Monday (12/3/2018):

Monday (12/3/2018):

I've been an amputee for five years today. I am so happy to be alive and kickin'. Right now, I'm doing the best that I have done so far. I am so very grateful to God and to everyone who has helped me along the way.

Thursday (11/22/2018):

Thursday (11/22/2018):

Five years ago on Thanksgiving Day (it was on 11/28 that year), my wife realized that what we thought was a bad case of the flu was something much worse.  She decided to take me to the ER.  It turns out that I was in septic shock and the doctors weren’t certain whether I would live.  My wife was told that if she had waited another hour, I wouldn’t have made it.

So do I have something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving?  Most certainly!!  I was given additional years to live and enjoy life.  I’ve gotten to witness events that I would have missed (the birth of three grandchildren and watching them grow, the marriage of my youngest son, my brother’s wedding, my wife’s movie being made, and numerous family member’s birthday celebrations, etc., etc., etc.).  The Lord God saw fit to allow me to play some “extra innings” and I am grateful!

I am much more attentive to the little things that are sometimes easy to ignore, such as a beautiful sunset, stunning scenery, the majesty of a powerful thunderstorm, the beauty of a heavy snowfall, and good times with friends and family.  Things that before I might have taken for granted.

Every day is a gift!  Even on the difficult days, I can find something to be thankful for, even if it’s only that I am alive!

Remember your blessings.  Enjoy the little things. Take time to give thanks for what you have been given, including the people who make your life more rich and fulfilling.

Have a happy and meaningful Thanksgiving!

Monday (11/5/2018):

Update:

The other day I realized that I currently have the most energy, endurance, and potential that I’ve had in the last five years since my amputation. Presently I’m able to do more for longer periods of time. However, I still have lots of limits and I’m not even close to being back to my pre-amp levels.

Immediately after my amputation, I figured in a few months I would be back up to speed and “boldly go where no amputee has gone before” (yes, I just misappropriated a Star Trek quote). I ended up with a number of other medical issues besides my amputation so my future didn’t quite live up to my hopes, but I am grateful for every step forward that I’ve been able to make in resuming my life. I seem to be very slowly continuing to make forward progress.

I saw this meme about “usable hours” and I thought it was a helpful concept. There can be quite a difference in the number of hours of productive time between someone who has no health issues and someone who has chronic pain or a chronic illness.

I’m doing the best I’ve done in over five years, but I still run out energy too soon and take longer to recover than it used to take. I run out of time and energy before I get through my list of things to do for the day. I’ve reconciled myself with the idea that I cannot do everything that I want to accomplish. So each day I try to do the most important things first. A lot of things get left undone, but there isn’t anything I can do about that except to accept my current reality. There are days and times when I get a sudden burst of vitality and I am able to do so much more than normal—those are the fun days! But I often pay for it afterward and need more rest or to take it easy for a few days afterward.

That’s life! Or at least that's my life! I’m very grateful for everything that I’ve been able to do recently and I hope that this trend continues.

Wednesday (9/12/2018)

Wednesday (9/12/2018):

I traveled down to Newport, KY (Cincinnati metro area) on Labor Day (9/3) so I’d be ready to see my prosthetist bright and early on Tuesday morning (9/4).  Traffic was terrible and I was nearly in three accidents.  One I avoided by inches.  That was by the grace of God!  With the weather, road construction, traffic jams it turned into a 13-hour trip.  Whew!

On Tuesday, Rob made a static check socket and it felt great, then he put a foot on it so I could walk in it.  Once again I struggled with discomfort/pain on the radial edge of the limb.  He started trying all sorts of adjustments.  They seemed to help somewhat, but for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  We struggled with doing too much and causing new problems, etc.  It was rather tedious work for both of us.  Imagine going to the eye doctor for a vision test, “Tell me which is better—1 or 2?”  He can flip the lens back and forth repeatedly and quickly.  Many of the changes we were trying would take several minutes to switch over.  Then I had to decide which was better based on a memory, sometimes up to 30 minutes.  I find that very difficult to do.  I was very frustrated by Thursday.  Things weren’t progressing well.  We weren’t finding answers and seemed like we were going in circles. 

Mentally I was discouraged.  Should I head back home once again and give it more time?  Why am I so difficult to fit?  Should I just accept that the best we can do is going to result in an uncomfortable leg?  That just seemed wrong!  It isn’t what I wanted; but what was I to do?  I spent Thursday afternoon and evening icing my leg and doing a whole lot of prayer and soul-searching.  That continued on into Friday morning when finally I felt the right thing to do was to finish the socket.  We had come to the conclusion that most of my pain was located where the doctor shaved the bone back.  That area was just taking longer to heal.  We did a few more adjustments and then Rob took my socket to go start building my new permanent (or definitive) prosthesis.  That meant I would be in my wheelchair all weekend and get my leg sometime on Monday.

I was surprised by a phone call on Saturday afternoon.  Rob had stayed late Friday night and worked all day Saturday (his day off) to finish my socket early.  I picked it up on Saturday at 4 p.m. to “test drive” it for the rest of the weekend.  That gave me time to wear it and walk in for a couple of days before going in on Monday morning.

Monday morning was spent doing a few extra checks, getting some training on replacing parts, and finishing up paperwork. 

This leg isn’t perfectly comfortable; but for now, it’s as good as we could get it.  Over time, I think it will get better.  One way to describe it is like breaking in a new pair of tight dress shoes—it hurts and pinches, but slowly they start to feel better.

Rob was even able to fabricate a water leg for pool therapy from old parts that I had at a very low out of pocket cost to me (my insurance only pays for one prosthesis).  The pool at my gym, my friend’s pools, and the ocean are all salt-water.  My normal leg is not rated for salt water (the vacuum pump).  Now when I go to LA to see the boys or FL to visit my brother, I can get into the ocean by walking into it!!!

I was back on the road north headed home by about 1 p.m. on Monday. With the late start, I broke the trip into two days.  I don’t do well driving at night on unfamiliar roads.  I made it to the western suburbs of Chicago and had an easy drive home on Tuesday.  The roads we much less congested and made it a more pleasant drive. 

After being home for only two hours, I was back babysitting my 9-week old twin grandsons and 2-year old granddaughter.   Then I was at the Fire Department for part of the evening afterward.  I slept well last night in my own bed.  So glad to be home!

Now I am slowing trying to work back into to life.  I’ve been walking about 2 miles a day on this new leg.  I’ll slowly increase my distance as my leg adjusts to wearing this new prosthesis.  Rob made some great improvements and we greatly improved the range of motion on my knee, so I can bend it to 90 degrees.  That makes getting in and out of vehicles much easier.  I should be able to ride my bicycle again. 

With this better fitting prosthesis, there is so much that I can do and so much that I want to do.  I just have to be wise not to overdo too soon.  Walks, riding the bike, pool therapy, swimming laps, lifting weights at gym, start back shooting archery, maybe get out deer hunting, yard work, ride my motorcycle, keep babysitting about 4 hour each day, continue volunteering as a chaplain for the police and fire departments (and resume a more active participation).

Live my life!  That’s all I hope to do.  

Friday (8/17/2018)

Friday (8/17/2018)

I just got home from my trip to the surgeon and prosthetist.  I didn’t come home with a finished product.  On Monday (8/13) my surgeon in Indianapolis gave me the okay to have the prosthesis built, so I headed to my prosthetist office in the metro area of Cincinnati.  Initially things went smoothly and we made great progress.  But my incision line was tender with any pressure and it was difficult to determine if the pain/discomfort I was feeling was from my leg being tender or from something needing to be corrected in the prosthesis. 

 Before and After Surgery Xrays (Before--top; After--bottom): Notice how long the tibia is on the first picture.  I was basically standing on that point.

So after going round and round, I finally decided to wear the temporary socket back home.  I’ll wear it and use it for the next couple of weeks, which should give me a clearer understanding of what needs to be done to improve the socket.  It will also give my leg time to mature a bit (push the fluids out and shrink some).  That means when we build the permanent socket it should las t longer because it will as tight as it can be.  My prosthetist is going for a “Zero Sock” fit.  No matter what, my leg will change over time and use, so I’ll need a new socket eventually anyway.  Every time I have another surgery, the “mature leg clock” starts over. 

Since this is a temporary socket, it’s not made as strong, so I can’t go pushing extremes with this one.  But for right now, I mainly need to walk, walk, walk, and walk some more.  Last night I walked for ¾ mile.  That’s the farthest I’ve walk in over a year!!!  Even with the discomfort/pain, while I was in Cincy, I was still walking over a total of 3 miles a day just taking it rather easy.  Again, that’s a vast improvement over what I was able to do.

My temporary socket:  I am able to reuse my pump and my foot.  The liners and sleeves (not shown) are a completely different style.  

Working with a prosthetist at a distance means that it’s a big trip and we try to shorten the process of fitting down to a week or two.  If I was doing this locally, it would happen with multiple visits over the course of a month or two.  This trip didn’t quite work as well as wanted; but I am walking better than I was already.  And we should be able to complete the process rather quickly when I go back down to Cincy in a couple of weeks.

It also looks like Rob will be able to fabricate a water leg for me fairly cheaply from all the spare parts that I now own.  My current leg can get wet; but only in fresh water.  All the pools that I frequent (and I have family at the Pacific and the Gulf coast) are salt water pools and my elevated vacuum pump can’t tolerate that.  So the water leg would be used for doing water therapy.  It is amazing how much resistance water adds to the easiest of movements.  My left leg is very atrophied and I need to swim, work out at the gym, do water therapy, and do a lot of walking to build it back up.  My left leg is so out of shape that I strained a muscle in it just walking up a small hill earlier this week! 

So things are going well.  Slower than I might wish for; but well none the less.  I don’t really look forward to driving back down to Cincy again in a couple of weeks.  With traffic and construction delays it took me eleven hours to get home.  That’s way too much time sitting in the truck.  But if I get out of the wheelchair and get to walk, well, that’s worth the drive for sure!

Tuesday (8/7/2018):

Update:

I have my six-week post-op appointment with my surgeon in Indianapolis on Monday morning (8/13).  I send him regular updates and photos of my limb so he knows how I’m doing.  He’s already told me that he plans to give me the okay to start working on having a new prosthesis made.   Awesome!!!

My Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Doctor was tremendous squeezing me in to her jammed schedule on short notice so that she could be prepared to write the prescription for my new prosthetic leg.

I’ll travel to Indianapolis (500 miles) on Sunday (8/12), so I’m ready for my Monday morning appointment.

I’ve already set up an appointment with my prosthetist in Cincinnati metro area on Monday afternoon.  He makes the prosthesis in his own shop from start to finish.  With all steps, the adjusting, and getting it just right, it usually takes a week to ten days depending on how things go for me to walk out of there and head home.

The hotel where I stayed in the past has finally been completely remodeled.  In the past because I was there for medical reasons and stayed about ten days, they gave me a great rate of about $95 per day.  Now that they’ve remodeled, the rate went up to $175 a day.  I liked the spot I used to stay at; but not at that price! No, thank you!  I found a different place with more reasonable rates about a 25 minute drive away. 

The first few days in Cincinnati will mainly be spent sitting around while Rob builds my leg.  After that, most of my time is spent walking and wearing the leg to see how it fits and to make any adjustments needed.

Being that I live 750 miles away from my prosthetist means I have to invest the time and energy all in one blast to get there, and get it right before I come home.  Hopefully the process goes quickly.

I look forward to getting out of the wheelchair and back to walking again.  It will be great to be upright and active again!  One of my goals is to get my bow out and start shooting archery again.  I’d like to get out in woods to deer hunt this fall.  We’ll just have to wait to see how it all goes.  

Saturday (7/14/2018)

Update:

I had my surgery done in Indianapolis last Friday (7/6).  I was told that it went well.  I was discharged on Sunday.  My wife had flown in on Saturday to drive me home.  500 miles is a long drive when just sitting upright in a chair for an hour wears you out.   I laid down in the backseat of the truck for half way home.  

I've stayed at home resting for the week.  On Friday (7/13), I went over to my daughter's and got to play with my granddaughter and hold my grandsons.  That was pleasant!

I was having trouble with my limb all week.  The bleeding at the incision hadn't stopped, which is unusually long.  Also I was showing possible signs of infection, so I called the doctor.

It's a little more complicated when the hospital you had the surgery at is 500 miles away, the surgeon had a family emergency right after my surgery, and you are trying to find someone who knows you to talk with them.  Thankfully both hospitals use EPIC for record keeping, so the records and things transferred back and forth.  Anyway, my Indy team sent me to the ER to have someone look at me and run some blood work.  

My white cell count was somewhat elevated but I had a number of symptoms that I seemed to indicate an infection starting.  So I was put on two antibiotics and sent home.

I'm so very grateful that now just 12 hours after starting the antibiotics that my leg already looks so much better!!!  I think we nipped it in the bud before an infection really took hold.  Whew!  Fears alleviated!

I've got a two-week post-op follow-up scheduled in Indy this coming Friday (7/20).  I'll drive down on Thursday and then drive back home on Friday after my appointment.  Not looking forward to 1,000 miles in two days, but that is just the way it is.  I'll have lots of time to listen to my favorite music!                              

I got to tell you this.  It makes me laugh.  I called the hotel that I stayed at prior to my surgery.  I asked to reserve "a wheelchair accessible" room.  The lady told me, "We don't have any of those here.  We only have handicap accessible rooms."  I answered back, "Well, I stayed at your hotel last week, so whatever you got will be fine."  LOL.  The room I stayed in there was one of best layouts for a wheelchair that I ever had.  So yeah, I should be fine.