I am starting this blog early because there have been a zillion things to write about, and I have been up about 20 minutes. I'll forget these things.
Bradley told me a few times, that the morning procedure is to wake up, put on the silicone liner, put on the leg, THEN get up and start the day. Don't brush your teeth first, Don't pee first. Don't lay there first. He was especially concerned about today because of the strain the stump took yesterday, it will be swollen, and not fit easily into the socket.
I wake up and lay there for a bit, after a great nights sleep, and I have to pee. I have been going to bed with out drinking lots of water. I know that is bad, but sometime it is so hard to get to sleep because of the phantom pain, that when I do get to sleep I want to stay sleeping for the maximum time. If I get up to pee, then I sometimes battle to get back to sleep. It is the maintenance of sleep that is a problem, as well as getting to sleep initially.
Then I realize, that the spray to lubricate the socket is in the other room. So I jump in the wheel chair and zoom to get the spray, lubricate the funny fold I have in the stump, put on the liner. (it is tighter than normal), then get in the wheel chair and fetch the leg, then head for the bathroom. All the grab bars in the bathroom make me feel comfortable. Then I lubricate the socket and slip it on, then stand up and bounce the stump into the socket. Well....Most of the way into the socket. I bounce and bounce. I press the vacuum release button and hear the whoosh, and feel the change in the stump. I figure that stump size will be greater if it is in a vacuum, so I release the vacuum, bounce, release the vacuum, bounce. Still not in all the way.
I reach down and remove the vacuum release button. I can now stick my finger in the hole, and feel how far the stump is into the socket. Still a few inches (5 cm) from where it was yesterday.
Poor Bradley goes and gets the new leg within millimeters of the correct length, and here I am within a few inches of the correct length because I can't get the stump into the socket, so the leg is about 5 cm to long. Duh!.
My main problem when walking with the new leg is when it swings forward. It swing forward in secret. I can feel nothing, yet the leg must be forward and the heel planted securely and the knee held back before it can take weight. If I think it is forward, and it isn't, then when I transfer weight to it, it isn't there,and I will fall. If it is forward, but the heel isn't down first, then it isn't locked even if it is forward, and I will fall. Now with the leg being 2 inches longer than it should be, the chances of it swinging all the way forward are very slim. It seems it always drags on the floor, and only the toe is on the ground which is the signal to the leg to collapse and swing forward, but it is behind me, and I don't know this.
It seems to be a percentage game...compute the probability of the leg collapsing and falling. 30% would be nice. I feel now there is a 50% chance the leg won't be locked when I put weight on it.
It needs something like a buzzer that buzzes when the leg is locked so I know it is ok to step forward. The only other way is to look. But looking requires being hunched over looking at the floor as I walk.
I still have to pee.
So I quickly sit in the wheel chair. but now the leg is dragging on the ground. Holding the leg off the ground requires one hand. One hand wheelchair operation is not easy. So I need to quickly find the left leg rest. I have not used the left foot rest since,... EVER. It is hiding behind the big chair. No way can I reach it. So I move the wheel chair to get a grabber while dragging the leg. I get a grabber, and get the leg rest, but it won't fit. All my adjustments to the wheel chair now make the foot rest unable to fit.
I still have to pee.
I grab the crutches and crutch/walk/stumble to the toilet, then proceeded to dribble all over my new foot.
Now I also remember Bradley saying. Always get the leg dressed for the day before putting it on. Opps..to late for that. Try to get a pair of shorts on a leg that you can't move, and the foot is permanent at 90 degrees, and it is "way" over there. I end up using 2 grabbers to get the shorts over the leg. But now how to balance while pulling the shorts up. I need some way to stand with both hands free to get dressed.
Then it dawns on me, Duh!....use the prosthetic leg as a leg, and just stand up. Duh! That works.
Yesterday I walked about 2 or 3 hundred meters total. Today if I make it to the bathroom without the leg collapsing, it is a major accomplishment. I do not trust this leg!
Now I want to sit at the computer. Back in the wheelchair, and drag the foot.
--
18:00 Much Later
I have had a busy day. I decided I needed the glycerin, and alcohol to make the spray, that lubricates the inside of the socket before I put it on.
I crutch/walk to the car and drive to the local pharmacy. It is busy, and I have to park about 100 meters from the pharmacy. Once inside I gather up the stuff I want, but alcohol is only available at the prescription counter. ??
I wait in the line and finally get to see a pharmacist. He is an old man, maybe 55ish. I tell him what I want, and he looks at me and says that he is also an amputee. He said it sounded like I was mixing the spray for the socket. This is cool. We chat for about 20 minutes, and then he says "let me carry this stuff to the checkout counter for you." We then stood together in the checkout line for another 10 minutes. I must have asked a thousand questions.
He lost his leg due to bone cancer in the year 2000. He is an above knee like me, but his stump is much shorter than mine. He uses an OttoBock C-Leg knee. It is a bionic knee, and has a small computer in it.
http://www.ottobockus.com/C-Leg.html
Here is a picture from their web site:
 |
| How cool is that socket art. That's what I want. |
He says that he no longer uses the socket mixture I was going to make. He says that the glycerin slowly builds up a layer of gunge, and is very hard to clean out of the socket. He also said that so much of what the prosthesis guy teach is to try to make you look as inconspicuous as possible in daily life. He said "F**k that. All that matters, is not falling."
He said that me using 2 crutches and the prosthesis is a great idea, and I should do that as long as I feel insecure.
He has had many falls. He broke his wrist on one fall, and his jaw on another. Face first onto a curb. His worst fall was at a friend house. He had just finished in the bathroom and he caught his toe on a rug. As he fell he grabbed a towel rail. The rail snapped in half, and one of the halves sharp end went into his palm, and came out near the elbow.
He showed me how he walks. He first unlocked his leg. While at work, he locks the leg straight, and only unlocks it when he gets in the car to go home. He does almost everything Bradley says don't do. He takes small steps with the bad leg, and large ones with the good leg. Bradley says to never do that.
He kicks the prosthetic forward hard. He can then feel when the leg is snapped straight, then he brings it down hard on the heel. I tried walking like he does, and it sure does feel a lot more secure. I can feel when the leg is straight, and the heel is down. It looks like a Nazi goose step. Bradley would have a heart attack if he saw me do that.
I walked about 400 meters today. All with the crutches, and the prosthesis. The left crutch is the fall protector. Most falls are toward the 10 O'clock position. I keep the left crutch pointed that way. The other crutch I use as an aid like I had a sprained left ankle. By keeping weight off the bad leg, I reduce the speed of a collapse if it happens.
I have learned a lot about things I like, and things I don't, regarding walking with a prosthesis. So much more to learn tomorrow.
--
No comments:
Post a Comment