On the mend, but back again

Posted Nov 26, 2009 by Tom McEwen

Updated Nov 30, 2009 at 05:43 PM

I have never before been one-legged. I have never thought of being one-legged, but I am today, which probably makes me the only one-legged sports editor any of you have ever known, and I am proud to be that.

A bad leg was turning from bad to worse to very worse and caused my wife, Linda, to approve the amputation recommended by Memorial Hospital’s Dr. Gilman Tyler as a means of saving my life.

The lower left leg was amputated and I returned to being pain-free for the first time in 16 years. I am quickly on the way to recovery and it was an entirely successful operation, though I will have to learn to walk again - first with one leg and the second one, the prosthesis, that will be forthcoming.

Notably, the first man to visit me after surgery was Paul Straub, who had a double amputation of both legs almost to the hip after a bomb exploded during practice for war many years ago.

Linda says she feels the decisive hours were around 8 a.m. Sunday morning, Oct. 11. That was when Dr. Tyler told me that there was no hope for the leg. Circulation had stopped, and the choice was the leg or my life. In reply to that, there was no decision: my life was foremost and I told them that.

They prepared me for immediate surgery for the amputation of the left lower leg. By 11 a.m., I was wheeled to the operating room on the second floor of Memorial Hospital, and within an hour, I returned with one leg. I was heavily sedated during the whole time before and after the operation and remember little.

I had had terrific pain for a number of years, almost unbearable at times, and the family could understand the dire need for the operation. However I continued to work during all of these years, covering and editorizing sports for the Tribune.

After more than a week recuperating from the operation, spending most of the time in intensive care, I asked to be released as soon as possible to go to the Tampa General Rehab Center to begin training for life with one leg. 

The Rehab Center was not unfamiliar to me, as I had recovered once before there. It is like a boot camp for all ages to take physical therapy for the needs to return to full lives. Aptly run by Dr. Venerando Battis and Dr. Tom Scott, with a staff of experts, progress is mandatory and swift. Dr. Lawrence Neufeld was the attending physician, we wanted for nothing.

I am not sure what the future brings, but nothing has happened that will impede my writing. The Morning After will continue with one leg disguised as two.

I am back now to full duty, so any comments or thoughts you have, please send them along.

Know this: I would not have involved you in this affair of mine if I did not consider you and your thoughts of me and mine.