Choosing Hope: Navigating Expected Amputations with Jason Auyer, CPO

In this powerful episode, Rachael sits down with Jason Auyer, Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist and owner of Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics, to explore the often difficult but empowering topic of expected amputations. Jason shares insight into why some patients are faced with the decision to amputate, how to prepare both physically and emotionally, and what true success can look like on the other side.

Together, they discuss the importance of having a care team that listens, supports, and walks with you through every stage, because no one should face this journey alone. From navigating the unknown to finding hope in the highs and lows, Jason offers heartfelt advice and a concept he calls irreducible minimums—non-negotiables that keep you grounded and moving forward, regardless of the circumstances.

Whether you’re a patient, a caregiver, or a clinician, this episode reminds us that amputation isn’t the end; it's a new beginning.

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Guest: Jason Auyer, LCPO, Owner of Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics

Host: Rachael Auyer, Co-Owner of Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics

Producer: Laine Johnson, Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics, Marketing Assistant

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Alliance Goldiger Podcast. On today's episode, we begin a conversation concerning elective and medically necessary amputation. It's a tough road, but you are not alone. There is life after amputation. I'm so excited that Jason Oyer, owner of Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics and 20-year CPO, is here to discuss this with us.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Well, Rachel, thank you so much for having me on the podcast. Obviously, I love being able to be here with you. This is a ton of fun. But it is a super important topic that we're going to discuss today because this is a life-altering and can be a very challenging situation for a patient. And it seems odd, but it's one of the favorite things I get to do is be able to come alongside patients as they're trying to make these decisions to give good information, but also hopefully to be able to communicate hope to them of moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Thank you so much for being here. I wanted to start with the preparation part. So there's a lot of decisions in healthcare. Can you give us the background of why a patient might have to make this decision?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Absolutely. So it's one of the things, you know, no one wakes up and thinks, hey, I'm wondering if I'm going to have to decide today if I need to get my leg or my arm amputated. But usually the process that gets you to that spot or the journey that gets you there is a lot of times it could be some traumatic event, could be a fall, could be a motor vehicle accident, could be any other kind of traumatic situation that is leading to problems with their foot and ankle, could be with their knee, could be with their upper extremity as well, where they're either having a loss of function or having increased pain or maybe uh less stability. And so they're having to live life moving around in a situation they wouldn't want to be. And so they want more than what their current situation is allowing them to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

And so patients who would qualify for this podcast, let's just say, they've undergone salvage surgeries, they've undergone different treatment plans. Could you give some background of the patient population we might be speaking to today?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Sure. What I'll do to, and hopefully this will answer the question, I'll kind of give you a um a mock patient of maybe a situation that happened. Uh so it could be a patient, maybe you've gone through a car accident, and then you were hospitalized, and from that you had some kind of bone crushing injury at your foot and ankle. And so your foot is still there, it has not been amputated, but you're in a lot of pain. Uh, maybe they had to do different surgical intervention to limit your uh movement at your ankle. Uh, they've had to add screws and plates and all these different surgeries. And so now your ankle doesn't move like it used to. And so maybe you can walk, but not for long distances because it really hurts. And maybe you used to run, but you can't do that anymore because you don't have the flexibility at your ankle. So, again, that traumatic situation is probably the biggest patient population that we would deal with uh that is in this spot of trying to decide should or should they not uh get their leg amputated.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

And I think for somebody like me, regular person off the street, it would never sound like a good choice to have an amputation. So could you give layman's terms, people who are not familiar with prosthetics, why is this a good choice?

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Sure. So you think about we'll we'll focus on the foot and ankle. So you think about your foot and ankle, there's so much motion that we can have with it. You know, we can stand on uneven terrain, we can stand on hills and slopes, uh, we can go upstairs, we can run, we can jump, we can do all these different things. We can stand just on a level surface without having to fall. And if every time you're putting your foot on the ground, you're in pain or you can't move that way anymore, it limits what you're gonna do. So you think about if if you're in pain, you're typically not gonna do the activities that are causing you pain. And what if every step you take, you have some pain? You might limit how much you're walking. If every time you go up a hill it hurts, well, maybe you don't go up hills anymore. If every time you try and run, you can't do it, you might not do that. And so think about the decision and whether or not you're gonna get your leg amputated could be, hey, I want more for my life than what I can currently do right now. Now, I always tell patients when we're trying to make that they're trying to make this decision is one, I'm not gonna make the decision for you. Your doctor should not make the decision for you. This is something that you need to decide on your own. And we can't guarantee that, hey, if we fit you with a prosthesis, you are 100% gonna be able to run. You're 100% gonna be able to do X, Y, and Z. However, what we can guarantee is that when we work as the prosthetist as hard as we can and you're committed to the rehab process, we can see you moving forward to have more mobility. So again, if you're having pain with a lot of those situations, if you have your leg amputated, that pain should go away. Um, you shouldn't have that same pain. There's a new challenge that you need to learn is how to use a prosthetic leg, but it's not impossible. But now there's the possibility for improvement, the possibility to have more mobility than you currently have. Whereas, you know, when you're going through this and you have all this pain, you kind of see that the cap, hey, I can't get any further than where I am right now, but I want more.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Thank you for bringing that up. I think that is a perfect bridge to our next segment, which is more preparing emotionally. Because I would assume if I was in that situation, it would be very challenging to dream a life up in my mind of success after amputation because it seems so much like a loss. I can't even imagine the gain. How could you counsel our audience, if they're in this position, to prepare emotionally?

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Sure. Um, and I'm glad you brought that up, Rachel, because you know, we think about the physical loss. I have my foot amputated. It was there yesterday, and now it's not there today. There's also an emotional and a mental component to this. They equate losing your leg like losing a member of your family. And there's a grieving process that is a part of it. And so I think any patient who's considering this needs to think about that before to know, hey, I'm going to grieve. This is going to be a grieving process, and that is normal. It doesn't mean that you didn't prepare well or you made the wrong decision. It is a hundred percent normal that a patient is going to grieve the loss of their limb. Um, and so mentally preparing for this, I think one is to acknowledge that, hey, this is going to be hard. I might be frustrated sometimes. I might maybe sometimes even think, did I make the right decision? Should I have done something different? And I think also with preparing for this emotionally is having a great support team, you know, your spouse, uh, family, friends, community to be around you, medical, uh, medical team and professionals, having a prosthetist who you feel like that you can talk to, not just about, hey, how my leg is working as far as you know, the mechanical portion of it, but life is hard now, that you can have a good conversation with them and you feel like that they hurt they hear you and they understand you. I think that's one of the biggest things with going through any kind of emotional tragedy. Are you seen? Are you heard? Um, and if you don't have that, that can be challenging because this could be a very isolating event. You feel like you have to do it all on your own. And this should not be something you do on your own. This should be something that you have a tribe of people surrounding you to help you through it.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

That's a great point. I was kind of thinking while you were talking, one of the things we talk about here in our clinic is you have good days and bad days, no matter what your mobility is. Yes. So just because you have not had the amputation doesn't mean you're gonna have perfect days same if and after the amputation. There are going to be days that are still tough. How do you counsel patients who are concerned about that unknown factor, though? Because we all know good days and bad days happen to everybody.

unknown 8:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

There's a layer of how am I going to manage something like this?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

No, I think what I talk to patients about is that there are going to be some ups and downs. There are going to be days. I think of a specific patient right now, and he he told me the story of soon after he got his prosthesis, he wanted to throw it out in the middle of the yard. He wanted to be done with it because he was just so frustrated.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Please don't do that. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Don't don't do that. But, you know, he was someone who was very able-bodied, could get up and do whatever he wanted whenever, really didn't have to think about it. And now he's having to think through, okay, I got to put this leg on, and right now I'm getting used to it and it doesn't feel right. And what do I do here? Um, and so I think, again, acknowledging there are going to be good and bad days. If you are meeting with anyone who is counseling you to get your leg amputated and this, hey, you get fit with a prosthesis and you won't have any problems anymore. That's a lie. There are going to be issues, there's going to be problems, just like all of us, right? We sometimes wake up, we have some aches and pains, or we're having to deal with this or deal with that. Um, I think with that amputee, they need to know again, first, again, this is normal, but then also we should be on a trajectory that each day is getting a little bit better than the day before. And so it's it's not a roller coaster that you're high, high and then low, low. You should be steadily climbing more and more kind of in this upward trajectory, but then knowing, hey, today's not a great day, but I'm gonna go into tomorrow back at it. And I always encourage patients too to have what I call, and someone has counseled me on this, to have uh certain things that they're always going to do no matter what. Okay, they're irreducible minimums. So what I mean by that is hey, even if the prosthesis is hurting today, I'm still gonna put it on, unless it's you know, rub and sores or whatever, I'm still going to try and stand. I'm still going to, you know, fill in the blank. There's gonna be some things that you're gonna do. And some of it could be, I had another patient and I encouraged her every day, no matter what, you're gonna write down five things you're thankful for. I know this seems, you know, we talk to our kids, hey, we need to have a thankful list. I need a thankful list. I think we all need these kind of lists because again, there are going to be challenges, but when you can look beyond that and see what is good? Hey, you know what? Today I woke up and I don't have pain in my foot anymore. I used to have pain every day. That that's a great thing. Is it still challenging? Yes, it is challenging, but there are things and you can build on that, and that can can help restore joy and can help restore hope because you've seen, oh, this is better. So now I can look forward and have a hopeful expectation that it will continue to get better.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

I know it's our clinic's idea, but I feel like we need to talk about it. So this is a perfect time for you to promote the Goldigger program. Why is setting and achieving goals paramount in overall health care?

SPEAKER_00 11:26

So I'll overall health care and kind of specifically for orthotics and prosthetics. I think that when patients come in to clinics after amputation can be similar to other tragedies that they've gone through or another person could have gone through, that a lot of times we equate our value and our worth to our mobility. Hey, yesterday I could run a mile. Today I can't even stand up without someone helping me. I don't have as much worth and value because I can't do the things I did yesterday. We believe very strongly that everyone has inherent value and worth. And we're faith people, we believe everyone's been made in God's image. And so, because of that fact, you have one worth and value because your creator gave it to you. And that's not tied up in your mobility. Whether you ran a mile yesterday and can't do it today, it doesn't, that doesn't matter. And so our goal digger process, kind of getting to your question of why is that important to set goals? We believe it's very important that as patients set goals and then achieve those goals, that is kind of a snowball effect that they can get excited and realize, you know what? Life can still be great. I still have value, I still have worth. And I think the best way, and I I and this might not be the part the time for it, but I can I share a patient story? Is that okay?

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Uh yes, you can share a patient story as long as you include the celebration portion, because that's the part that I really want you to zone in on. As you are talking about each day getting better, right? How to celebrate the small ones and the big wins.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

So I want to tell a brief story about an individual who, again, before his amputation was very able-bodied. Um, what didn't use a walker, didn't use a cane, was just up and walking, and really uh wasn't restricted with what he wanted to do. Uh, he got fit with his prosthesis. Even before he got fit, I mean, he's going around on his uh walker, no problem, hopping around, doing really well. We fit him with his prosthesis, and he probably didn't have a great expectation of appropriate level of expectation of how quickly it or how long it would take him to learn how to use it. He wanted to be up right away. Day one, he wanted to be able to do a lot of the similar things he did before, right? We all do. Yeah. And there was a struggle and there was a frustration. And this individual, he would come into our clinic at times, hey, I'm I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. This is not working, this is no good. And we would work, and each day would get a little bit better, a little bit better, and there would be a little bit of this up and down. And he recently came back into our clinic, and as we were talking in the patient room, and this is a strong, you know, working hard kind of guy.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

A man's man.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

A man's man. And he's tearing up a little bit because this is the first time he walked in without any assistive device. And then he tells me, Hey, not only this, but I was up in Gatlinburg and I walked across the longest suspension bridge in the US.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

And you could tell just the pride and the joy that he was feeling. And so what I said, hey, we need to celebrate this. Like we're we're going out. So it, and you know this in our office, we have a bell that they ring, we take their goal, we put it up, the patient puts it up on the wall. Um, we take pictures, we celebrate. And when we can give patients permission to celebrate, all of a sudden it changes perspective. Because in their mind they think it's a big deal. But when we make it a big deal, and when others, and this is not just alliance, when others can come around that patient and say, this is a huge deal, this is amazing, that changes their perspective. And so, yes, we want to improve the mobility, and that's so important, right? But you also need to remember that your value and worth is not tied up in what you can and can't do. And when you can achieve these goals, you can recognize that value and worth and really celebrate that.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that is probably one of my favorite things we get to do with patients is to look at the circumstances and find that mindset that will help them really walk out a plan of care of overcoming. Um, I'm gonna shift because I feel like we've covered the emotional and the mindset and really encouraging patients and loved ones who are listening to find a clinic that has this in place because just as much as the physical needs to be cared for, the mental and emotional side. Now we got if we're talking expected, that must mean there's unexpected. And one of the gifts of expected is time. You have time to do some investigating. So counseling a patient or a loved one, what are the things they know they're considering this? What are some things they can do practically to prepare for this decision?

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Sure. So I think again, having people that you can trust with helping you to make this decision, but not people that are making it for you. This is a very final decision. If you decide to have your leg or arm amputated, there's no going back from that decision. Don't do this because your prosthetist thinks it's the best thing for you, your surgeon thinks it's the best thing for you. Don't do it because a family member thinks it's the best thing for you. You need to go to them for counsel, but you need to be confident, okay, I'm I'm making this decision. Because afterwards, when there's hard, it's easy to be able to point fingers, oh, well, I just did it because my surgeon told me I had to, or I just did it because you know my spouse said I had to. You need to be um comfortable with the decision. I think the other thing is again, preparing as much as you can physically and emotionally and mentally for this. And so let me kind of unpack that. So physically, hey, I'm gonna have my leg amputated. What does it look like when I go home? Do I have stairs getting into my house? Is there a way that I can get in with a wheelchair if need be? Can I even fit into my bathroom with a wheelchair or a walker? Is my bedroom on the second floor? Would I have to go upstairs to be able to get to my bedroom? And so what I would encourage them to do is go around their house, and even if they can use both their legs, pretend you can only use one. Can I do this with a walker? Can I get from point A to point you know B? Would I need to use a wheelchair? Have all that equipment ready to go? How am I gonna shower? How am I gonna bathe? Do I need to step over you know the bottom of the shower to be able to get inside? Or am I having to get over a tub to be able to do there? I think also you want to make sure that you are prepared with your support system and knowing that, and I say this as being a guy, you know, guys love to do everything on their own, you know, they don't want to have help. You're gonna need help, and that's okay. And so get that set up. How can people help me when I get home from the hospital? Can people help me if I need to, you know, grocery shop or with meals or any of those sorts of things? Um, and then also having people you can talk to. I think it's important, and we always encourage patients. We have uh other patients who have gone through amputation that they can meet with, they can talk to, but also having people that you love and can trust to just be able to, hey, bear all I'm having a hard day, and I just need to talk about it. I don't need you to fix it. I just need to be able to talk about it because the grieving is real. Every patient I talk to, they talk about this, that there was a grieving process, and that's a real thing. And so you're kind of preparing for that a little bit before, which is can be an advantage to someone who, hey, they're not being able to prepare their this is what they have to do, and there's no decision they have to make.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

So when you're talking about the circumstance of the home, how would you counsel someone listening right now? Everything you said, check, yes, yes, yes. Okay, so I don't get amputated. What do I do if my home and my diet and my insurance, everything's not in line? What are some easy plus one things a patient could do today to start moving things in the right direction?

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yeah. So easy things. You could go to Home Depot and you could get grab bars. You could put grab bars um in near your bedroom if you need help getting out of the bed. You could put them in your bathroom. That's probably a very common spot to be able to use the toilet or to be able to stand at the sink or get into the shower. There are also some different ramps that you can get. You don't necessarily need someone to come in and install a ramp into your home. And so see if that could be an option of something that you could do. Um, I didn't even mention it or talk about it, but as far as insurance, if you're making this decision, you need to call your insurance company and find out what is the prosthetic coverage. How does this work? If I need to get a prosthesis, is it covered? How is it covered? How do they make those decisions? When you call, and if you don't have any other information, you just ask, hey, is a prosthesis covered? They might say, Oh, yes, it's covered. You need to find out more than that. Because there's a lot of different stipulations, right? Of what coverage, what that means. And that's where you really need to connect with a prosthetist beforehand and just talk about, hey, what are some of my goals? What are some of the things I want to do? And what the prosthetist can do is one, their company can call the insurance company and find out some more, but then they can also give you specifics of when you call your insurance company, ask them these questions and get answers to these questions so that you feel more comfortable, you know, going into this.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

And that's a great point about meeting a prosthetist prior to making this decision. Tell me, what are some things a patient should consider? Obviously, we're going to suggest they come to Alliance. However, when making that decision, what questions should they be asking?

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Yes. So I think first off, and this is not even a question to ask, but just something you know you can evaluate as you're talking to the person. Do they seem to care? Do they want to spend time with you? Do you feel like they hear you, that they see you? Or if the answer is no to those questions, don't expect that it will be different after they're providing a prosthesis to you. Because this is someone that you need to uh have a trusting relationship with that not only when you're when you're going through this and you've already had your amputation, but even beforehand. So I think that's one thing of being able to just kind of gauge them as as you're in there. I think you need to ask them, hey, what is what is your process with making the prosthesis? How does that work? What's the time frame? Um, how do you work? With my insurance? Are you in network with my insurance plan? If you're out of network, what does that mean as far as what the cost cost would be? Do I need to come to the office anytime I have a problem? Can we solve issues over the phone? Can I email you? Can I send you pictures? Can I send you videos of things that are that are going on? Do you provide other counseling services? What other support systems do you have? Can you connect me with, you know, physical therapists or other people that you work with that can help me through through the process? All prosthetists in the US, for the most part, are going to have access to the same technology. So at Alliance, and if you went down the street to somebody else, I could probably they could get the same prosthetic knee for you, more than likely that I could, or the same kind of foot that I would be able to get. And so to me, that is not the big separator, but it's the type of person that you're able to connect with. And even at one company, if you meet with a prosthetist and you're just not connecting there, maybe they have other ones that are there, you know, that you would want to speak with too. So you want to trust this person.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

I totally agree. I think the other part that we need to discuss is the office staff. Because just as much as you are meeting and working with the prosthetist, what about the office staff? Because they're making your appointments and verifying insurance. All of that. What are some key things patients should be observing in the office?

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Sure. Well, I think, you know, a lot of places, unfortunately in the U.S., I feel like that customer service is dead. Um not here. Not here. Not here. Not here. But it's frustrating because you might walk into a facility, say you're gonna uh buy a meal somewhere, and you're about to be seated at your table, and the hostess doesn't pay any attention to you, doesn't come over, or almost seems frustrated that you're there. That's really not acceptable at all. And it's the same thing when you walk into an orthotic and prosthetic clinic and you're greeted. One, hopefully you are greeted. Hopefully, someone on the other side said, Hello, my name is Phil in a blank. We're so glad you're here. How can I help you? Welcome to Alliance Prosthetics and Orthotics, or you're calling them for the first time. Again, the person is not going to change magically once you're a real patient and are missing your leg or missing your arm. And so the same things apply that I talked about with the prosthetist that apply to the front office staff. And I think also asking questions, hey, if my insurance denies this, what's the recourse? How do we work through this? And trying to establish a partnership. As a patient, if you go in and just assume this company is going to do everything for you and I don't need to do anything as a patient, that's not a good expectation. However, they should be able to partner with you to get these things approved and working together. And when that happens, usually we have a lot of good success uh success.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah, I I am hearing you say realistic expectations. Everybody needs to know their part. I wanted you to talk about building the support because we don't just magically get patients. Now, sometimes we do, but it's a referral. It's a referral who's sent over, and we are an extension of that practice. What are some good questions referrals can ask of a prosthetic clinic for patient care? Ones that you know you've been able to answer. If it's a referral source listening to this, um, why should they come to Alliance?

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Well, I think with a referral source, they want to make sure that their patients are cared for well. One of the things that we say when we're meeting with a surgeon or with a therapist is we'll tell them we know that we're an extension of your practice. And what I mean by that is if there's a doctor that sends a patient to us and we do a great job, that patient is going to go back to that doctor and say, hey, thank you so much for sending me to Alliance. Thank you so much for sending me to work with Jason and work with the Alliance team. On the flip side, if we do a bad job, that looks poorly upon that referral source and that's a bad representation of them. And so the referral source wants to make sure, because their name is attached to this patient, their reputation is attached to this patient. Am I sending them to a place that shares my same values for patient care, that is willing to go that extra mile, that is willing to communicate with me if something is not working well? You know, if sometimes with insurance, it could be the doctor needs to say two more things in their note for something to get approved. And if the prosthetic and orthotic clinic is not communicating that to the physician, they they don't know. They don't know they need to add anything. So the communication is real important. Um and then also that team approach that when things are going well and we want to celebrate, we need to make sure that referral source knows about that. That it's not just something they send patients and they never hear about it again. They have no idea what happens. Um, and so it's it's that partnership. Um, and then the patient, as far as the patient is concerned, it's a seamless experience. It's not, oh, there's the team over here I work with and the team over here. This whole team is a part of my team. That's something I say to the patient a lot in the room and the uh a lot of the first times I'm meeting with them at the hospital. It's not that you're agreeing to be a part of Alliance's team. It's that we are at Alliance, you're giving us permission to be a part of your team. We are part of your rehab team, and every surgeon, every therapist, every prosthetist, all of them, that's what their um messaging should be. Not you've joined my team. No, we have joined your team as the patient.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

No, I think that's such a good point. I I think there's a misconception, though, that patients can't reach out to a prosthetist or referral sources can't reach out to a prosthetist unless the amputation has happened. Because we're talking about expected, when would be a good time for a patient or a referral to reach out to a prosthetist?

SPEAKER_00 28:08

As soon as you think it's even a remote possibility that you might have your arm or leg amputated and you want more answers, you want to ask questions right away. Even if we've had lots of patients that we have counseled and talked to and they've decided not to get their leg amputated or not get their arm amputated, that's okay. We're not gonna charge them for their time, you know, shame them or anything like that at all.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

We hope they keep it.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Right. Because in the end, our hope is that we can give good information so they can make the best medical decision for themselves, right? And even if a patient is gonna come to me and say, hey, I need you to make this decision for me, I'm saying, I'm sorry, I cannot make that for you. I'm gonna give you all the information as much as I can so you can make a good informed decision, and we're gonna support you either way. Now, there are some situations with surgeons and processes that we might strongly recommend because of some of the things that are going on. And I know a lot of that kind of turns into more of the unexpected type of amputation that we might talk about later.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Correct. And I'm I'm looking forward to that conversation. I wanted to come back to something that I think is so important for patients to hear. They have a choice in the prosthetist that they use. How would a person, not my personality style, because I'm I'm gonna interview all of you all and make sure that you all like me and I like you, but somebody who might be a little bit more timid and doesn't know how do you get a second opinion or what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Okay. So, first, just because say you come to us at Alliance and you want to get some more information, and you decide, oh, you know what, because we'll just say because of distance, hey, this is too far. But I really thought Jason was really nice, and I met their patient care coordinator, Lane, and she was great. I feel bad telling them that I don't want to use them. You don't have to feel bad. One, you can always call and let us know, but if you're like, oh, I just don't want to make that conversation, we're not gonna hound you, you know, forever and always until you call us back. You could just decide, you know what, I'm gonna call another place. And so I'm glad you brought that up that because just because the prosthetist has a great relationship with a surgeon, let's say, and that's who they recommend, does not mean that's who you have to use. This is your decision. You need to be comfortable with this individual, you need to be comfortable with the team that you're gonna be working with. And even if you're more timid, you don't have to have confrontational conversations with all these people and say, these are all the reasons I don't like you, and I'm gonna go over here instead. Please don't. Please don't. You can just, hey, I'm gonna call another place. And maybe you call the other place and you find, oh, you know what? Actually, that first place was was pretty good. I didn't realize, you know, that it's always good to get multiple opinions.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

No, I think that's a great piece of advice and leads us to our next segment because we've talked about the physical now, the emotional, the mindset. Now I need some inspiration because patients on the other end of this podcast, our audience, they are sitting in a room thinking, if I have an amputation, what is my life gonna be like? And you have the privilege of carrying so many stories. Share some stories that you're allowed to share that can inspire a patient that is afraid for the future.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Yeah. I'm thinking about a myriad of different stories, but I'm gonna limit it to two. Um, and I'm gonna try and do on opposite opposite ends of the spectrum as far as mobility and what caused the amputation and all those things. The first young individual, early 20s, was a runner, is a runner, let me say, and got hit by a car while he was running. Multiple surgeries uh later, ended up having to decide to get his leg amputated below his knee. Okay. This is an individual uh newly married, um, you know, young, you know, the world ahead of him, all those sorts of things. And he had a period of time that he was not able to get back up. He was not able to get back to running, doing all these things that he did, did before. Um, and I think like I've said earlier, it's being able to be willing to uh persevere, knowing that there's gonna be some hard days, but I'm gonna keep going, uh, those irreducible minimums, I'm gonna take another step and another step and another step. Uh, and what was fun, we had we had him in the clinic uh about a year ago, and we were able to, with partnering with uh OSER, who's a prosthetic manufacturer of prosthetic feet, um, and the Challenged Athletes Foundation or CAF, we were able to partner with them to be able to provide a free running prosthesis to this individual. Again, he lost his leg while he was on a run, was hit by a car, and now he's at a spot that I want to get back to running again. I love running. I want to do that again. I need something to help me to be able to do it well. We were able to provide this for him and we fit him in the clinic. And what was what was funny is he came in in Crocs, I think. So he couldn't run in those. And so I said, Well, what what size are you? I think we're pretty he said, I'm a I'm a size 10. Oh, and so I gave him my shoe. So he was running in my shoe on one side and the running prosthesis on the other side. Last uh um story that I'll give you. This is another patient, uh, this individual. I won't give her her her age or her name, but um uh let's say in her 70s, okay, she her front door was locked, and so she knew her back door was unlocked. And so this, again, let's say mid-70s, jumped her back fence, okay. And because of that, she um dramatically hurt her uh left ankle. It wasn't a sprain, it was it was worse than it was some fractures, and and was either deciding, hey, I'm gonna have to live with lack of mobility here or decide to get an amputation. Okay. And she's someone bellowed the ball, I mean, lights up a room, all the things. Beautiful, beautiful, decides to get her leg amputated, and and now she comes comes into our office multiple times because she's wanting to get prepped because she's about to go um on her trips. She goes on all these cruises all over the place and looks fabulous, and looks fabulous, yeah, right. Um, and is walking long distances, using her prosthesis 10, 12, 14 hours a day, um, and is living life. Is it perfect all the time? No. Are there some challenges that happen for sure? But she's living life. She is playing cards, she's going on trips, she's shopping, shopping, right? A lot of shopping. She she says I can't leave her in the patient room too long because she'll buy too much on Amazon. That is true. So that's that is one thing to consider, right? Um, but again, all these patients, both of these patient stories, they decided I'm going to get my leg amputated because I wanted more mobility than where I currently had. And they were willing to work towards it and partner with us and with other medical individuals. And they're now achieving those goals and living, you know, really an abundant life.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Thank you for sharing those two stories. I know exactly those two patients because they are very easy to think about, and they're not rare. Those are just two stories. This is a very high possibility for most of our patients that they can get back to a life that they love, or because it's an expected amputation, begin a new normal, something they haven't been able to do, and they can't even remember the last time they participated in those life-giving activities. I wanted you to tell our audience next steps. Okay, they've heard the stories, they know what to do. Now they want to get a patient appointment or with one of our clinicians or even you. What do they got to do?

SPEAKER_00 36:04

Sure. It's very easy. You can call our number 770-679-3090, and you can just tell um one of our great patient care coordinators who are going to pick up the phone, as you can say, hey, I'm considering possibly having an amputation. I'd love to set up a meeting with a prosthetist. If you can come into our office, wonderful. We would love to see you face to face. If you can't, we'll talk with you over the phone and go through some of these next steps. Um, but again, and if you're not from around this area, please call us. We'd be happy to connect you with another prosthetic clinic that is in your area that kind of shares some of those same values that we do.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Thank you, Jason, for taking all this time today and helping us prepare for the expected amputation.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

It's my pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Were you inspired or challenged today? If so, connect with us. Follow the links in the description box below. We want to hear from you. Until next time, thanks for listening to the Alliance Goldigger podcast.