prosthesis all day long

[Rodger Oleson]

Hi James,  Call me a wimp if you must,but I've taken much more time than you to enter the world of the walking.  I started out wearing the leg around the house for an hour or so each day and hanging onto my walker.  After about a month I graduated to a cane.  It's been four months now and I couldn't walk six blocks on a bet,without stopping to rest.  Part of my problem with walking long distances is that before my amputation I couldn't walk more than 50 feet without sitting down for a rest.  Other physical difficulties like heart trouble and poor circulation also limit my ability to walk long distances.  I think the old adage about being patient applies with learning to walk.  Bravery is to be applauded,but knowing your limits and working slowly to extend them seems to be working for me.  No falls...knock on wood...so far.  Best wishes for getting where you want to be with your walking.  I admire your persistence through blood and falls,but for me,patience seems to be the best route.

Ole rak 01/02
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: James Street 
  To: Amputee Information Network 
  Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2003 11:44 PM
  Subject: Re: prosthesis all day long


  I'm a recent AKA and wear my prosthesis all day.  I have knee envy, I suppose because it sounds like you all get along pretty well.  I've only had my prosthesis for about five weeks but I get a lot of pinching and piston effect.  (I'm a RAKA just above the knee)  I couldn't wait and I hate wheelchairs and crutches so I just go and try to ignore the pain or lean and squirm so that there is less pain.  Luckily I've had no skin break down yet.  I haven't the slightest idea of what's available on the market but it seems like a lot more could be done for people (me!).  The stuff seems really expensive though and getting insurance to pay for it seems like it's going to be an uphill battle.  I've fallen four times in the last two weeks, once opening a one inch gash (not very deep but bloody) on the back of my head.  I'm not going to quit but I can't imagine walking for more than six blocks or so at one stretch at this point.  I guess I'm just impatient since my amputation was at the end of August and I don't even like to use a cane but the falls have made me a little more prudent.  I'm seriously thinking of wearing kneepads and golf gloves so that if I fall I won't srape my hands and hurt my good knee and I won't destroy my pants (I've already ruined two pair.)  I guess I'm just rambling.  

  The trials of an AKA.
  by Jim Street
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: CLester538 at aol.com 
    To: Amputee Information Network 
    Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2003 7:58 PM
    Subject: Re: prosthesis all day long


    Hi, guys.  I am a left BKA, and I also have a bulbous end to my stump.  It's been 2 1/2 years since my amputation.  I have trouble wearing my prosthesis all day as well.  If I wear it too long, I end up with a sore spot, and sometimes a sore, on the end of my tibia.  I kept the stump shrinker on FOREVER after the amputation.  It was almost a year before my stump healed enough that they could fit a prosthesis.  I have lost some weight since my amputation, but it never shrinks the bottom of my stump.

    My rehab doctor once commented that liners were designed to fit men, and that a lot of women in her practice have trouble with liners fitting well.  I wear a little blue silicone circle in the bottom of my liner to take up some of the "pointy" space where the liner is more cone-shaped than I am.

    I wonder if some of this is a gender thing, or if any research has ever been done in the different needs of fitting male and female amputees?

    Cathy Lester


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