When patients are brought to my office, I think they are usually surprised at my appearance. In spite of what you may have heard, I'm just a regular guy. I don't have a movie star face, with a chiseled jaw and piercing blue eyes. I'm not a tall, athletic man by any means. I'm 48 years old, just less than six feet tall, average build with a little pot belly, tending toward baldness. I don't have a ten inch cock, and I can't go all night, although I've always believed that the woman comes first in any relationship and I adore giving oral sex, so I get no complaints there.
I didn't go to an Ivy League college; I went to the University of Washington. I got my M.D. in Orthopedics, practiced for a few years, then went back to school and trained in Plastic Surgery.
All along the way, though, there was something missing. I know that most of us will say that we are in the medical field because we want to help people, but in the final analysis, it's usually about the money. I had a head start there, because my parents were wealthy. I have often wondered if my career path would have been altered if I'd not had nearly limitless supplies of money to support my drive for knowledge, but at this point in my life, the second-guessing is pointless.
For me, it really is all about the deep desire to help people. Even if the help they need doesn't fall within the boundaries of what is considered "Normal".
For years you've been hearing about "That Dr. who does voluntary amputations."
Well, that would be me.
So maybe I'm not quite a 'regular guy' after all.
I went into orthopedics because I have a mechanic's soul. I know how things ought to work, and I know how to fix them if they don't work that way. I can look at how a person moves, and tell what I can do to help them without initially resorting to scans and measurements. I spent a few years reattaching tendons, fixing knees and pinning broken bones, but it was not as satisfying as I'd hoped.
Plastic surgery was a better fit for me, but soon enough I found myself satisfying the egos of rich men and women who wanted to be prettier, sexier or younger, and their motivations began to discourage me.
In the late summer of 1999, everything changed, thanks to a woman named Sarah, just in case all you wannabes need to know who to thank.
I was visiting a school chum, Jack, and his family, at a very small town in Eastern Oregon. He has a cabin at a lake about three hours from his home, and we were touring the lake in his ski boat when I noticed a person on the shore waving a shirt and yelling.
I pointed the person out to Jack.
"That's Gary Leonard," Jack said. "I wonder what's going on." He pointed the boat toward the shore and shortly we were at the dock nearest to Gary, who was running to meet us.
"Sarah's had an accident with a shotgun, Jack! There's a tourniquet on her leg, but we need to get her to a doctor, and my damned truck won't start. Please help me, Jack!" he panted.
Jack looped the shore line from the boat over a bollard on the dock, and we were off, following Gary down the shore and up to his cabin.
We found Gary's daughter, Sarah, dressed in shorts and a flannel shirt,sitting on the ground with her back against an old Ford pickup. She was holding her right thigh in her hands and rocking back and forth, obviously in shock. Her lower leg hung in tatters, the bones obviously shattered. There was surprisingly little blood on the ground, and there was an old fashioned Boy Scout style tourniquet just above mid-thigh, a scarf wound around a stick, and the end of the stick stuck in her belt. Her lips were tight and grey, but her eyes were bright. On the ground was an old "LaFever Nitro Special" side-by-side 12 gauge shotgun. Jack had explained to Gary that I was a doctor on the way up from the dock, and he asked that I take control of the situation.
"Hello Sarah. My name is Owen, and I'm a doctor. I need to change your position, OK? I need to lay you down so you won't pass out."
Sarah nodded, making eye contact with me right away. I instructed Jack and Gary to pick Sarah up and lay her on her back on the nearby picnic table. I supported her left leg and the remains of her right lower leg as they carried her, noting instantly that the knee was shattered, and the foot was mangled nearly beyond recognition. There was no way this was repairable, since a very large percent of the lower limb and foot was pulverized. I took her father aside and spoke quietly to him.
"We need to get her to a hospital, Gary. You've definitely saved her life with the tourniquet, but she's going into shock, and that can kill her as easily as the blood loss. How far away from a surgical center are we?"
"The closest hospital is five hours away on dirt roads. We tried to get a helicopter out here a few years ago, and it wouldn't have saved much time, since it has to come from Bend. One of our neighbors here at the lake, Dr. Garson, has a little room with some medical stuff in it, though. He's a retired surgeon. Is she going to lose her leg?"
"She's already lost most of it, Gary. There's no doubt about that, unfortunately. My first specialty was in orthopedic surgery, and I can tell you there's no way to save anything below the tourniquet. How complete is your friend's first aid room?"
"I don't know, but I know he's there this week."
"OK. That's where we're taking her," I said. I moved back to Sarah's side.
"Sarah, we're going to put you in the boat and take you to Dr. Garson's cabin. I'm an orthopedic surgeon, and I'm going to see if he has the equipment for me to take care of your leg, OK?"
"Are you going to amputate my foot, Dr.?" she asked, looking deeply into my eyes.
"Yes, honey, I'm afraid so. We're going to leave as much of your leg as we can, but I won't know much until I see how complete Dr. Garson's supplies are."
"Will I keep my knee?" she asked. That was an unusual question for a patient to ask at this point, and it gave me pause. Sarah's eyes looked calmly into mine as she asked the question. Too calmly.