Miles O'Brien, a science and space reporter for PBS and former correspondent for CNN, lost his left arm above the elbow in emergency surgery last week, following a seemingly minor injury caused by a case of camera equipment that fell on the arm.
When O'Brien saw a doctor on Feb. 14th–two days after the accident–the doctor recommended emergency surgery to relieve growing pressure and numbness in O'Brien's arm. "Things tanked even further once I was on the table," O'Brien wrote yesterday in a post on his personal blog. "And when I lost blood pressure during the surgery due to the complications of compartment syndrome, the doctor made a real-time call and amputated my arm just above the elbow. He later told me it all boiled down to a choice…between a life and a limb."
O'Brien wrote that he woke up to "a new reality" in the hospital. "It's been a challenging week dealing with the phantom pain, the vicissitudes of daily life with one hand, and the worries about what lies ahead."
Compartment syndrome is a condition in which blood becomes trapped in muscle compartments, raising pressure and damaging the muscles and associated nerves if not dealt with immediately.
O'Brien said the injury occurred after he "had finished my last shoot after a long reporting trip to Japan and the Philippines." It's not clear where the surgery was done.
O'Brien is the head of PBS NewsHour's science unit. He spent 17 years as CNN's chief technology and environment correspondent and a news anchor. O'Brien, an instrument-rated pilot with several hundred hours of flight time. also covers manned and unmanned spaceflight. He is a board member of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.
O'Brien said he wrote his blog post "with one hand (and some help from Dragon Dictate)." He concluded the post with this:
I am alive and I’m grateful for that. Please don’t worry about me. I’m sure I can cope just fine. If I need your help, I promise I will ask.
Life is all about playing the hand that is dealt you. Actually, I would love somebody to deal me another hand right about now – in more ways than one.
-Paul Raeburn
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