neuromas

[Duncan Love]

Hi Jake
About a year after my amputation I had to under go a resection of the stump due to boney overgrowth. I instructed the surgeons to remove what I thought were 3 'neuromas'. They gave me lots of pain, were tender to the touch and also gave me phantom limb sensation when rubbed. After the op they told me that they had not found anything in the areas that I had pointed out, though they had removed a neuroma from between the tibia and fibula (no wonder sideways pressure had been so painful). They also said that they didn't look to hard as it requires digging around in the healthy flesh to find something that might only be the size of a pin head.  The resulting scar tissue from digging around could be worse than the 'neuroma' and there is an increased chance of infection post op. 
As part of a compensation claim I went to a stump specialist who told me in no uncertain terms that there was no way that I could even wear a socket, let alone walk around, if I had a neuroma. He simply referred to them as sensitive areas and suggested that I should pursue socket adjustments before looking at any other methods.
After discussing this with my prosthetist, we decided to cast using a pressure sleeve. This gives a constant and even pressure over the entire stump. It has been successful in eliminating the sensitive spots, but does not give the stability in the socket that a hand cast seems to give, especially in terms of rotation within the socket. I have a hand cast socket that I use for activities that require more stability. When I sit or drive for more than about twenty minutes with the hand cast socket, I get limb sensation and then if I wear it long enough I get limb  pain.
I guess that I am saying pursue all non medical solutions first - the risks of going under the knife are reasonably high compared to the chances of successful removal. They had my stump completely wide open and they could not find thing that feel like big lumps to me!! And that level of surgery meant 8 weeks off the leg.
My motto is 'never sign off on a limb until you are 100% happy, no matter how long it takes'
Good luck Jake
Duncan
    -----Original Message-----
    From: JACOB CALLAWAY <jacob.callawy at verizon.net>
    To: Amputee Information Network <amp-l at u.washington.edu>
    Date: Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:03
    Subject: neuromas
    
    
    Hello everyone,
    Back again, I seem to be having a problem with a neuroma on the left side of my stump,BKL, just below the pressure point there, maybe a little into the pressure point. I have to stop and remove the prosthesis and massage the stump about every hour somedays, when the weather is changing seems to be he worst! If I add a sock that helps for a while,but then if I get off the leg and start driving it seems to become worse yet, walk a while and it calms down. What can I do about the neuroma? Can it be surgically taken care of ? What?
    Thanks Jake,
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