I am sure people have wondered why I haven't updated this area in so long. It's been more then a couple years and I felt it was time to add some current events about my use of the great limb I had made that I shared with you online in photos. Truth be told I never achieved the dreams I had when I began Amputee Alley here on Cyber-Soup. I wanted to and could see it happening at some point be since my family and I changed to a low carb diet to lose weight. I am doing well and as my son will turn eight this year it feels like the time is coming for me to put on that leg again and to try to get out of this wheelchair again.
For a few years now using a chair has helped me to take care of business, so to speak. I think it's important to think in the long term setting goals you are dediated to work up to. For me I am going to give walking my all this next time and I am sure it won't be easy. For people who don't have any idea of what learning to walk when you're a high level amputee. Something changed for me years ago, when I first met with Greg Kidder about having the new leg made. I realized that I was not truly an above the knee amputee and basically a hip disartic, (the femur is removed completely) accepting this as fact helped me to become more realistic in my expectations about walking.
You have to be persistant and willing to go through a lot of pain. That is because those who have little (I have like three to four inches of femur) or no femur bone present different problems that above the knee amputee don't have to deal with. They don't end up with curved spines, a kind of scoliosis that sets in because the side the limb is missing from will sit lower in a wheelchair so that when you go to work on having a artificial limb created. Dedicating yourself to stick it out and keep safe so you don't have any set backs.
Learning to walk again is not an easy task, yet perserverance will prevail in my opinion. The muscles in your back tighten up and your spine curves so that when you begin standing on a new leg during the trail and error phase where you test out different components, work on customizing the socket and adjusting how long it needed to be as you work on loosening those muscles. I think that being able to patiently work on walking and not pushing past your limits. And you can't be ashamed if you fall or limp. If you can get out of a wheelchair and up on a leg, you really will feel better about yoursef. Personally I found it very empowering to walk again and despite it being difficult at first, if you can get in the swing of using your prosthesis you can change your life and how you get around as time goes on.
Thank you for checking out my Amputee Alley Update!
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