The long road to walking

8.11.12

Hi all

Sorry i haven't posted for a while i have been waiting for my leg to be adjusted again. You will find that it needs tweaking all the time.


My leg

The bucket part might need re-shaping and the leg part might need lengthening or shortening. In my case it needed shortening because when i tried to walk normally i was dragging my toe on the carpet and had to hitch my hip to walk, this started to cause back pain. If you feel any discomfort report it to your prosthatist.

I have had the leg on now for a week, and in that time i have fallen twice. You will fall there's nothing to be embarrassed about, your learning to walk again and at the moment your walking with basically a stiff leg, that doesn't have a tilting ankle so going up hill and down hill you will find you are walking on your heel to stop you tipping forward.
But i have been told i can't have the flexible ankle until i have learnt to use this basic leg. That's very frustrating but you have to build up your muscles again to learn to take the weight. You will get back ache, and muscle ache but its just like going to the gym. That first week is a killer but after that you find you can do more and more. I have managed to walk 100 yards to my post box and back. That was a great achievement and even though i walked at granny speed i got there. Just do a little bit each day and keep practising your new way of walking.

The only thing i find annoying at the moment is the lip that my bum has to sit on to stop me sinking into the bucket part of the leg.
This is fine when you are standing up, but when you sit down you will need to have a big fluffy pillow as its like sitting on a brick.
My prosthatist has assured me that this will be thinned down with time and slowly i won't need the straps around my stomach. So its a a case of gritting my teeth and getting on with it.

Below is a film of me walking for the 1st time with crutches, i am now walking with 2 sticks.

 

If you need to talk?

Hi

If you have questions you don't want to post on here, or you just need to talk to someone who knows what you are going through and will try to support you the best i can my details are:


suzannah.unsworth@googlemail.com

the.smoo@hotmail.com







Keep smiling

Suzi x

WARNING INJURY PHOTOS

THIS IS A WARNING BELOW ARE PHOTOS OF MY INJURIES. IF YOU ARE EASILY UPSET DO NOT SCROLL DOWN!

I have posted these photos to answer questions that other amputees have asked, and i want to help as much as i can.

Many people have asked me, what does your injury look like? Is it like mine? How long will it take to heal? Do you have any bones sticking out? Does it hurt? When will i be able to walk again?



Top of left thigh



This is a picture of the top of my left thigh, it has had a skin graft over bare muscle. as you can see i am missing the layer of fat and layers of skin you may still have. I also don't have any pores/ hair so when i get hot my leg just feels warm.

It's been 5 months since my accident and believe it or not this has greatly improved. The skin colour is slowly going to more pale pink were as before it looked like a beef burger. It is still sensitive a bit like if someone strokes the underside of your foot, but not painful. Those lines you can see are veins under the skin, that's how thin the skin is but it will thicken with time and fade. Also the skin on the left top is still swollen and i have very poor sensation in it which again will go down in time. (E45 is a god send use it day and night it makes your skin nice and flat)

To answer your question:.

1) how long will it take to heal? 

 Well my legs not going to grow back, but the scaring will fade. I have a scold on my chest with a skin graft which happened when i was 1 year old I'm now 33 and it is nearly flat and fading, just looks like a rash in hot weather. So 5 to 10 years to really start to fade.

2) do you have bones sticking out? 

When they took off my knee they had to saw down the thigh bone so that my muscle could be folded over to cover my bone. So on the top at the right end edge of my bone is close to the surface and feels like your elbow under your skin. except mine is under a thin layer of muscle. Unfortunately when i put on my prosthesis it can rub and sometime make a crunching feeling. i guess this will settle down with time.

3) When will i be able to walk again?

My accident was 5 months ago since then i have gone from a PAM aid to a starter prosthetic leg. It still needs tweaking and rubs in private areas but i am able to walk (with sticks) only short distances. But i will build this up and once the prosthetic is comfortable i will be able to do a lot more. If you still have your knee and you haven't had any complications with surgery then i have seen people get there prosthetic and they are walking without sticks within 3 months!. So it's all down to you really.

You've got to laugh

26.9.12


I went in for a small operation at Leeds General to have the bone in my fourth toe removed because it was loose and trying to work it's way out.
I also i have had a small spot on the side of my stump that wont stop bleeding/ oozing so i asked them to look at that whilst i was there. The theory was it was one of my deep stitches trying to work it's way out and the surgeon was just going to cortisone it.
Well the local anaesthetic injections hurt and it felt so weird having them pull and chip away at my bone with out feeling any pain.

Then they had a look at my side, they had an X-ray of my thigh on the light box next to me and i noticed little white blobs and a big white blob next to my bone and asked what they were.
The surgeon said they were road debris and assured me that when they removed and tidied up my leg after my accident great care was taken to remove all those bits including the big one to stop infection.

So he injected my side and then began to cut in, then after a while he said 'well it's not a stitch but there is definitely something there'.....then he pull out a large stone!

He said straight away 'i am so sorry, i am medically embarrassed i was so sure we looked all over your leg before putting on the skin graft i don't know how we could have missed this'!'

I was just so glad to have it out of me, and that explained why the spot wouldn't stop oozing because the rock under it was trying to slowly come to the surface!

So I'm now at home with stitches in my side and my toe and told to rest and not weight bare, so no practising on my leg for a while.

not all days are good days

I hope so far my posts have been informative and even though i seem like everything is fine just like you i will have bad days.

These usually come after a nice dream about running and jumping and i wake up and pull back the blanket to go to the toilet and realise I'm missing my leg  or on a sunny day when i cant just pick up my dogs lead and take them for a nice long walk in the hills.

Its perfectly normal to cry, your life has now dramatically changed. I would talk to someone, anyone. A friend, or a professional. Personally i don't like talking to psychiatrists Ive found all they can do with their degrees is stare at you and ask you how you feel. But they cant possibly understand what Ive gone through, i would have felt more comfortable if they had lost a limb. But whoever it is you choose to talk to is fine, never bottle it up.

Also never think your alone, you have me for a start and when i can finally walk again i will be up that mountain with your support.
There are also disabled outdoor activity groups so you can hang around with someone who you know understands what you are going though or have gone through.

I am a very impatient person and want everything yesterday, that's why even when i have finally got to the point where i have my starter limb I'm upset because i cant walk with out using the bars for support. but just like with the P.A.M aid i will get down to two sticks its just going to take time. I have to keep reminding myself it has only been 4 months since my accident and i have only been out of hospital for 3 of them, my leg is still very tender and bleeds in places and my right foot still hurts so i do need to start listening to professionals and slow down, but when you have the chance to walk again waved in front of you its hard not to run at that goal!

My Left Leg!!

24.8.12

I went for another prosthetic fitting today having everything crossed that it would fit this time.

This was the second time I had gone, and you may have to go for more it's best to get the fitting right you don’t want it to rub.

They decided rather than shrinking and cutting down the plastic liner to fit my cone shaped leg. They would build it up with rubber gloves to make it square shaped (like a stump should be if I had skin on it.)

It felt like pulling on a wet suit but was not uncomfortable. Then he brought out my leg!

It had my trainer on the end and was just the bare metal parts. It also has a strap that goes around your waist to hold it on.

Be warned ladies and gents if you are an above the knee amputee the plastic cup your thigh sits into comes all the way up to your groin. They do bend it outwards and put soft rubber around the lip but it’s still right up in there when you walk.

So he showed me how to strap myself in and I stood up for the first time in 3 months it was ace. I then took a step and couldn’t believe how heavy it was, and as my prosthetic had a loose knee it flicked out when I stepped forward, which looked really weird.

After some more adjustments he then went away and put the cosmesis over it. (the foam skin.) This adds more weight to the leg, and do not get it wet as like a sponge you will be dragging even more weight around.

I was really excited and wanted to wear it home, but wasn't allowed I had to take it home and then take it with me to my next physiotherapy session, where I will learn to walk on it.

Of course when I got home I put it on and stood up in it, and when my mum saw me she burst into tears, bless.

I have been told that at the end of the physio once you get used to the weight of the limb you are then referred back to the prosthetics unit, and they will give me another leg more suited to my day to day activities, i.e. walking, cycling etc. This one will be waterproof, but I have felt that covering and boy is that heavy!!

Also when you get this first leg you will find that when you sit down the leg sticks out and you have to physically push it under you. This is because of the foam; I have been told the trick with this is to store the leg in a bent position to get a crease in the foam.

Also when sitting down the top of the leg (the cup) does dig into the underside of your bum,  this unfortunately you will have to get used to.

Just another hurdle to get over

Since my accident I have been using my hands a lot, they bare my weight on my crutches, and they help me get around on my wheelchair. But if I have been using them a lot during the night they start to go numb to the point where it becomes very painful.

I had tests done at the nerve clinic; there was a strange doctor there who looked after the electric shock machine. He put metal loops around my fingers and then held them in place as he shocked me. Of course I was twinging all over the place and he said 'don't worry soon it will become pleasurable.'

I just looked at him and couldn’t get the picture out of my head of what he would get up to with his little hooks and clips on a night. I was glad to get out of there.

Unfortunately I was diagnosed with moderate to severe Carpel tunnel Syndrome.

This is where the carpel nerve gets trapped in the wrist, causing numbness and pain.

The only way to relive this is surgery.

Both are done on local anaesthetic, and can either be open surgery. (they make a slice from the bottom of your hand, to the middle of the wrist.) Or key hole surgery, I would prefer keyhole, as I didn’t want my favourite tattoo destroyed.

Another problem is recovery time, this can be up to a month and in the mean time your hand/wrist is wrapped up in a sling. This is not good news for someone who relies heavily on their hands.

There was no way I was going to be reduced to one arm and one leg, so I have decided to be put on the waiting list until I have finished my physio and get my leg, that’s more important.