[AMP-L] amp-l Digest re: aging

[lhunsicker at mchsi.com]

Bert:


>   I point these examples out to show that age has no great relevance when it 

> comes to amputation.  We have a great influence in how long we will live and  

> how active we can be after amputation and perhaps only limited to our starting 

> health status.


Thanks.  I find these examples very encouraging.  But I can still ask for some
more details.  There comes a point as we age, if we don't die first, that our
strength starts to falter.  I have a 91 year old colleague that is still totally
with it mentally, but he now shuffles a bit as he walks.  I doubt that having an
AKA will affect my mind, which is the most important thing to me.  But I am
wondering how AKAs do specifically in walking -- perhaps with their prosthesis
(which I assume would have to be modified to deal with muscle wasting of age) or
with crutches.  What I find scary is the thought that I'll wind up in a
wheelchair full time.  Not that that is necessarily the worst outcome.  But I
really don't like that idea.

Larry Hunsicker