Question for aka's

[R. Goldstein]

About amputees who want to get back to their old lifestyles, well, i have used this as motivation for me to get out and learn to do things again.  I am young, 27, and was VERY athletic and active before i lost my leg in 2001.  As that was my lifestyle, no way would i be happy at all if i couldnt be active again.  I know i cant do things like i did before, but im trying, and working towards that.  Its motivation for me, and learning high end activities like that makes everyday prosthetic use seem so easy.  If you can run down the street at will with practice, it sure does make walking every day seem easy.  BUT with this comes a lot of frustration, when the socket hurts and you cant do things, when things just dont feel right, etc...but it does make me feel good to be able to run and do things that others think is too hard to do. I just dont understand why you think amputees who want to do these "ill-advised" activities are brainwashed?  You really make it sound like its WRONG for me and others to want to do this.  I have done rock climbing in a rock gym, play ball, run, etc....and not because im brainwashed, but because i enjoy it.


Ryan Goldstein
http://www.m3racer.com
Be Strong, and Persevere
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Michael F. Chamness 
  To: Amputee Information Network 
  Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 6:08 AM
  Subject: Re: Question for aka's


  Jim, I'm a left above-knee amputee (Kaiser Anaheim, July 2000) without any prosthesis, and when I was still using fore-arm crutches in 2000, I took a bad fall and spent a weekend in the hospital, and had my left arm in a sling for about a month. So I was completely out-of-luck on the left side, anyway. My doctor later asked me why I used the crutches, and suggested that the nextime I take a bad fall, I might break a hip - then I'd have real problems. So now I use a wheelchair all the time. If you are going to keep falling, and it sounds like you have had some bad falls, maybe you should look for alternate methods of locomotion at least part of the time. The next bad fall might be the worse one ever. 

  You're lucky you have the comprehensive Kaiser plan that you seem to have. I was a private-pay Kaiser enrollee, so after my leg was chopped off, they decided a prosthesis would be too expensive and they denied the coverage. At that time they estimated it would cost in excess of $40,000. But if a C-leg is what you're after, good luck - you'll probably get it eventually. 

  I find it kind of interesting that so many amputees seem to make it their life's goal to resume living at the same level of performance they had when they had all of their limbs, and failing that, the alternative is a sort of devastation. And to read the ads for the various prosthetic manufacturers, any amputee who is not climbing tall mountains, engaging in moto-cross or kyaking through Arctic wildernesses is a total and complete failure at life. From reading these various emails and lurking in the background, it seems to me that a lot of amputees have bought into this nonsense. My regular Kaiser doctor told me following my surgery, to never, never use a wheelchair, otherwise I'd become an invalid (like that's a disease or something). I listened to him, and began falling at least one time every week until the last good solid fall. And another handicapped person I met told me how his own father gave away this guy's wheelchair to the GoodWill because he thought his son was just lazy and becoming an invalid. Well, my personal active lifestyle before amputation consisted of playing golf, and that not very well. I don't have the slightest desire to return to the links, in any form whatsoever. And I thought climbing mountains or jumping from airplanes was a pretty nutty thing to do even before my amputation. I certainly have no desire to do any of that now. Those activities make me think of the fellow who attached the helium baloons to his yard chair and flew up to where the air is rare a number of years ago in California. So, why do amputees, of all the interesting people in the world, seem to be so driven to accomplish such inane and ill-advised activities? Why do so many amputees seem to have an "in your face" attitude about their limb loss? I wonder...if enough people began using wheelchairs, would we then see such things as "wheelchair rage" in places where these folks congregate? 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Michael F. Chamness
  PO Box 22
  Montpelier, ND 58472
  chamness at daktel.com
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Jim Street 
    To: Amputee Information Network 
    Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 1:09 AM
    Subject: Question for aka's


    I've been trundling around on my new leg for about six weeks and I've fallen seriously five times and crumpled together about three times.  Once I was trying to impress my PT on how well I was walking and I fell into a flower pot in my back yard and drew a moderate amount of blood out of the back of my head and another time I was trying to impress the surgeon and just barely avoided cracking my forehead into the examination table.  Luckily I haven't been seriously hurt by any of these falls but my confidence has a huge dent right in the middle, the size of a moon crater.
    To add to my troubles, I'm really frustrated that I can't walk any faster.  I know it sounds like I should slow down and not be worried about being so slow but I can't stand having people wait for me while I swing along behind them like a wounded baboon.  
    Sorry for the silly imagery but it seems to fit.
    I guess my question is, what can I do to walk faster and keep the knee from collapsing?  I don't have anything but a dead foot and I have a 3B60 Otto Bok knee.  My stump is almost to the knee.  I would like to get a C-leg and my surgeon has written an order for one.  He smiled encouragingly and said he has already got one (he's from Kaiser) for one of his patients.  That doesn't sound too encouraging.  (Only ONE patient?)  The price was quoted to me as $37,000 for the C-leg.  (My Kaiser plan pays 80% if approved.)  That's about the price for a Lexis SRV.  Does anyone have any experience with a C-leg or with feet or knees that allow faster walking?

    Thanks,

    Jim Street
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