Update:
On Thursday, I got a surprise call from the Prosthetic Lab saying that
my new leg had arrived a day early; they wanted to know if I could come in and
get it—you bet! A doctor was traveling
from Rochester, MN to Eau Claire so he brought my leg with him instead of
having to ship it, so it shaved a day off of my wait. After not wearing a prosthesis for several
days, I had some fluid build-up (although my leg had been elevated and I wore a
shrinker sock) so the initial fit was a bit uncomfortably tight. But by the end of the day it was feeling
fine.
It is rather interesting testing the fit. I am in a room with parallel bars. And I walk
back and forth; back and forth for at least 30-40 minutes as two prosthetist watch how my leg works and how my foot lands, etc. It is hard not to get a bit
self-conscious. I have to consciously
work at ignoring them watching me like hawks and try to walk normally. At the same time I tell them about any little
feeling, pain, or sensation that I have to give them clues as to what is going
on. Occasionally they have me stop and they
use an Allen wrench to make minor adjustments or have me put on another layer
of sock to tighten up the fit. Two or
three times in the process, I take everything off down to the bare skin so they
can check for red marks on my skin indicating pressure points. On areas where there is muscle—excellent! On areas where there is bone structure—wrong! The whole process on Thursday took over 90
minutes. I got a bag full of new sock of
various layers to insure a tight fit and a number of new sheaths to use over
the inside liner. I have to carry
several socks of various thicknesses with me wherever I go so I can make
adjustments during the day as my stump naturally shrinks a bit.
I really like the way the new prosthesis turn out with the T-Shirt
embedded in it. One of my son’s quipped
when he saw it, “He’s more machine than man…” a quote about Darth Vader on Star
Wars. It is pretty snazzy looking how it
turned out. This leg is appreciably
lighter, stronger, and less bulky. I
tried my dress pants over it yesterday, it is still tight getting the ankle of
the pants over the knee, but it much less strain and quicker to do now. I also tried a few other pants and it is
possible to get them on now two.
Although with needing to adjust the layer of my sock two or three times
a day, I may need to have some pants slightly altered to make that change
easier. So I am very pleased with my new
prosthesis. I should be. Just for the prosthesis (including the test
socket) and fitting at the prosthetic lab my bill is over $15,000. That doesn’t include visits to physical rehab
for training by my therapist or visits to the rehab doctor. As I told my wife, “I’ve taken up an
expensive hobby.”
One sad note is I took my motorcycle boots in to the lab and found out
that they won’t work with my prosthetic leg.
Bummer! Next week, I take my work
boots in to check their fit. I was told
that they should no problem.
Late Thursday afternoon I had an Altoona Fire Department event to
attend. The entire department was going
over to a “meet and greet” with the Police and Fire Commission. Afterwards, the department was on the agenda
at the City Council meeting where there was a public swearing of the oath of office
of a firefighter. Nice ceremony!
I left there and went immediately to a Church Council (all elected
leaders) meeting at my church. We
reviewed the budget in preparation for our upcoming Quarter Business Meeting and
went over the plans for new handicapped accessible bathrooms and large storage
area we are considering adding to our building.
It was a good meeting.
Friday morning I will be in an Elder meeting until about noon (that’s
why the Update is so late in being posted).
Afterwards, I need to prepare for an early departure on Saturday
morning. On Saturday I will be leaving
the house before 5:45 a.m. and not returning until after 8 p.m. to go up to our
bible camp for a Men’s Archery Retreat.
I am the featured speaker after dinner.
Since I’ll be gone all day, I will not post an Update or Thought
tomorrow. My next post will be made
Monday morning.
Thought for the
Day:
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Sometimes you win,
sometimes you lose.” The message is, “Hope to win, expect to lose, and live
with the results either way.” Isn’t that
a terrible way to live? John Maxwell
says that successful people don’t think like that.
“Their attitude is never ‘sometimes you win, sometimes
you lose.’ Instead they think, ‘sometimes
you win, sometimes you learn.’ They
understand that life’s greatest lessons are gained from our losses—if we
approach them the right way” [John Maxwell, Sometimes You Win—Sometimes You
Lose].
Maxwell quotes Hugh Prather who says, “I sometimes
react to making a mistake as if I have betrayed myself. My fear of making a mistake seems to be based
on the hidden assumption that I am potentially perfect, and that if I can just
be very careful I will not fall from heaven.
But a mistake is a declaration of the way I am, a jolt to the way I
intend, a reminder that I am not dealing with facts. When I have listened to my mistakes, I have
grown” [Maxwell, Sometimes You Win—Sometimes
You Lose].
Wow! How many times have I beaten myself up for
something stupid that I’ve done? I make
myself miserable because I haven’t lived up to the impossible standard of
perfection.
1 John 1:8 “If we
say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in
us.”
I know that I will fail and that I will stumble on occasion; so why
does it take me by surprise and sucker punch me when I do? Nobody likes failure. We all want to be successful and be thought
of as successful by those around us. We
think that if people really know who we are that they will reject us; they will
deem us unworthy of their time and severe relationships with us. We are afraid that we will be left without a
friend and no one will stand by us and support us.
So in an attempt to appear more perfect than we really are, we shade
the truth or put a spin on any story that might put us in less than favorable
light. We toot our own horns and seek to
make ourselves look larger than life.
The sad result is often just the opposite of what we hoped to
achieve. People often see through the façade
of our make believe world and see us for who we really are--less than perfect
people.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with being the best person
that we can be; it just is rather ludicrous to even hope that we will maintain
perfection throughout our lifetime. Our
best hope is to not stumble in such a way, that when we do stumble, as to ruin
our good name and destroy everything that we’ve worked hard to achieve.
When we do fail, we need to own up to what we’ve done. It is better to stand up tall and proud and
take our licks than to try to hide and slide by on the sly. All that accomplishes is further guilt heaped
upon our sense of failure. Yeah, it is
better just to come clean and ‘fess up.
It works that way with God
too. We aren’t fooling anybody—especially
Him. When we mess up, as we inevitably
will, instead of hiding from God or pretending it didn’t happen—we need to go
straight to Him and ask His forgiveness, for His cleansing and for His strength
to not fail again.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
What I am grateful for is this—every time I turn to God,
He forgives me. No matter how many times
that I mess up—He never gives up on me.
No matter what I’ve done, nor how often I’ve done it; if I turn to the
Lord God—there is forgiveness and a fresh start. Boy!
Do I need that!
Lamentations 3:21-23 “This I
recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never
fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.”
Just knowing that my failures are not forever gives me the courage to stand
up and try again. I just mentioned to
someone today that all of the greatest home run hitters in baseball also had
the highest strike out rates. They were
not going to hit any home runs if they let their strike outs stop them from
swinging the bat. Imagine how they
mentally had to deal with their failure and put it aside to be able to swing
for the bleachers. I want to learn from
my mistakes; but I don’t want to let them define me or stop me from
accomplishing all that I can or from becoming the best person possible doing
the greatest good that I can achieve. Don’t
let you mistakes cost you the game either.
Keep swingin’ the bat.
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