[Amp-L] Looking for Answers

Mon Jun 11 14:00:59 PDT 2007

Priscilla:

  I am a bilateral trans met amputee having lost the front part of both feet over the past couple of years.  My amputations are obviously not as severe as yours but I may be able to help a bit.  First, ask your doctor to arrange a peer visit.  A peer visitor is a person who has experienced an amputation similar to yours.  They can help you work through alot of questions and help you find the information and resources you need.  If he can't or won't (heaven forbid that should happen!), a good place to start is with the Amputee Coalition of America website (www.amputee-coalition.org).  The site has a link to peer visitors.  From my experience, it is likely you will need to make the contact because it appears not alot of doctors or hospitals are aware of it.  You can also telephone them at 1-888-AMP-KNOW (267-5669).  

  The carbon thing you refer to is a piece of carbon fiber that gives your prosthesis rigidity.  Neither of us has the ability to walk normally, i.e., your foot rolls from heel to toe with the toes flexing.  The prosthesis I had originally were relatively thin, maybe the thickness of a Dr. Scholls with a toe filler where my toes would nromally be.  The rigidity provided by the carbon fiber insert protects the foot from further injury by avoiding the rubbing that the normal flexing of the shoe would entail and result in ulcers.  This is particularly bad in diabetics like myself.  With the carbon fiber insert, I was also told to have my shoe modified and have a rocker sole added which provides the normal rocking motion of the normal foot.  

  I am now in a different prosthesis.  This one is much thicker foam and has no carbon fiber inserts.  It is far more comforable and can last up to 7 years.  I wear off-the-shelf hiking boots almost all the time.  They are fairly stiff so there is little or no flexing of the bottom of the foot. I haven't had a problem with my feet in the 20 months since I became a bilateral.   Interstingly, I have a rocker sole on my right foot (got with my original thin prosthesis) but no rock on my left.  My prosthetisist told me that if I went to other shoes, there was no real problem for short periods but to consider having a shoemaker adding a steel shank to the sole of the shoes if I were going to wear them regularly or for long periods.  I expect/plan to replace my boots this summer but do not plan to have rocker soles put on either foot.

  I am not familiar with the prosthetics you will likely need.  But I do suspect that you will face some of the same issues that I did.  Find a prosthetisist you like, trust, and can work with.  I thought I would be stuck with specially made shoes and boots but with a little bit of forethought, I can buy good looking and comfortable stuff right of the shelf.

  As for being limited in what you do, you might be surprised at how much your can do.  You might even find out that you can do everything or almost everything you did before.  As for walking, well, that is an experience in and of itself.  I very consistently walk 10,000 steps per day.  My pace has lengthened to near pre-amputation distance.  Since my original amputation 3 1/2 years ago, I have walked over 2,000 miles.  The down size is that my balance is terrrible at best.  I can easily fail every field sobriety test that there is that involves any sort of balance.  With my initial amputation, it was a bit difficult at first to walk but having one remaining good foot soon allowed me to work almost normally.  Take the toes on the other foot and balance becomes a real problem.  Even so, indoors and on very even surfaces, I walk easily and quickly walk without any support.  I use a walking stick just to make sure when I am outdoors but otherwise, life is pretty much normal
 (got to watch that I don't throw my self out of the shower however.  Bending over is also an experience!). 

  Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.  I have been searching for other amputees with partial foot amputations without a great deal of success to learn from their experiences.  My email address, should you want to talk individually, is tbrbeast at yahoo.com.  

  Good luck. 

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Today's Topics:

1. Looking for Answers (Priscilla McKinley)
2. Re: Looking for Answers (Dick Stevens)

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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:56:04 -0400
From: "Priscilla McKinley" 

Subject: [AMP-L] Looking for Answers
To: 
Message-ID: <005801c7ac38$a5230430$6601a8c0 at D8QHVZ11>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello all,

In May after struggling with a foot infection and several screw-ups at one hospital, I had about two-thirds of my right foot amputated by Dr. Christopher Attinger at Georgetown University Hospital. While I am still non-weight baring and my foot is still very swollen, I am trying to get some information about the various prostheses available so I will be well informed when I am measured in about two weeks. 

Doctor Attinger calls my type of amputation a "show parts" amputation, which I think is his own term. I still have my heal and about an inch beyond my heal, which is supposedly somewhere between a symes amputation and an amputation of just the front of the foot. (Please forgive me as I am new to this and don't know all the terminology.) I went to a prosthetics place last week and was told that the best option for me is an Arizona prosthesis, which is a hard leather lace-up brace that goes under the heal of the foot and keeps the ankle mobile, as my achilles tendon has been cut. Supposedly I will wear this with a carbon something or other in the bottom of a shoe with some sort of filler to replace the front of my foot. Does anyone have this type of prosthesis? If so, how is it? If not, what other types of prostheses do people have? 

I am fairly young and feel that this type of prosthesis that the prosthetics people are recommending will imit me more than I wish to be limited. While I'm not an athlete, I was walking on my tredmmill regularly before and I have travel to many parts of the world. I would like a prosthesis that will enable me to participate in the activities of before. Also, I am very much a snadals person and would like something that looks a little bit real near the toes. Any thoughts?

Priscilla

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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:50:45 -0400
From: "Dick Stevens" 
Subject: Re: [AMP-L] Looking for Answers
To: "Amputee Information Network" 
Message-ID: 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Priscilla:

Welcome to the group. I believe the word you are looking for is "Chopart" - amputation of a part of a foot. If you Google the word "Chopart", you'll get some more info - maybe more than you wanted. Hopefully, your surgeon and prosthetist can answer more of your questions. Also, anyone on this list that has first-hand experience with Chopart.

Wishing you the best on healing and moving on with life. 

Dick Stevens, DBKA in PA (DBKA = double below-knee amputee)
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