#new prosthesis

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New Prostheses?!

So the day is finally here - I will be *hopefully* leaving with my finished prostheses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have an appointment after work today because I was told they are done. Now this is always subject to any tweaks I think are needed or fitting issues that should be corrected. I only have my iPhone with me so there won’t be high quality footage. I will have some new content and will recorded myself while I practice walking and adjusting to life as a 5′8″ woman. Here we gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

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Skin Reactions

I have now been wearing my new prosthesis for 5 solid days. It has been a struggle physically and mentally. Thinking about every step I take throughout the day is exhausting. I am sleeping a minimum of 9 hours a night and wake up only slightly refreshed. Hoping that feeling goes away soon. I couldn't make it the entire day at work on Friday due to the pressure sensation that the prosthesis cause. That is something I am getting used to and it's slowly improving but I'd obviously like it to go faster. With these prosthesis I am having red bumps, sores, bruises, tenderness, swelling and blisters. I have never had a blister in my life! I have only noticed one blister but it gets irritated as I wear the prosthesis. Any tips on helping those type of skin irritations go away faster? Tonight I did my usual bubble bath soak (for reducing the swelling) and then applied Tea Tree Oil as I prefer a natural approach to skin care. Most of the skin on my amputated legs is scar tissue and I assume that is why that skin is so sensitive. Do others in this community have sensitive skin because of gel/silicone liners or is this just something that happens during the initial adjustment of these liners? 

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First image of me in my new prosthesis while wearing jeans. Pretty excited about this. 

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It's getting easier...

Slightly easier to walk and just be in my new prosthesis. Wearing these things all the time is something to get used to (which I mentioned before). My right leg feels comfortable in my prosthesis I just need to get used to bending it with the suspension sleeve & silicon liner. My muscles are getting a serious work out. Speaking of work outs I haven't had any energy to do my regular jillian michels dvd and feel like a slug. I feel exhausted all the time (for two days, I know it's not long). My left leg is just feeling general discomfort and pressure while getting used to this whole situation. I'm glad I was able to get some pain pills so I don't have to take a month off of work just to get accustomed to these babies. I know they'll be great once I'm adjusted but until then it's just a major annoyance. I still need to take some better photos of them - perhaps tonight? I get so spacy when taking the pain pills that I have confused what day it is or even what time it is. Can I just fall asleep and wake up on the other side???

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Under Pressure

I think the pressure in my left prosthesis may kill my soul if I'm not careful. Cannot wait to get home and be without them for just an hour. This takes some getting used to.

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The First Day of the Rest of My Life?

I feel like this old turn of phrase really applies to me today. I have completely switched over to my new prosthesis as of this morning. I didn't realize how much of a workout it was to just put them on in a timely manner. I was literally sweating by the time my grandma came to drive me to work (I have to re-learn to drive). I should note I live in the mid-west and we just had a blizzard yesterday so I really should have been wearing my jacket. I digress. I'm really liking wearing the new ones at this point. They are far superior to the old prosthesis in that they are actually comfortable. I just need to get used to the sensation of the pressure/suction aspect of them. I'm already walking pretty quickly but a bit stiff-legged. I told my grandma that I felt like a flamingo when walking. I think some of that has to do with being about 2 inches taller - my coworkers noticed the tallness before realizing I was wearing my new prosthesis. The grandmotherly figure in the office wanted to hear all about how they work which was kind of nice to talk about it in person. She was excited I could still wear my "regular" shoes, i.e. ballet flats all day everyday. It's nice to hear people who aren't close to me be excited for me during this process. As always, feel free to ask questions or share stories :)

I will definitely do a photobooth session tonight to show off how they look while I'm wearing them. Stay tuned!

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Ugh...What to do about the appearance of my legs

I've been fretting over the look of my prosthesis since I wore them last week for a few hours while going to a little show. I wore jeans, and could tell right away when I put them on that my calves were way too small for my now 5'7 body. I should note that I am currently 5'5 and the calves appear to be smaller than the ones I currently wear. Now, I've been waiting 8 months to get my prosthesis (from start to finish) and thinking about sending them back to add more padding or whathaveyou makes me seriously sad. I was so excited to take them home last week and literally couldn't stop crying. Until I put them on and noticed they weren't proportional. My legs will never look like 100% real legs but I want them to be nice enough that when I wear jeans or tights that they could pass as such. I've been waiting my whole life to have legs that didn't need a suspension belt. I thought I was going to be more involved with the appearance side of things and this is where everything keeps getting messed up (in my opinion). However, the real reason I had to send them back in January was because the knee alignment was seriously off and caused my back a great deal of pain. I don't know how to go about asking my wonderful team of people to fix this for me. I feel like I may come off as selfish and not happy about how they turned out. Any suggestions on how to go about talking to my prosthetics team? I'm going to just have to bite the bullet and talk to them as these are legs I'll be wearing everyday for quite some time. Hoping this last issue is a minor thing that can be fixed in-house and not sent off to Rochester.

Sidenote: I really am happy with how they have turned out otherwise. I plan on wearing them every night after work and hoping to soon be steady enough to wear them 24/7 and ditch the terrible ones I've had for almost 10 years.

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My first outing in the new prosthesis...

Last night, I went to a show downtown. This isn't something out of the ordinary for me. I go to shows a lot around town. Last night, however was the first time I wore my new prosthesis out of my apartment. I was excited to wear them 24/7 after picking them up. I realized I'll have more of a slow transition since I'm going to have to learn how to drive and walk again with these. I was lucky enough to have my friend pick me up and drive me downtown. I used some crutches I had from a few years ago and things really went smoothly. I had some general discomfort as my legs aren't used to the pressure/suction system. It felt like pins and needles if I was standing or sitting for too long. I did a bunch of moving about between both standing and sitting during this little show at my favorite bar in town. I was just so excited to be out of my old prosthesis that I couldn't wait and there was no reason not to. When we arrived to this bar, it was packed and we had no where to sit or even stand out of the way from the door. One of the employees noticed I was using crutches and grabbed me a stool for me to use. I was pretty grateful that someone noticed but I also almost felt better standing up than sitting down. Since I dived in head first with wearing the new prosthesis, I rewarded myself with some amazing gelato.

Does anyone else have any similar stories or situations when first learning to walk in your new prosthesis? I'd love to hear about it.