Update:
I had a good day on Thursday. I
had a morning appointment at the prosthetist’s office. My normal prosthetist was not available so
Steve from the home office in Rochester, MN was here taking clients. It turns out that Steve is the other
co-founder of the company (last Friday, I had the other co-founder, Mike,
working on me). I learned a lot, got
good help, and was greatly encouraged.
Steve confirmed that I will continue to have good and bad days until my
leg stabilizes over time. He drew a
graph representing the journey I am on from amputation to maximum usage of my
prosthesis. It really helped me as he
represented the overall upward trend despite daily ups and downs. Even with my recent troubles, I really have
made great strides forward and I’m so thankful for what I have already
gained. I still have a long road to travel
but I am getting there; understanding that really helped me regain my sense of
emotional well-being.
Over the last couple of days, I’ve had a new pain develop on lower edge
of my stump. I wasn’t certain what was
causing it; but Steve figured it out very quickly. After the surgery, I have tissue that has
adhered to my shin bone (tibia). As my
leg settles into my prosthesis, the skin gets stretched and pulls against the
adhesion causing me pain. The bad news
is that there is nothing that can be done about that pain, except to tolerate
it. Over time the adhesion will break
and I will become pain free. For most
pains, they want me to stop walking and get off the leg before I cause any
tissue damage. In this case they want me
to keep on walking to help break the adhesion.
Pain with a purpose; that’s something I can understand!
Steve also tried a different approach to solving my knee pain. Instead of adding more pads in my liner, he
added bands of gauze about 5 inches below the knee and up. It seemed counter-intuitive compared to what
we’ve been trying to do; but it really seemed to work this afternoon (Thursday). I walked more today than I have in the last
few weeks. We’ll see if it lasts over
the weekend. If it does work, then they
will probably attach a band of leather to my liner around the knee.
One of the other things that Steve talked to me about was that he had
found in the last 30+ years of making and fitting prosthetic limbs is that “the
only thing that amputees have in common is that they have lost a limb.” What they experience, the process that they
go through, and how their prosthesis fits and is adjusted, etc. is different
for every single person. So my story
won’t be the same as any other person—perhaps similar; but different.
On one of the company’s brochures is plastered a motto that I have
always liked and now have more of a firsthand experience with: “LIFE—Some Assembly Required.”
After my appointment, I went by the Emergency Services building in Altoona
and had my weekly weigh-in. This week, I
lost 1.6 pounds again. That brings my
total loss up to 14.6 pounds and my current weight at 239.8 pounds. Lots of pounds left to lose; but making good
progress along the way! That was really
encouraging to go below 240. In a few
more weeks, it’s going go below 230 as I keep on dropping. I can do this! The continued loss makes all the effort in
reducing my food intake and increasing my exercise level well worth the
effort.
Thought for the Day:
One of my favorite Berenstain Bears books to read to my kids was
entitled, “Nothing to Do.” The cubs were
bored. “We’re bored. B-O-R-E-D. Bored.”
With plenty of possibilities around them; but nothing to capture their
interest the cubs were bored. My
children learned never to say those words out loud because my wife and I would threaten
them with chores to accomplish “if you can’t find anything to do.” I just read that Richard Calson, author of “Don’t
Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s all small stuff”, used a different approach with
his kids, “Great, be bored for a while, it’s good for you.”
“For many of us, our lives are so filled with stimuli, not to mention
responsibilities, that it’s almost impossible for us to sit still and do
nothing, much less relax—even for a few minutes…. I’m not talking about hours of idle time or
laziness, but simply learning the art of relaxing, of just ‘being,’ rather than
‘doing,’ for a few minutes each day.
There isn’t a specific technique other than to consciously do nothing. Just sit still, perhaps look out the window
and notice your thoughts and feelings.
At first you may get a little anxious, but each day it will get a little
easier. The payback is tremendous. Much
of our anxiety and inner struggle stems from our busy, overactive minds always
needing something to entertain them, something to focus on, and always
wondering, ‘What’s next?’ …if you allow
yourself to be bored, even for an hour—or less—and don’t fight it, the feelings
of boredom will be replaced with feelings of peace. And after a little practice, you learn to
relax.” [Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat
the Small Stuff…and it’s all small stuff].
The last few days before reading this, I had actually realized that I
have a hard time just sitting and waiting for anything unless I have something
in my hands, something to read, a game to play, music to listen to, etc. I was afraid of become bored and doing
nothing but “sit there.” I always have
my Kindle with me at my medical appointments.
In an unscientific experiment, my results show that if I get my Kindle
out and start to read, the doctor shows up sooner than if I just sat there
waiting for them. LOL. Hey, even going
to the bathroom without something to read is a bit scary to me!
So when was the last time that you sat out on the patio and watched the
sunset or gazed up to the Milky Way for a while? We’ve taught ourselves to shoehorn something
into every moment of our lives so that we don’t have a moment to spare because
that is “effectively using our time.”
But I think we have to ask ourselves a more important question “Is it
healthy and best for my mental well-being?”
I think that this is why I like the fall archery deer season. So much of my time is just spent sitting
still, watching the woods around me. I
never knew why before, but now I have a better understanding of why it helps
calm me down and give me peace. I have
often felt that it helped me recharge my spiritual batteries. I need to learn to practice the art of being
bored year round, on a daily basis. I
guess the good news is that it’s not like I need a long period of time to reach
that state. I get bored pretty quickly
and easily. And I guess that’s a good
thing.
Perhaps that is part of the genius behind God’s words to us in Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God…”
No comments:
Post a Comment