9 Miles

Sorry about the lack of updates in.... forever. I still have not posted pictures or video of my Catapult foot, which is an outstanding running blade. Last weekend, I completed a 9 mile run without having done more than 2 or 3 miles in the weeks leading up to that. I had to stop a few times along the way to drain sweat from my liner, but that's just the way it is with me. I can sweat like a pig just sitting in a 75 degree room. I've been biking to work almost every day for the last couple of weeks. It was a little uncomfortable at the beginning (it felt like my knee sleeve was getting really bunched up behind my knee) but somehow that all resolved itself. I don't know Whether the liner stretched, or my leg simply got used to it. In any case, biking is fine (on my mountain bike... I haven't dusted off my road bike yet. There's still too much winter silt and gravel on the shoulders here.)

Hickories Park 5K

Some video from my first 5K. Not surprisingly, I was the only amputee runner. Oscar Pistorius would have been disappointed with my results, but I kept a steady pace, and finished pretty much where I started.

Thank You

Valerie Gundrum, who subscribed to this blog, passed away last night after battling kidney cancer. She was an uncommonly good person, and will be missed. It's still hard to believe, especially as I glance over and see her picture in my small list of subscribers. Thanks, Val, for your support.

To help support kidney cancer research, there is a Spin-a-Thon being held Oct 27 at Val's fitness studio in Owego: Spin at the “Kidney Cancer Sucks” Spin-A-Thon. There are two teams from Lockheed, and I will be there some time in the early afternoon for an hour.

One Year Anniversary

I've really neglected this blog, and I apologize. Earlier in the summer, I was having problems with an ill-fitting socket, I was becoming discouraged, and I finally decided to change prosthetists. I'm now with Hanger (Ryan Stark) in Johnson City, NY, and it's been a terrific experience. The test socket fit perfectly (literally no changes were needed) and the new carbon socket is a work of art. Ryan pieced together some components so I could swap between the Fusion everyday foot and the Nitro running foot.

It's now been exactly one year since my surgery. Here are the results:

(not sure why YouTube messed up the colors... I'll try to fix it)

5-Month Update

The 5-month mark (since surgery) is approaching, and I'm very pleased with my progress. I walked 4 miles continuously today (4 miles according to GPS, but 3 miles according to my pedometer) and my only real discomfort was due to the 40 mph wind gusts.

My last post mentioned some pain coming from the distal anterior tibia. I finally solved that. It wasn't actually the bone striking the prosthesis -- it was the gel liner pulling the skin taut over the bone. My solution was to roll on a nylon sheath first, and then roll on the gel liner. I know this completely defeats the purpose of the gel liner, which is to prevent skin shearing forces by adhering to the skin. Now, the gel liner can slide over the bony prominences, but it still does its job of preventing shearing. The bottom line is that my discomfort went away pretty much immediately, and hasn't come back. Now that I have a new socket, things have probably changed enough that I no longer need to do this. (EDIT: it's true! I'm now doing just fine without the nylon under the gel.) I'm reluctant to try. If I can walk 4 miles with no problem, I'm doing something right.

I'm on my second temporary socket (still using the Ohio Willow Wood Fusion carbon fiber foot) which fits much better than the original. There is some excessive upward pressure on my patellar tendon, which I'll have addressed at my next checkup on Wednesday. I still don't understand why the trim lines on below-knee sockets have to come up so high (i.e,. to the top of the knee cap.) It's annoying. My old legs never had it, and I did just fine. My last leg (before the Ertl) started out that way, and I told my prosthetist to saw it off after about a day.

Anyway, some pictures of the new temp prosthesis, the Alpha gel liner, and my leg.

5 Weeks

Today marks five weeks since I picked up the temporary leg. Of course there was an adjustment period, but it seemed like I was making progress every day. Within the last few days, however, I've started getting some soreness from the tibial crest. It's pretty astonishing how quickly the volume of my leg has changed over the last few weeks. The downside is that the relatively sharp edges of the tibial crest are visible, which is an indication of how little soft tissue there is between the bone and the skin.

Here's a picture, showing how the leg looks today, versus post-operatively:




My prosthetist has been trying to adjust the socket by heating it and having me step into it -- this allows the plastic to conform to any bony prominences. Unfortunately, whatever is causing this soreness is probably not from the pressure against the socket. Even with the adjustments, I'm still getting those "whoa" moments. Best guess is that I was over-socking, causing me to "hammock." This probably put a lot of shearing forces on the skin over that sharp bone. Luckily, I still have plenty of percocet left for this sort of thing.

I'm going to be re-casted Feb 8th for the next socket, so I'm optimistic that a new socket will really solve this. I think the basic problem is that I've lost nearly 1.5 inches in circumference in my leg since I started wearing this socket. Too much walking with an ill-fitting prosthesis is always a bad idea, so I imagine most of my pain right now is residual.

Things will get better.

One Mile

Everything's coming up Milhouse today. I was able to walk a mile at the Vestal rail trail without a cane or crutches!

Three more weeks until I can have a new socket made. My prosthetist wants to wait until my daily swelling is less volatile. I'm currently starting the day at around 8 ply, and ending around 13.

It would be awesome if I could wear shorts to work -- it would make sock maintenance a lot easier.