Update:
It’s been an interesting couple of days with my new leg. While I got to wear it home on Thursday,
there are still a number of problem areas that need to be resolved. On the positive side of the ledger, I have
not had the excruciating pain in my leg while weight bearing with this
prosthesis; but that doesn’t mean that I am without pain or discomfort. Before I brought the leg home, the most
obvious ones were removed; however it is going to take some time, energy, and
determination to continue to whittle down the list. This is a fairly normal occurrence with any
new leg; it’s just exasperated a bit by the hyperactive nerve in my leg. My prosthetist is very pleased with the progress
we’ve already made, so there is plenty of hope for the future.
Right now I am able to wear the leg 4-6 hours per day. Standing isn’t too bad; but putting all my
weight on the leg to walk sets off “minor” nerve pain. I’ve come to understand what real pain is, so
I would call this mild to moderate discomfort, sometimes ranging into minor to
moderate pain (when compared to the excruciating pain). It’s the kind of pain where if I am really
focused, I can ignore it and keep on going.
Eventually though, it all adds up and I cannot take it anymore.
Some of that isn’t surprising since I haven’t walked in a year. The first day, my knee joint really
ached. Now on the third day of wearing
the prosthesis, I didn’t even notice any discomfort in my knee. Yesterday, I could only stand to walk to the
kitchen and back around the house about once an hour. Today, I was able to get out and do a couple
of very short errands. So there is good
progress being made.
However it is uncomfortable enough that I am wearing the prosthesis
because I need to; not because I want to.
My leg is adapting to being under vacuum and being back in a prosthesis. I am relying heavily upon a cane to take some
weight off of the prosthesis; but there are moments where I am walking more
normally with little reliance on the cane.
Every hour, I take the leg off to observe my skin to identify pressure
points, etc. I keep a journal of my
discoveries and then send the daily log to prosthetist. She’s contacted me with some suggestions to
try at home and others will be addressed at my appointment next Thursday. So as I said before, good progress is being
made; but I still have a long way to go and many appointments with my
prosthetist until we get the bugs worked out.
Yesterday, when I was working in the kitchen it was a bit surreal
looking down into the refrigerator or looking down at the countertop to see
what I was doing. I remember thinking, “Whoa! This looks weird!” I felt like my head was way up in the clouds
walking around and seeing things from a much different angle and perspective
than I’ve grown accustomed to over the last year.
I am growing more familiar with my new prosthetic leg by taking it on
and off every hour. Think of it like a
soldier disassembling and reassembling his weapon over and over. A prosthetic limb though is not mass
produced; it is tailored exactly to the individual and to his limb. This takes time and energy and a good working
relationship with the prosthetist who made and adjusts the leg until it is
right. I was talking with a friend about
how hard it is tell my prosthetist what I’m feeling. After I tell her what I am feeling and what I
think is going on, she has to figure out what’s happening and how to fix the
issue. You can liken it to someone who
is not mechanical trying to explain to the mechanic what’s wrong with the
car. The mechanic has to interpret what
he is being told and then track down the problem and repair it. Imagine how much more difficult it is if the
car doesn’t act up when it is at the garage.
The mechanic only has the owner’s description of what he thinks is going
on to base his work on. That is a good
way to describe what I’m doing at this point with my prosthetist. I appreciate her hard work and look forward
to getting this leg just right so I can get back to living and doing the things
that I’ve missed.
Just like the first drive down the field ending in a touchdown, doesn’t
mean the football game is over; I’ve got most of the game still ahead of me;
but I’ve had a good opening drive.
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