Bologna (below-the-knee) Amputation October 26, 2013

A good hike at Neskowin Beach in Oregon June 2013

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, October 22, 2013, John's left leg was amputated. It was a fast and shocking turn of events, especially considering that just hours earlier we were driving home from a lovely visit with our daughter, Elisa, and her family in Utah. 

Many people have inquired about his progress, so we have created this blog site to be able to keep you informed of what is happening with John's recovery. I will be updating this periodically. Please feel free to pass on the link.

This first post is intended to cover the events of the last five days.

Monday 10/21/2013: We were wrapping up a great 4-day visit in Layton, Utah with the Hood family. John had mentioned to me briefly that his left foot was bothering him and he had been treating with cream from the drug store for some athlete's foot for 2-3 days, thinking maybe he had some fungus. On Sunday, we began to see some redness and swelling in his foot. Because he has had a previous issue with infection following an injury to the shin, we figured he might need some antibiotics, so we started out on our 12-hour drive back home to Phoenix. During the long drive, John's foot became progressively more red, swollen and painful, and by the time we reached Las Vegas, he was visibly quite ill and the intense  redness and swelling was rapidly spreading upward. We actually considered stopping at that point but figured it was best to push on through and get home. I took over the driving, and John was reclining with his leg elevated. By the time we arrived home in Phoenix at 10pm, it was clear that John was ill enough that we should go directly to the hospital. When we got to the emergency room at Chandler Regional Medical Center, we were rushed back through triage, and it seems that before we knew what was happening, the orthopedic surgeon (Dr. Motzkin) explained that the infection in John's leg was extremely aggressive and needed immediate surgery.  The toes and foot were already beyond saving.  John and the surgeon decided to proceed with amputating his left leg below the knee in order to save his life.  John looked down at his leg and said "Go ahead and do what you have to do."

Tuesday 10/22/2013 Dr. Motzkin took John to the operating room at 3:30am. He performed a below- the-knee amputation but was concerned because there were areas of redness and swelling in John's upper left thigh as well.  Throughout the first several days, he was very clear he was really fighting the beast of an aggressive infection. He and the rest of the doctors on the team were seriously concerned for John's life. My sister and brother-in-law, DeeAnn and Tom, came to the hospital at 2:30am and stayed by our side throughout the night and day.  My brothers also came. Thankfully, Amy was able to come from Texas by Tuesday evening and she has been a wonderful support for her father and me.  

Wednesday 10/23/2013 Though originally Dr. Motzkin had planned to take John back to surgery in 48 hours (which would have been Thursday), in less than 30 hours, precipitated by John's increasingly high white blood count, temperature and atrial fibrillation, he took him again to urgent surgery at noon. In the second surgery, Dr. Motzkin removed a great deal of dead tissue from John's lower leg. He also opened up his upper thigh and drained an infection.  This procedure seemed to correct his atrial fibrillation immediately. The good news was finding strong, healthy muscle at the amputation site. John tolerated both of these surgeries amazingly well and in great spirits. A highlight of this day was finally reaching Paul, Veronica and Dillon on vacation in Colombia.  John was really encouraged to speak with Paul late in the evening.

Thursday 10/24/2013 Nice good, busy, uneventful day. We knew his white blood count was still high and he had lost a lot of blood. We were not out of the woods, by any means. However, John's spirits were high, his fever was down, his pain was well controlled. He was  sitting in a recliner part of the day.  We knew that Dr. Motzkin was planning a repeat surgery on Friday, but for today, John could eat more than strawberry jello and enjoy his visitors.  At one point there were six ordained clergy in the same room!

Friday 10/25/3013 Elisa arrived at mid-day. After a long day of waiting for surgery, John returned for a third time to the operating room.  After a humorous moment in which Dr. Motzkin was talking about below-the-knee amptuation versus bologna amputation (you all know John's humor, which has been amazingly present throughout this insane week). The surgery took twice as long as planned, but Dr. Motzkin returned and for the first time told us he was "cautiously optimistic". He found no evidence of the bacterial infection in his left leg stump and the upper thigh was continuing to drain well with "no evidence of infection continuing to spread upward." In this surgery, they had to take more bone from John's left leg and worked on actually closing the wound. Dr. Motzkin believes he has a good prognosis for a prosthetic and they will be carefully watching the healing process. We are all feeling hopeful. Paul and his family arrived just as John returned to his room.  Certainly, this was the most difficult and painful surgery, and the next few days will likely be challenging as John's pain seems much increased. We expect he will be ready for visitors by the first of the week. He does love mail!

Saturday 8am: Celebrating Amy's and Paul's birthdays before Amy leaves