#below knee amputation

[ruin-run]

[disability-shout-outs]

Shout out to folks with a Short Transtibial Amputation!

[clatterbane]

Oh wow, this is...interesting.

My protective stump wrapping got changed again yesterday evening. (For the first time in several days? Seemed like longer than I would expect.)

Anyway, I could see that the nurse used what seemed to be a different sticky layer on the bottom where the incision was . Because they use a sticky layer there?

Awesomely, my skin seems to hate that adhesive 🙃 It's sensitive to most adhesive. So now the stump is itching like mad, and of course I can't start clawing at it. Rubbing isn't helping while the irritating stuff is still on there.

The most disconcerting thing, though? Pretty much the whole lower leg is itching like there's no tomorrow, down to the ankle. You know, the lower leg and ankle which got incinerated like 2 weeks ago? Those parts. 😒

No clue why Ghost Foot isn't getting in on the allergic action there, but thank you very much Ghost Foot! ⭐

(It shouldn't be too long before someone is around to help us with a morning wash, and I will definitely raise the issue then. We're still on basically overnight skeleton crew at around 6 am anyway.)

[theivorlegov1]

Dylan’s surgically elected BK amputation story - Video NOT for the faint hearted !!

[clatterbane]

One of the most surreal-feeling exchanges I've had in a while.

A nurse asked me if I would like for them to notify my next of kin that...I fell in the floor?

At least they did ask for consent before calling, because jfc. Nothing obviously injured but my pride, AFAICT. And I can just imagine the near-panic and worry if the hospital called in the middle of the night to inform Mr. C of an unfortunate accident. 😳

When my clumsy ass did something ill-advised, tried to catch myself on a leg that wasn't there, and did a pratfall, basically. In a particularly embarrassing way.

They are insisting on getting a doctor to check me out. Which doesn't help me feel less ridiculous right now, I tell you what. Liability and all, but still.

But, notifying my next of kin--phrased that way!--sounded like a particularity weird OTT reaction.

He might get a laugh out of it tomorrow, though. Maybe I will feel more like laughing about it by then.

[clatterbane]

My handy slide board! Before and after I moved myself over from the chair to the bed for a bit of an afternoon rest.

[clatterbane]

With Sunday morning rounds apparently consisting of one doctor coming around to peer at Stumpy (who is apparently continuing to look good)?

I did finally get a better idea of the likely timeframe for getting fitted with a prosthesis. Hadn't even thought to ask yet, being focused enough on immediate recovery and rehab still.

But, he volunteered that it generally takes 8-10 months for healing to progress to the point that prosthetic fitting is considered a good plan. There's still swelling in the muscles for a long time, apparently, and the socket would be loose quickly once it goes down.

From what I understand from other amputees, the socket needs to be changed sometimes anyway--especially earlier on--thanks to the size/shape of the stump changing over time.

I guess the NHS is waiting longer than often happens elsewhere at least partly to minimize this (and the associated costs). The timeframe does seem to vary a lot, just from what I have learned so far.

OTOH, we won't be paying tens of thousands of dollars for a prosthesis, and/or fighting with insurance companies. 😵 As of course I have repeatedly thought about this whole mess. It could be so much worse and more stressful in some other ways, if I were back in the US.

Anyway, there is also obviously a lot of PT and general rehab to be done before we even get to that point. And, with the longer wait, I should hopefully be stronger and generally in better condition when I start learning to use the prosthetic leg, which should hopefully make things go better.

I had been concerned about that damned heel maybe slowing down the whole process of getting into the prosthesis, since I can't put weight on anything but the ball/toes of my lone foot for now. But, with 8-10 months to go? Here's hoping that won't be a particular holdup. For multiple reasons. 😒

Anyway, I was glad to get a little better idea of how long that might take, and what my medium-term future might look like.

Guess I had better get good with this chair--which PT also said I will need to keep longer term just in case of bad days, problems with the leg, etc. anyway. Which makes a lot of sense. Not that I wasn't planning/trying to anyway. But, looks like I will be a full-time wheelchair user for a while, assuming the prosthetic plan even works out smoothly.

Good to have a better idea what to expect. Maybe especially while autistic. 😉

[clatterbane]

In terms of the amount of annoying help I have actually needed for a while now, I was more than a little shocked at something one nurse said the other day. (The same one who commented and sounded concerned about my unintentional weight loss before, actually.)

Anyway, apparently in all the time she has been working on this vascular surgery and orthopedics ward, which sees a lot of amputees? I am the first person she has seen who will transfer between the wheelchair, bed, and commode totally on my own. (And any other surfaces, if I had occasion to do so right now!)

I mean, from what I have seen, I am much younger and in better general health than the vast majority of other patients on the vascular surgery side of things. There are a lot of much older people, frequently also dealing with heart conditions and the like.

(And no wonder the doctors/surgeons have kept talking about my relative youth as a major point in my favor, with both surgical recovery and being a good prosthesis candidate...)

I have also already been stuck here for longer than anyone wants, with more time to adjust and get better at doing things as independently as possible. Which feels even more important than usual to me, since hospital life let's you have so little autonomy and control over your own life otherwise. 😑

(Though, from what I have seen? It's also not unusual for people to get held up in the hospital for quite a bit while they're waiting for accessibility/care issues to get worked out at home. Going by multiple of my first batch of roommates here. Who were also all elderly.)

But yeah, no wonder other staff have kept expressing surprise--and sometimes concern!--at what I have learned to do on my own by now. Including transferring between surfaces without help or supervision. Also, (at least semi-safely) picking up things that my clumsy ass has dropped/knocked around, going to the sink and washing my hands by myself (?), you name it.

Really wouldn't have thought I would be that unusual with it, though.