shouted with joy. The relief from the tension of waiting was so great and my poor husband was exhausted by the anxiety of trying to get me through the ordeal. But it was now past and a new life experience lay before me.

 

What does the Surgeon do?

My grandson asked what they do when they take your leg off, so I asked the surgeon who gave this explanation so that we could educate the curious 10 year old. It also proved very interesting for my husband who also wanted to know. He did say afterward that if he could have, he would have watched from a gallery, but this was not a teaching hospital and it was not an option. 

 

Technique

  • An incision is made above the knee in the shape of a Vee at the sides and straight across on top of the leg and below. This is so that the two flaps can be drawn together over the stump at the end of the operation.
  • The Veins and arteries are tied off and severed.
  • The muscles detached from the bones.
  • The nerves are cut and the ends are joined together to form a feed-back. This is done to counter Phantom Sensation, as the brain sends signals and waits for a response.
  • The bone is sawn through and the edges of the bone are rasped to form a smooth edge.
  • A drain pipe is inserted through the side of the leg just above the stump to allow seepage of fluids to drain away from the wound.
  • Finally the flaps are drawn together and in my case 39 staples were used to close the wound.
 

 

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