‘Life Changer’: Saskatchewan Amputee Raising Awareness About New Procedure | The Canadian News

A Saskatchewan amputee wants to raise awareness about a procedure that he says has vastly improved his quality of life.

Ron Patterson is now the first person in Saskatchewan to have had an osseointegration limb replacement on his amputated leg, but he hopes that will change quickly.

Osseointegration limb replacement involves fusing the bone with a metal implant.

Ron broke his ankle in 1978, months after marrying his wife, Shelly.

“I used to drive a bulldozer, heavy road construction equipment and I slipped in some frost on the ladder, went down and landed on a rock,” said Ron.

Ron had a cast on his ankle and then he had surgery and repositioning. Says a window was not cut into the plaster, so it couldn’t be cleaned. The wound bled and then became infected.

Ron was given two options; using drugs for the rest of your life that would cause you to lose your driver’s license or lose part of your leg.

He decided to let doctors amputate his leg in 1984.

Ron used a lace prosthesis for more than 30 years. He said that for about 20 years, the socket worked well for him, but then he developed sores around the stump, along with a dependence on prescription drugs.

“I was taking morphine and it got to the point, my body got used to the morphine so they put me on fentanyl and it was starting to get to the point where my body was used to fentanyl and it wasn’t working like it used to. when it started, ”Ron explained.

He also developed a neuroma, which Ron said was painful when pressed.

The pain got so bad that Ron had to sell his cattle.

It was then that Ron began looking for other options, including osseointegration limb replacement.

He was referred to a doctor in Alberta who had good news and bad news for him.

“The bad news was that they were only going to do people from Alberta,” said Ron.

Later, Ron was referred to a surgeon in Montreal.

Dr. Robert Turcotte is an orthopedic surgeon at McGill Health Center specializing in musculoskeletal cancer and osseointegration.

“By having this piece of metal anchored in the bone, protruding through the skin, we allow the amputee to connect directly to the prosthesis through the metal implant, thus avoiding the discomfort and limitations of the socket prosthesis”, Turcotte explained.

The surgery is ideal for amputees who have experienced pain and discomfort when wearing a socket.

Turcotte said that in warmer months, the stumps can become hot and wet from sweat, causing the socket to rotate, making walking difficult.

Lace prostheses also take five to 10 minutes to put on, especially for people with mid-thigh amputations.

The osseointegration prosthesis takes 10 seconds to click.

Turcotte says this is especially helpful for bilateral amputees.

Turcotte said the program in Montreal has the capacity to perform 50 osseointegration surgeries a year, but COVID-19 has affected the number of patients who can operate. He estimates that there are 10 to 15 patients currently on the waiting list for the procedure.

Surgery and prosthetics are also expensive, Turcotte said.

At the moment, Quebec covers surgery under its health care system. The Turcotte office must obtain permission to perform surgery on Ontario residents of that province’s health care system.

Ron had his surgery covered by a Saskatchewan government workers’ compensation fund, though he said it took about five years for the province to finally give the go ahead for him to undergo the operation.

Turcotte explained that some provinces are reluctant to cover the surgery because they believe it is experimental.

“It is not anymore. We know a little about the complication and the results in the short and medium term. For most of our patients, this is life changing. It gives them a degree of freedom, of freedom, of the ability to wear their prosthetics all day, ”Turcotte said.

So far around 30 osseointegration surgeries have been performed in Montreal. The first procedure was completed three years ago. Turcotte added that demand for the operation is low.

“We don’t have hundreds of amputees waiting for surgery.”

Turcotte said surgery is more common for lower-limb amputees, but mid-arm amputees have also successfully completed osseointegration.

There are also limitations on who can have the surgery. Patients must be of normal body weight, not smoke, or have significant health problems.

After going through the procedure in November 2020, Ron said he is sharing his story so other amputees can now about the procedure and decide if it is something they want to pursue.

“I can do everything I could with my leg before,” said Ron.

“It’s like getting your own leg back.”

He added that he could even go back to raising cattle if he were younger.

Both Ron and his wife said that although he missed playing various sports with his three children when they were younger, they are nonetheless grateful that he can at least do more with his grandchildren now.

“I feel like a million dollars. I make. It’s just that my quality of life is back and everyone who sees me and talks to me, the new me (versus) before and the drugs I was living with, they just said I look so much better (and) I look so much healthier. “

Ron also said that he is happy to be drug free now and not having to take strong prescription drugs like fentanyl or morphine.

“I can walk and do as much as anyone else in the world.”

Ron said the day he underwent the operation was “the best day of my life” and he hopes the surgery will be more available to other amputees.

I wish I had done it 30 years earlier.

Ron said that he is more than willing to speak to anyone who wishes to contact him with questions about the procedure and his personal experience with it. He said he just wants to help others achieve a more comfortable lifestyle as amputees with the possibilities that exist.

Shelly is equally happy that Ron had the procedure, saying that he wasn’t the easiest person to get along with before.

“He was very irritable and probably a lot of that was due to pain as well, but also to drugs. I know this because he’s a totally different person since he’s off (drugs), ”Shelly said.

Shelly agrees with Ron that if an amputee qualifies for surgery, they should look into it.

“I wish it had happened a long, long time ago. But that’s life, ”Shelly said.

– with files from Taz Dhaliwal