{"id":12572,"date":"2017-10-23T08:25:47","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T14:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=12572"},"modified":"2022-11-16T11:45:21","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T18:45:21","slug":"days-away-from-amputation-grandmother-keeps-her-leg-and-her-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/days-away-from-amputation-grandmother-keeps-her-leg-and-her-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Days away from amputation, grandmother keeps her leg and her life"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Dina Altschul was days away from having her left leg amputated.<\/p>\n

And losing her leg was going to break her heart.<\/p>\n

Altschul is barely 5 feet tall and 81 now, but back in the day, she was a basketball star for a Belarusian semi-pro team. Energetic and full of smiles, she\u2019s a devoted grandmother who loves walking and tending her large garden in Centennial.<\/p>\n

\"Dina
Dina Altschul loves spending time with her grandchildren. She’s thrilled she can still help with them every day after avoiding an amputation. Photo courtesy of Dina Altschul.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the past few years, Altschul has been suffering from a severe case of peripheral arterial disease, also known as PAD, which clogs arteries in the arms and legs and can lead to poor blood flow. That, in turn, can cause severe pain, difficulty walking and lead to amputation.<\/p>\n

The arteries in Altschul\u2019s left leg became so blocked that she compared her left foot to a piece of white marble. With little blood flowing to the foot, it lost color and was cold to the touch, like a piece of stone.<\/p>\n

At night, the pain was so overwhelming that Altschul often couldn\u2019t sleep and would get up every 15 minutes to try to keep blood moving in her leg. She had endured multiple painful surgeries at a Denver hospital, but within days of each surgery, her arteries quickly became clogged again. Over the holidays in 2016, as Altschul lay in a hospital bed after a failed surgery that left her with a gaping wound in her leg, her doctors told her they had no choice but to amputate. They asked her to sign papers, giving permission for the surgery.<\/p>\n

Altschul refused.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018no.\u2019 I did not sign them. I said, \u2018I will go home first.\u2019\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

She and her husband feared they would have to consent to an amputation within days. They saw other people fresh from limb losses limping around the hospital. They felt frightened and trapped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were lost,\u201d said Leon Altschul, Dina\u2019s husband of 58 years. \u201cShe\u2019s a very brave woman. But in the advanced stages of this disease, we thought we had very few choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It was a miracle\u2019<\/h3>\n

Then a remarkable thing happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a miracle,\u201d said Leon. \u201cIt was amazing. We looked for a doctor for many, many months and we couldn\u2019t find a doctor. We went through many, many clinics and no one could help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, thanks to a chance connection through their daughter, who is a professor at the University of Denver, they found Dr. Kevin Rogers<\/a>, an interventional cardiologist at UCHealth\u2019s University of Colorado Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rogers\u2019 nurse arranged for get Dina in for an exam within days of their first call in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were amazing. The whole office was completely different in their response. (Dr. Rogers\u2019) nurse understood our pain and our situation. They were very busy, but she did everything possible to speed it up,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

Dina\u2019s leg was infected and in terrible shape. But Rogers gave the Altschuls an unexpected ray of hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did an ultrasound and after he looked at my marble leg, he said he would try to save it,\u201d Dina Altschul said.<\/p>\n

\"Dina
Dina and Leon Altschul sit outside on their deck. Dina is thrilled that she still has two legs. Along with spending time with her family, she loves gardening and walking. Photo by UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And amazingly, he did.<\/p>\n

The Altschuls now worship Dr. Rogers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a savior,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout him, we wouldn\u2019t be laughing today,\u201d Dina said on a recent sunny afternoon as she showed off purple asters, bright red and pink geraniums and cucumbers growing on the deck at their home.<\/p>\n

She went from hopelessness and round-the-clock painkillers to feeling like her old self again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to garden. I love to walk. I was a sport girl all my life,\u201d Dina said with a twinkle in her eye. \u201cI started as a runner. Then I became a basketball player. I was not tall, 5\u20192\u2019\u2019 back then, but I played guard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dina and Leon met in college in Minsk in Belarus. After college, Dina was the captain for a Belarusian semi-pro basketball team. They later had to move to Siberia since they were Jewish and couldn\u2019t find work in their native Belarus. Their son and daughter also would have few opportunities.<\/p>\n

In 1980, when Dina and Leon were in their 40s, they won the right to come to the U.S. as religious refugees. They had to leave everything behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we left, we were considered enemies of the state,\u201d Leon said. \u201cThey took away our citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leon, who was a physicist in Siberia, never got to go back to his homeland. Dina made one trip home to see her family. They settled first in New Hampshire, where Leon was an electrical and computer engineer and Dina taught, then they moved to Colorado in 2011.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to preventing amputation<\/h3>\n

Looking back, Leon and Dina think she may have been suffering from lower-extremity peripheral arterial disease as long as 12 years ago.<\/p>\n

Dina\u2019s foot was sore back then. She went to podiatrists and physical therapists. Finally one of them figured out that he couldn\u2019t detect her pulse in her foot. That was a sign that she was having vascular problems.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rogers said it\u2019s common for people with PAD to suffer without a proper diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cPAD is common but under-recognized,\u201d he said of the disease.<\/p>\n

Most people know that clogged arteries can cause heart problems. Fewer know that similar clogs in arteries throughout the body can cause the kind of problems Dina was suffering.<\/p>\n

Rogers credits the team approach in UCHealth\u2019s Limb Restoration Program for helping him save Dina\u2019s leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need multiple specialists working together: orthopedics, podiatry, vascular surgery, rehab, diabetes management, and infectious disease among others,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cWe strive to provide these services in our unique program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amputations can also be common for patients with diabetes and some patients deal with wounds that won\u2019t heal, so bringing in experts on those conditions is vital too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use an interdisciplinary approach,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

UCHealth\u2019s program is one of the only Limb Restoration programs in the Rocky Mountain region and one of fewer than a dozen similar centers of excellence for limb restoration across the country, Rogers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to change the paradigm and reduce amputations by improving blood flow. The technology is improving and we now have people who are dedicated and passionate about preventing amputation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Dina\u2019s case, she had already had several previous surgeries. One was a bypass graft that was supposed to reroute blood from a clogged artery. But the incision from that graft had become infected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leg looked bad. It didn\u2019t have enough blood flow and her foot was discolored and in a lot of pain,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cWe had the skill set to open up the blockages and thoughtfully treat her infection.\u201d<\/p>\n

To fix Dina\u2019s leg, Rogers placed a tube about the size of a pencil in her femoral artery through which he placed stents to reconstruct the occluded bypass graft. It\u2019s like clearing a tunnel that has become blocked.<\/p>\n

Rogers was able to use ultrasound to keep checking the flow frequently after the surgery and the arteries have continued to stay clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks really good. I\u2019ve been very happy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve become increasingly better at preventing amputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

That results in multiple benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaving a leg improves quality of life and may extend life. It saves costs for health care systems and for society,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n

Saving limbs also makes families like the Altschuls very happy.<\/p>\n

Inna Altschul is Dina and Leon\u2019s daughter. When she learned that her mother would probably need an amputation, she was concerned that her mom wouldn\u2019t have the necessary psychological support afterwards.<\/p>\n

Inna teaches in the University of Denver\u2019s Graduate School of Social Work and reached out to her colleagues who work in health care. One suggested she contact a former student who happened to be working at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.<\/p>\n

He said Dina needed to see Dr. Rogers.<\/p>\n

Inna thought the amputation was inevitable; still, she called Rogers’ nurse.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was able to get us in right away. They really took a personal interest in my mom. We were feeling pretty desperate. If we hadn\u2019t gone to see Dr. Rogers, mom was going to lose her leg,\u201d Inna said.<\/p>\n

Now, Inna is overjoyed to see her mom doing so well. On weekdays, Dina gets up early and comes to Inna\u2019s home to watch her 2-month-old daughter while Inna takes her 3-year-old to daycare and gets ready to go to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been an amazing grandma. She\u2019s done such a great job of helping me with the kids,\u201d Inna said.<\/p>\n

Inna also has gotten a kick out of seeing how dedicated her dad has been at nursing Dina back to health.<\/p>\n

As for Dina, she\u2019s thrilled to feel well again and loves watering her plants and taking walks on the Dry Creek Canal near her home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m on two legs. I do my gardening. I take care of the little one. I\u2019m on no painkillers and I have no infections,\u201d Dina said. \u201cLife is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her advice to anyone suffering similar problems to those she faced: \u201cFind Dr. Rogers right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dina Altschul was days away from having her left leg amputated. And losing her leg was going to break her heart. Altschul is barely 5 feet tall and 81 now, but back in the day, she was a basketball star for a Belarusian semi-pro team. Energetic and full of smiles, she\u2019s a devoted grandmother who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2123,"featured_media":12575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3512,82,93,9167,1497],"class_list":["post-12572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovative-care","tag-heart-and-vascular-care-cardiovascular","tag-heart-and-vascular-care-cardiology","tag-limb-restoration-program","tag-specialized-services","tag-uchealth-university-of-colorado-hospital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGrandmother keeps her leg and her life - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dina Altschul was days away from having her left leg amputated. 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