Getting legless – Part 3

Home with the new pin.

First moments up on the new leg,
about to try it out on the "chicken run"
at the Limb Centre

It's five months after getting my prosthetic leg fitted as I write this. So I'm going to have to think back about some of the details ...

The 2nd photo here is me up on the new leg for the first time, at the Wellington Limb Centre. A defining moment! I'd been promised by my doc (and a few other docs, and the limb centre guys) that once I got up on the new pin, I'd be moving about with much more ease than I was with the old wonky foot. (Not to mention 'no more infections').

It was a tight fit. The swelling hadn't come down much at all (there'd be a few months of the swelling coming down, and some adding of padding inside the socket cup) and it was an unusual new feeling ... like a ski boot all the way up past my calf (or where my calf would be). Very tight and restricting.

Then there was the "trust" thing. I looked at the slim metal bit and the fibreglass cup my stump fit into, and the foot at the end of it all. Was this going to hold me up and not break? I'm not a light guy ...

I clung onto the rails along the "chicken run" at the Limb Centre during my first few trips up and back. Then I tried it without holding on. It seemed to be holding ... but I wasn't up on the thing for long.

What would happen when I was out charging around the city, going to work, hanging out in bars? What if ceaseless use with my bulk on top of it caused it to collapse?

It seems, following a few months of use (and no longer needing crutches!) that the engineers of such things know what they're doing. The assembly can support a fair bit of weight, plus lots of walking ... even up hills. And even with me with a backpack full of groceries on (the combined weight of me and a big pack full of food tipping past 300 pounds).

I was visited at home a few times by my lovely physios, who were impressed with my progress and how relatively nimble I was on the thing (so soon). I went back to work the last week before Xmas, and a physio came to my office to check me out. Up to that point I was still using two crutches. She gave me a few tasks to try, and then she said: "Try it with just one crutch".

Another defining moment! It was just as easy for me. From that point on I only took one crutch with me ... and around about the end of February, I realised I was just carrying the crutch around for the most part, and not using it at all. I kept carrying it for a while longer, as I have a challenging hike down a long and steep mountain pathway to get to my bus stop, on the way to work ... but by April I left the crutch at home and was confident in my abilities to no longer need it.

An amusing moment though: another visit at home by the tiniest of physiotherapists saw her asking me to try walking backwards at one point. She positioned herself behind me as though to catch me if I fell ... and I turned to her and laughed, and said "I don't like your chances if I tip over!" She was maybe 5'1", and thin as a blade of grass. And I am of course 5' 19", and weigh about three of her. She too laughed.

The next defining moment came during a checkup with my surgeon in February – he inspected the stump (it was fine), then he watched me walk on the prosthetic. Five minutes later he handed me a form and said: "After 9 years, I'm discharging you. You don't need my services any more".

I walked out of the clinic that day feeling like a million bucks. I was beaming! A week later I met with the Infectious Diseases doc and he too discharged me. Another candle on the cake! At this point today, I'm down to a quick weekly inspection by my podiatrist Hilary (keeping an eye on my other foot), and the odd blood test to monitor my clotting (re: DVTs in my leg). I'm mostly "doctor and scrip free" now.

The next defining moment came after I'd been walking a bit further each day, on  my way to work – going a few bus stops further down the road each time. I reached the small village in Aro Valley one day, and that had me beaming again. It was only maybe 1 to 2 KM further, but ... it was a personal best!

I had a goal in mind to walk the whole way into work at some point. So one Saturday three weeks ago I was meeting Gill and a bunch of other merry beer drinkers to go on a 'tour' of the fabulous Tuatara Brewery (which turned out to be more of a "customer appreciation day/pissup", but that's another story).

I had to get into the city to catch a bus out to the brewery ... my timing was off and I just missed the city bus downtown, so, I walked – all the way into the city ... well past the point where my office is. My pedometer measured the distance at 6 + KM. Colour me "beaming" one more time!

After realising the walk to work was doable, I've been doing it on average every other day since then.

I was about to extend the range a bit more just the other day, coming home from work – instead of taking the usual alternative bus that drops me on a street above my house (so it's downhill from there too), I decided to try climbing up the cliff from the morning bus stop. A daunting challenge ...

As I got off the bus, my downstairs neighbour Andy appeared from the back of the bus and said: "Hey Steve, I didn't even realise you were on the bus. Want a ride home?" His girlfriend Sarah was there with the car ... and in a moment of weakness, I took that ride.

The climb can wait for another day.

Ready to rock!