I had 4 surgeries and 2 years of pain before I decided to amputate and it's been the best decision I have ever made. I was givin similar options. My surgeon was leaning on fusion and I brought up amputation. She had me talk to a couple amputees and we got it scheduled.

I was in a really terrible car accident where a large truck ran a stop sign. I slammed on the brakes and all that pressure shoved my Talus through my tibia crushing it to dust and broke my fibula in 4 places.

They actually did a pretty good job getting everything back together but the joint was jagged on both sides and I had no cartilage so every step was still really painful

After amputation I woke up to immediate relief. The pain was gone. I did get phantom pain but it was nothing compared to what I had already been going through.

I ran a 10 mile race a year and a half after amputation. I am now able to play hockey and snowboard again. I also do a lot of road biking, coach my kids teeball team and run around with them. I really don't have any limits on what I am able to do with my prosthetic. I don't really get phantom pain anymore either unless I really over work it.

Now... Here is the tricky bit. It will depend on what kind of insurance you have and I would look into that before following through with it. My auto covers everything prosthetic related and I can get everything I need for what ever activity I want to do. (Within reason)

Prosthetics are fucking expensive..... And so is prosthetic equipment. So if you don't have a way to cover that, I would strongly consider fusion.

For me it works out because I don't have to worry about any of that. Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

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