A Few More Operations

13.09.13

Hi all

 

Well today i decided to go private to have my middle toe on the right foot. (the real one) :)

cut short. I had been waiting on the NHS list for over 4 months, and had put up with the pain

for long enough.  Private is expensive but at least i now have a date (20th September) and its one operation over and done with.

 

The creepy thing is i was late to the private appointment because my train had to make a detour as, i later found out someone had fallen on to the tracks, had their leg cut off and died.

 

This just reinforced the fact that i am so glad to be alive, and during my accident the right people were there to save me.

 

So no more doom and gloom. The final figure came in from my Ben Nevis trek and you raised 1600!! for Yorkshire Air Ambulance! Brilliant!

 

Also I've decided to make a big decision in my life and quit my job, and go back to university. I leave on 20th December, and start Uni in September 2014. I'm going to take back up my animal care, as its some thing Ive always loved doing. In the gap leading up to Uni, i hope to get all my operations done and have my new leg sorted.

 

Speaking of my new leg that had to be sent back and recast for the 3rd time, as my cone shaped stump just kept slipping out. They are trying different liners, and i will let them try again.

But if it doesn't work this time then I'm going to go private to a company called PACE.

 

So I'm really nervous so much is happening now, my toe op, my future carpel tunnel op. Looking for a new bungalow, finishing my job and starting uni!.

 

 

The Hobbit took on the Mountain

22.7.13

 

Hi all

Well on 20^th July 2013 I attempted to climb Ben Nevis. Unfortunately I only got half way

(2.5 miles) It was in 30 degree heat (trust me to pick the day Scotland has a heat wave!).

It took me 6 hours to get to the half way point, walking (and sometimes being carried) over very rocky roads. I was convinced to turn back as it would have taken us another 6 hours to get to the top and by then we would be coming down in the dark, and we were not equipped for a night walk. Plus out water was running out.

It was very hard going but I am proud that I did it and got as far as I did.
My friends helped me back down, and the next day there wasn’t a part of my body that didn’t ache. The sweat had run down into my socket and pooled at the end of my stump so the next day the skin had rubbed off and it was now raw and pain full. Lucky I took my chair!
 
I just want to thank everyone that supported me, we raised over a Thousand pounds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance!!! and I hope that I have inspired you to set your own goals, and remember NEVER GIVE UP!

At the start.
From Left Dave, Andy, Martin (orange man), Cliff, Cassie, Me, Gary

 

No Leg Yet!

17.7.13

Hi all, I went for another fitting on 9^th July to sort out the problem with the release button. It kept being pressed by either me crossing my legs or wearing tight jeans, and then my leg would slip off. Which is so embarrassing you’re your getting out of a taxi!

So when I get to the clinic the Prosthatist tried shaving the button flat so it wouldn’t catch, but then is kept slipping off and the suction wasn’t working properly. The Prosthatist was surprised, and suggested measuring me again.

He found out my stump had gone down another 1cm. It doesn’t seem a lot but that 1cm made me slip further into the new socket and the seal couldn’t stick to the edges because of this small gap.

He asked me to try push into it and put a little cloth sock around the end to try and help with the seal.

I could walk up and down but as soon as I sat down I could feel it slipping off.

He suggested I would need yet another cast, I was really upset because this would be the 3^rd socket I have had made.

I asked if we should wait 3-6 months to see if I shrink even further, but he said I don’t have much more skin left on the end to go down any more so booked me in for another re-measure and casting.

The next day at home I noticed the end of my stump was badly bruised, it must have been from trying to walk on the bad fitting limb and because of the high level of pain killers im on I didn’t notice it hurting.

So I’m back on my old leg with two wool sock liners.

Looks like I will be doing my trek in my old leg, it’s going to be like doing a trek with a full leg cast on, but if I do it slowly and take my time I hopefully should ok!

For Charity & for you

22.6.13

On 20th July 2013 i will be trekking (granny shuffling) up Ben Nevis on behalf of Yorkshire Air Ambulance, just like i promised a year ago.

Even though my 3rd toe is still twisted and painful, and my stump end is becoming thinner, and i have to keep an eye on that for internal bruising. (if this happens i have to have more of my leg cut back!)  I am still going to do this, mainly for you to show you if you put your mind to it you can do anything!

I know you might think i am crazy and it's only been a year, and i still don't have my new flexible leg yet, but i am going to do it. It's going to be very slow, and i will have my two walking sticks with me.  But i also have many friends who are coming to support me.
(so they can carry me back down!)

If you want to sponsor me then please follow the instructions on the poster below. Or why not join me! either way i will be at the top of that mountain (probably high on pain killers) but i will be there, wish me luck, and NEVER GIVE UP!! XXX

Still Legless

27.5.13



Hi all

I am still waiting for my new leg but here's a picture of it.
It has a tilting ankle and a hydrolic calf muscle, so once i get used to it should
give a normal walking gate.

I'm still waiting for the bum seat part to be tweaked as its too far into my groin area.

I will also have to go to Physio again to learn how to walk on it.
It weighs a stone, and it feels like your dragging such a weight around my back really ached only after a few steps.

But as with my current leg i will get used to it, and in time get used to the weight. I thought my current leg was heavy when i first started wearing it, now i know its too light.

I am also having another operation on my 3rd toe this time.
I will be having the top bone taken out and the nail bed, and then
folded over, just like the 4th toe.
I have tried to live with it broken but its causing me too much pain, so its for the best.

This is going to happen August, so back in the wheelchair for a while, but as least i will get meals in bed from mum!. Maybe i should by a little bell for my side table!

The day that changed my life forever (Take 2)

30.4.13


Hi all

Well it's hard to believe a year has already gone by since my accident. I had booked today off work because even though i was getting a lift in it would mean i would be going down that same road at the same time and that would be too weird.
I thought i would be more emotional, but it arrived like any other day and turned out to be a nice day off work.

I think what helped was that i was back on my old leg and had fully recovered from previous operations, so was able to get around and not on a downer.
I still haven't met up with friends yet, and I'm finding that i am becoming more and more Agoraphobic, and can't wait to get back into the house.

I know why this is, it's because as i am plodding along at granny speed with my two sticks i feel like people are looking at me. I know they are not thinking anything nasty, and i have met loads of nice helpful people. It's just something i would have done, and gone poor girl, and maybe that's what gets me the most that people are feeling sorry for me.
We i will keep putting one foot in front of the other, until i get my new leg. Then i won't have to look down as much. Ho, and another frustration i have found out is since i only have one speed now and that's plod. If there's a bus in your bus bay, you can't run for it, you have to slowly shuffle towards it giving it the evils not to move.

Anyway keep plodding on.

Back on my feet again

07.04.13


Hi all

This has been the first week i have been able to wear my false leg in over two months.
It was quite a scare when i went to have the operation to look at the small weeping hole at the back of my stump, which i thought was another piece of road. only to find out it was a burst cyst!  I was thankful that they had found it and managed to clear it out, but was also worried that there may be others. It took over a month to heal, and i couldn't move because i would split the stitches, which i did at one point.

Then i had that nasty fall badly bruising the end of my stump, which at the time was agony. that added another month onto my recovery time.
I was then able to put my leg on again, and it was like going back to square one.
i was a bit unsteady, and still a bit tender. but as the days went on i found that sores that were there before inside had now gone, and realised it must have been the cyst that was causing me discomfort all this time.

I went to see a specialist and they told me that with my type of injury (a de-glove, and folded over skin graft) it was prone to cysts. This horrified me because i didn't want to be getting better only to be knocked back to square one again months later.
But as we both know us amputees take each day at a time, and today i have no pain when i walk. Appart from the usually Chinese burn feeling when i first stand up and start to walk. (that's just down to my rubber liner gripping my scar tissue and moving it up and down when i walk.)

I also went to PACE for a review and they were very thorough and really informative. i met an above knee amputee who sang their praises, and even though he was 4 years down the line i watched him walk around with a simple leg without sticks!.
So if you can afford to go private i would highly recommend them. Once my claim has finished i will definitely be using them.

I'm still living at my parents, but the evaluator has been to do a report on my old house stating to the other side why i can't live there any more. I really want my own space again now.

I should be getting the final version of my new leg in 2 weeks so will let you know how that feels. PACE advised me to get a completely different type so i will have to see what my Prosthatists at Seacroft has to say.

I'm feeling a lot more positive now i have my leg back on.