Staring down his fears
As a double-amputee, Paul Rowland has been dealing with a stretched and unwieldy health system, but he is, as he says, ‘a stubborn bugger’.
‘I wear shorts. I’m not self-conscious about artificial limbs ... A few months ago I was in the supermarket and there was a toddler, a little girl who just couldn’t stop staring, so I smiled and gave her a wave and she smiled back.’
Paul Rowland was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at 34 years old when he went to the doctor about a cut on his leg that wouldn’t heal.
He was determined to manage his diabetes, but, he says, in his late 40s, ‘I started getting cramp in my feet, especially my right foot. I didn’t know what it was. I had to give up football, and by the time I was in my 50s, knew I had a situation – but I disregarded it. I had that “she’ll be right” attitude. Because of my diabetes, I was seeing the doctor every three months, but I never mentioned the cramp until my foot got an infection.
Loss of one leg
‘I had an angiogram through the groin. It showed two of the three arteries had died and there was no oxygen supply below the ankle.’
Two of Paul’s toes turned black, and he lost feeling in them. He was on a waiting list for an amputation until one toe became fly-blown. It was a Saturday night in 2018 when he noticed. He drove straight to A&E and the very next day he was in surgery.
‘The nurses on the wards were brilliant.’ he says, but, after he left hospital, he found he had little to no support. He had slipped through the cracks in a health system that wasn’t coping. ‘Nobody called me, nobody contacted me ... I sat at home for near on three months before going in to the physio department at Tauranga Hospital.’
At last, things started happening. He began physio and travelled to Hamilton three times to be fitted with an artificial leg. Even so, it was some time before he discovered he was able to claim back his travel expenses from WINZ.
A second amputation
In November 2020, Paul noticed a blister on his left left big toe. He says, ‘That leg went quick.’ By Christmas, the three biggest toes on his foot had died altogether. ‘Between Christmas and New Year, I was in agony.’ His specialist was on holiday, so he wasn’t able to have his leg amputated until January.
He’d had more time to prepare for losing his first leg, ‘but with the second leg I was frightened.’ After the operation, ‘I woke up, and when I realised I was alive I just cried.’
However, some things were easier. ‘The first time I had no idea what was going to happen. The second time I knew what services I could access ... I could advocate for myself this time around. The hospital knew who I was.’
It was just as well because he soon found he’d slipped through the cracks again. ‘I’m sitting at home and I’m thinking, I’m supposed to go back and get signed off by the specialist, and I haven’t heard anything a week after seeing the doctor, a month after the amputation. I’m thinking – this can’t be happening again, surely!
‘So this time I rang up the thoracic department, gave them my number, and they said, “Oh I’m sorry, we’ll get someone to contact you.” A few more days went by, and I thought, this is not on. So I got on the Tauranga Hospital website and put together a polite but firm email. I sent it to thoracic, complaints, physio, and the artificial limb centres in Hamilton and Wellington. Within two hours, I’d received three phone calls and two emails. They were falling over themselves, all apologetic.
Looking to the future
Paul says, ‘I’m managing recovery better this time around. I know my limitations, and I work to them. Currently, I can walk around the house for five minutes with both false legs on, then sit down.’
He says, ‘I’m a stubborn bugger.’ He’s taken up pool again, now that he can stand, and he would like to become a peer support volunteer through Peke Waihanga’s Peer Support Service, offering peer support to others who’ve had amputations.
He is open about his journey. ‘I wear shorts. I’m not self-conscious about artificial limbs. The thing that makes me laugh is the toddlers … A few months ago, I was in the supermarket and there was a toddler, a little girl who just couldn’t stop staring, so I smiled and gave her a wave, and she smiled back.’
He has plenty of personal support – including good friends who will drive him anywhere if he needs it.
Riding motorbikes, meanwhile, has given him joy for most of his life. ‘After the right leg came off, I couldn’t drive, of course, so a friend took me to a motorbike shop to see a hand-controlled scooter. Within four months, I was completely independent.’
After his second amputation, ‘I’m giving myself three months, and I’ll be back on it. My legs aren’t quite long enough to reach the ground on both sides, so I’ll be adding two inches to the artificial legs.
‘I’m currently 5 '9" but in a couple of months I’ll be 5 '11"!’