When It Rains, It Does Pour – Minus One Leg, Plus One Life

I know I have gone a bit silent the past couple weeks for good reason and now that Jason has announced the news, I share with you all what has been happening the past couple weeks.

Right before my dads celebration of life Jason was coming down the stairs at my father’s house where we are now living and slipped + sprained his ankle. At the time we got him a boot and crutches and he started to recover albeit very slowly.

The next morning he was scheduled to return to work and as he approached the car he fell again telling me he lost his balance while knowing it might be a bit more serious but thinking he would heal.

A couple of days passed and on Wednesday he had apparently passed out in bathroom that afternoon/evening after he saw the injuries he sustained. After about 8 hours upstairs I headed down stairs since I had not heard noise in a while and when I went down I noticed he was slurring a bit and not very alert, but I chalked it up to him having no fluids and being suddenly woken up in a bathroom.

Later that night he saw a small black mark on his foot with something sticking out, which turned out to be bone. As I slept he came in and out of consciousness and spent entire night in the small bathroom. As it turns out he felt little pain though due to undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.

When I awoke that am, I made a promise to the pets to call 911 if needed, and that is exactly what happened. He was taken to the local Emergency Room and as it turns out he had necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disorder), MRSA and due to the high blood sugars (in the upper 600’s) he was like a candy cane for the infection.

There I had to make the hard decision for them to take Jason’s leg to save his life. They removed his leg to below the knee at our local hospital but due to the serious bugs he had and with the infection still growing he was rushed to the local trauma hospital where an amazing trauma team amputated above the knee leaving about 15 inches of his leg for a prosthetic down the line.

There is no doubt that the trauma doctor saved Jason’s life – once he arrived at ICU the doctor was there, and ready to do what had to be done to save Jason while keeping calm and making me calm in the process. There is no doubt that the trauma team at saved his life. As it turns out he was within hours of death (4-8 hours is what i had heard from numerous doctors).

For the next three days Jason was medically knocked out and unconscious until that Sunday when they awoke him. One of the best moments was hearing his voice strong and not slurring, a good moment in lots of stress.

It has been 18 days, and while we have a long hard road ahead and he is not ashamed, nor embarrassed about this situation. His one wish is that everyone take care of yourselves and remember that we are not invincible and especially as we age. If you feel something is off with your body have it checked out, and trust your instincts.

Jason also wants to let people know to be your own health advocate. He doesn’t want people to feel bad for him as he is not going to allow himself to do so. He is looking forward to the hard work, as nothing gained is ever easy. He is tough mentally, and knows that he will have ups and downs. Jason is ready to meet these challenges with a renewed sense of self-worth and he is on the right side of the dirt. First step complete!

Today he starts a new journey in his recovery and begins learning how to live with one leg and I will be sharing this amputation journey with you all, as well as all the new foods that we will be trying with his new diabetic diagnosis.

Do you have any questions about a above the knee amputation or being newly diagnosed with diabetes – please ask!