Amputation is used as a final resort to remove diseased or dead tissue.
Doctors must be very careful to determine exactly what is to be removed and how much.
It’s a precarious balance between saving what can be saved and removing what is damaged, and has become a threat to the overall health of the patient.
Amputations are done under general anesthesia and require between 5 days to 4 weeks of recovery just in the hospital.
Recovery continues in the form of continued healing, physical therapy to learn how to work with and around the lost limb, and in many cases prosthetics.
While the surgical wound should be fully healed in between 4 and 8 weeks, the emotional and physical adjustments can take much longer.
