Have you known anyone who refused an amputation and it worked out fine?

Not yet.

My boyfriend was born without his left femur (a condition called PFFD). He has a small leg on that side that ends in a small foot at about knee-height.

The first doctor his parents took him to when he was a baby thought it would be best to amputate the bit of leg he has on that side. They sought a second opinion. The second doctor instead proposed a radical surgery to rotate his foot 180 degrees. This turns it so that the ankle joint he has there can function as a knee joint. That’s what they ended up doing.

He wears a prosthesis that goes around his small thigh and has a hinge at the foot. He can use his ankle joint to bend this “knee.” It is not easy because his left leg is so small – it has very little muscle – so actually lifting the prothesis is very tiring. He would probably have better mobility if he did some physical therapy. But his mobility is probably much better than it would be if his leg had been removed, because he would not be able to bend at the knee at all. His condition does not hinder him from doing anything he wants to do. He doesn’t like walking long distances though because he gets tired.

Several years back my adult son shattered the talar bone in his ankle into six pieces. From the very beginning the doctors told him the odds were not in his favor and there was very little chance healing. Because of the extent of the injury they could not get adequate blood supply to the bone so, basically, it died and when it died so did the associated cartilage. What he ended up with was a bone on bone contact between both the six pieces and the other intact bones that adjoined it (tibia, fibula, calcaneus & navicular) which caused a tremendous amount of pain whenever he moved.

He would not let them amputate and fought the pain for about a year before he decided that it was too much for him to bear and had his leg amputated several inches below the knee. They said this was the optimum location for a prosthetic.

He said pretty much immediately afterward that it was the best decision he had made in a long time and wished he had done it when they initially suggested it instead of suffering all those months. His quality of life took a tremendous boost for the better and although he still had phantom pains in the now non-existent ankle for a few months but they were not as bad as the real thing and they too disappeared eventually..

Does he enjoy having an artificial limb? Not really. Does he enjoy being pain free? Absolutely. Can he still get around like he used too? For the most part; there are some limitations and it took some experimentation to find the prosthetic style best suited to his wants and needs but the set up he now uses has been the same for the past three years And, as I said earlier, his only regret is not having it done earlier. Well, not his only regret. He also regrets shattering the bone in the first place.

No. Doctors don’t recommend an amputation just for expediency, They do so because they believe it will improve the patient’s quality of life to be relieved from as much pain as possible.

I had a friend with a situation similar to @rojo‘s son; John had smashed hos foot twice in motorcycle accidents (same accident twice a year apart, but that is a whole story in being a stupid kid). His pain was so unbearable he could not stand the weight of a sheet on his foot at night. He had it amputated and within days was almost completely pain free.

My father was shot multiple times in the Vietnam War. From his right leg, up his body. The vest did it’s job, and stopped the lethal hits. His leg was badly damaged. After a wild rescue, he was stabilized at a MASH unit and eventually put on a plane to Walter Reed hospital with orders for amputation of the injured leg. He refused.

After almost two years of multiple surgeries, and rehabilitation, he was able to eventually walk/run again.

It hurts him still. But he’s still got it…

I have a friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer who refused a radical mastectomy. She took time off work and did the research and said no, and told the doctors what she wanted. They refused so she went to another group of doctors/medical center and they did as she wanted. She is still fine today. And she has her breast.

I have. And I’ve also seen people who have refused amputations who have died because of it.