Update:
I had my leg recast with the new custom liner on Tuesday (3/15). On this coming Thursday morning (3/24), I’ll
have my first fitting with my newest test socket. My
current Elevated Vacuum (EV) socket is a bit too large and sloppy now that my
leg has adapted to being under vacuum. I
will only have had this socket for about 45 days when I get the new one. I’ve been having to add socks, which makes
the vacuum pump work harder and have been getting vacuum blisters because of
the loose fit of the liner.
While the EV socket has allowed me to do some walking, I’ve been
limited to about 50 yards maximum. On a
good day, I might be able to walk about 100 yards before the nerve pain benches
me. Although I’m hoping we can get “better
mileage” as we continue forward, even this amount of walking is wonderful. With planning, I am able to do a lot more
things than I could when I was 100% wheelchair-bound. Right now I’m in the wheelchair about 50% of
the day.
Besides attempting to get the perfect fit with my socket, we are trying
some additional strategies as well. On
Monday, March 7th, I had another steroid injection of the common peroneal
nerve (behind the knee). That has
blocked the pain on the side of my leg and has reduced the pain somewhat at the
end of my leg. The doctor at the Pain
Clinic suggested that we try a pinpoint injection for the pain at the end of
the fibula and the tibia. I’ll schedule
that in another week or two to see if we cannot reduce the pain even further. The less pain that I have translates into
more time in the prosthesis and walking farther.
Another strategy that we have just begun is working with a Physical
Therapist trying nerve glides (or flossing).
As I understand it, nerve glides are designed to get the nerves moving
in their sheaths, breaking any adhesions that have formed. The theory is that the nerves adhere and
cause pressure points as they are stretched sending nerve impulses which the
brain senses as pain. We had to scale
back some of the additional stretches that the therapist wanted me to do
because my pain level increased dramatically.
It took a number of months in the wheelchair to get the nerves calmed
down enough to try walking again. So I’m
very cautious about doing anything that might “reawaken the sleeping dragon.” I’m hoping the I can get some benefit out of
the PT—it just might take some time to get there.
I was disappointed when I attempted to ride my bicycle last week. I’ve always had trouble with my range of
motion with my prosthesis making bike riding difficult. My current socket is just a bit too high in
the back so I cannot ride without it hitting into the back of my thigh at the
top of each stroke. Where it hits is
close to one of my hypersensitive nerves, so until we get towards the final
fitting of my socket, I’ll just put the bike away.
I was given approval to get back in the pool after waiting 30 days
post-op on my cataract surgery. So I
went and swam for 50 minutes today. It
felt good to get back in the pool and get a good workout. I also worked out in the gym for 60 minutes
three times this week. I’ve been able to
slowly begin to exercise my leg muscles in my residual limb. I have a LONG way to go to rebuild my
strength and stamina after not walking for a year.
I don’t really know how far I’m going to get; but I’m happy that I’ve
made some very positive steps forward. I
am determined to see just how much I can achieve and how much of my old life I
can regain. Every day that I am able, I
will continue to put one foot in front of the other.
To celebrate, I put a couple of steaks on the grill. Yum!
