Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day Weekend!
Lots of firsts coming up…
I brought my prosthetics home! After almost 2 months of dealing with insurance and a couple of other issues, I was finally able to bring my legs home. Both exciting and overwhelming at the same time.
I arrived at A Step Ahead on Thursday morning, put on MY prosthetics, practiced walking in the parallel bars and around the facility on forearm crutches, and then when my “workout” was done, I didn’t have to take the prosthetics off and return them. These weren’t the usual loaner prosthetics so I didn’t have to leave them behind at A Step Ahead. I was going to be taking these legs, my legs, home. But wait, not before I went to the bathroom and peed first. A venti Starbucks will do that to you. I wheeled into the bathroom (I had the prosthetics on but was sitting in the wheelchair), with my mom in tow, and then thought about how I was going to do this. This was, after all, my first time going to pee with legs on. And yes, I’m a 32 year old woman, who, on occasion, needs her mother to help her pee. But not to worry, she’s not the only lucky one. There are others in my family who get the honor of assisting me on my bathroom trips when I’m outside of the comforts of my bathroom at home. Anyway, back to the peeing story. I was able to take my pants off while standing, as opposed to wiggling out of them while in the wheelchair. Then I sat down on the toilet and it got weird. You see, I was amputated below the knee on my left leg so I still have my thigh, but my right leg was amputated above the knee so the prosthetic covers what’s left of my thigh. So…I’m sitting on the toilet lopsided b/c my left thigh “mooshes” but my right “thigh” does not. Interesting. Yet another thing to get used to. Peed, stood up, and was able to pull my pants up while standing, no need to sit down first and then wiggle them back on.
After completing the first time peeing with legs adventure, it was time to get in the car and head out. My physical therapist says to me, “Ready to walk out of here?”. “Uhm, no..not really. We’ve never walked outside before with the prosthetics or down a ramp.” Well, there’s a first time for everything. So, away we went. I stood up, grabbed the crutches, and we walked out the door. I made it down the ramp, through the parking lot, and to the car without falling on my face. Success. Now I had to get into the car with these prosthetics, which basically meant getting in as if I had a really short skirt on, sideways. I had to sit down with my legs facing outward and then get one leg into the car at a time. Once all in, we were on our way. That would mark the first time I was in the car with prosthetics. Check.

First car ride with legs

During the car ride home I realized that I needed to make a pit stop at the pharmacy. So, before stopping off at the pharmacy, we stopped off at home to get the leg rests for the wheelchair (I didn’t have them with me since without the prosthetics the leg rests aren’t necessary.). We park the car across the street from the pharmacy, I get out of the car, transfer into the wheelchair, and then we put the leg rests onto the wheelchair. Crap! We brought the wrong leg rest for my left leg. I’m still unable to fully bend my left leg (hoping that will change over time) so I have a “special”leg rest to accommodate my left leg, but we brought the “regular” one that matches the right leg rest. Ok, now what? Well, I didn’t feel comfortable walking down the block with the crutches and I didn’t want to take both legs off in the car, so…what to do? Oh F*** it, I’ll just take my left leg off and put it on my lap. Yes, I was being pushed in my wheelchair, while sitting in it with my right leg on and my left leg in my lap. Too bad I didn’t get a pic of that.
Once home, I kept the legs on and did so until the end of the night. But, before taking them off for the night, I did some walking in the apartment…the first steps at home. (See video) I walked down the hallway, used the bathroom, and then walked back down the hallway. It was very weird to be walking down a hallway without a mirror at each end, which is the case when I’m at therapy. I thought I was settling in for the night, but then I went out to grab dinner. I walked from the car to the front of the restaurant. First, official, outside steps that didn’t involve rehab. Well, that all escalated very quickly. First bathroom trip, first outside steps leaving rehab, first car ride, first steps at home, first time using bathroom at home, first time “going out”…all with prosthetics on. That was quite a Thursday. See video and pic.
Walking at home for the first time

Done for the night and charing the right leg.

Now it’s Friday and I have to head back to rehab for an appointment. Yet another couple of firsts…my first time putting my prosthetics on at home. My first time walking out of the apartment and to the car with a walker. Once at rehab, though, I didn’t get as much walking done as I would’ve liked. I think my legs were a little pooped out from the previous day’s workout. And because I’m an overachiever, that was very disappointing. But, part of this process is knowing when to push through and when to take it easy. Pushing through tiredness is ok, but pushing through pain, not so much. But the appointment wasn’t a total waste…I met Tammy. Tammy is a bilateral amputee who is AK and BK as well. Although her amputations were congenital, meeting her and getting to speak to her was comforting. We exchanged #s and now I can reach out to her if I have questions. I can ask my doctors, therapist, and prosthetist questions until my face turns blue, and they’ll answer as best they can, but nobody can truly give me the answers to my questions unless you’re going through or have gone through what I’m going through.
Labor Day weekend Saturday. Headed to Jersey. My friend Wade has been trying, for the last few years, to get me to visit the beach house that he’s rented every summer for the last 13 years. I never made i down. He really wanted me to go down this weekend. He even reached out to C.R.A.B (Citizens’ Right to Access Beaches) and reserved a beach wheelchair for me. So, I finally made it. Myself, my prosthetics, my walker, my crutches, my wheelchair leg rests all made it. Oh, my cousin’s husband (Danny) and my husband (Ben) came along as well. I currently need to travel with an entourage in order to carry all my accessories. Hah. Big thanks to Danny for doing the driving and taking the video of me playing paddle ball on the beach (another first!). I had a really good time at Point Pleasant Beach. Thanks to the 1904 peeps for being so nice and welcoming..and for cooking an awesome dinner! See pics and video.

Me in my “monster truck” of a beach wheelchair. Thanks Wade!

Teah, Me, Wade

The weekend came and went and it’s been 5 days since I’ve had the legs home. I’ve put them on everyday since I’ve brought them home, as I’m supposed to, and some days I do more walking than others, depending on my level of pain. But, most importantly, I have them to put on everyday. Even though these prosthetics are my legs, they still seem like a chore to put on. But, just like everything thing else in this recovery process, things start off slow and difficult, but eventually become habit. They’re also still very heavy to lug around. Don’t get me wrong, they are heavy, but with time and strength build-up, they’ll become and feel more a part of me. That’s the hope and goal anyway.
Next “lesson”…I think stairs. Yikes.
Hopefully in my next post, I’ll take some more pics of my legs and give a breakdown of what’s what.