Avoiding Amputation and Saving a Leg: George E. Husk

George E. Husk, 82, of Huntington Beach, has had quite the life. For many years, he worked in construction both overseas and here in the States. He also found time to get married to Victoria in 1951, and they are both proud of their three children, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

His one regret? Smoking. Interestingly, George picked up the nasty habit later in life – at age 40 while working overseas. “After returning home, I should have dumped the cigarettes,” George laments. “But they are so habit forming, and I ended up with some very serious vascular problems.”

Indeed, in February 2000, George was getting ready to fix a leaky toilet. He dumped all of the plumbing parts on the floor, and when he stood up to get started, “the muscle on the shin bone went bang and I went down to the floor.” The doctors determined that George had both a heart attack and a torn tendon. The torn tendon is what tormented George – he just couldn’t stop his leg from cramping and hurting.

But George had to put his tendon problems on hold … because on March 12, 2001, he underwent a triple heart bypass surgery – the effects of smoking had clogged his arteries.
Yet for George, the misery had just begun. His vascular surgeon at the time removed part of an artery from George’s leg to use as a substitute for his diseased coronary artery. The surgeon then reattached the remaining part of the leg artery to an artery in George’s calf that was actually plugged up. As a result, George experienced extensive problems with the circulation in his foot.
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“A month after the surgery, the artery failed and edema (swelling) started setting in,” George recalls. “The result was a wound the size of a silver dollar, and the biggest challenge was trying to keep it from getting infected. It was just not healing. I went to several more doctors, and three out of five of them wanted to cut off my leg below my knee. I was devastated.”
Like any of us, George could not image life without a leg. He would have to give up his beloved pigeon racing, which he had been involved with for years. And the thought of using a prosthesis was overwhelming for him.

Then he found out about Douglas B. Hood, M.D., director of Endovascular Therapies at the USC Center for Vascular Care at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, and made an appointment for August of 2003. They met for 1-1/2 hours, and Dr. Hood determined that he could use the veins in George’s arms to make a bypass in his leg – thus re-establishing circulation. If this proved successful, he would not have to amputate.
Through Dr. Hood’s expertise, George’s leg was saved. “Dr. Hood was absolutely super,” George says, “and everyone at USC University Hospital was so nice. The staff were really pleasant and wonderful people. Dr. Hood saved my leg; I didn’t want to run around with a stump. I am a very lucky person. If I didn’t explore my alternatives and find Dr. Hood, I wouldn’t have my leg.”