Hate it when I can't walk

Wildman

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Well I have had a sore on my right residual limb since Tuesday and went and saw a prosthesis on Tuesday since mine was on vacation this past week. I was told I needed to stay off my leg as much as I possible could. So Wednesday I didn't wear my prosthetic but on Thursday my dog had to go to the groomer and I had an eye appointment. Plus my Jeep club meeting was Thursday night. So I wore my prosthetic on Thursday but tried to limit my walking. Then Friday I stayed off it all day also and the sore which had turned out to be a blister had popped Thursday. Friday it was looking better so today (Saturday) I thought I might wear it a little. Around 10AM our power went out and at 11AM I told my daughter to get dressed as we were headed into town to have a late breakfast.

When we got home my leg wasn't hurting to much so I went out to my garage to install some parts for my shop compressor. Most of it I was sitting down so I was good. But with all projects like this I didn't have all the parts I needed so I had to run to town to the hardware store to get some fittings. So I got the new parts installed and then came inside and sat down. By now my leg was hurting so I took my prosthetic off and ate dinner. But then reading stuff I realized that I had installed something wrong so I went back out to the garage and fixed it.

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Not very big but it has me laid up. If it gets bigger or becomes a open sore it can be really really bad. The gray thing on the lower part of my leg is called a shrink sock. When you aren't wearing your prosthetic you have to wear that. I keep the leg from swelling up.

I had to have my lower right leg amputated in May 2018 due to a damaged nerve from a gun shot wound I received while in Iraq 2004. It took me almost 14 years to most doctors won't amputate because of nerve damage because they don't know if doing the amputation will help. I finally found a doctor who was willing to do this for me in July 2017. I'd given up on the VA in about 2012 as none of the doctors I saw would even consider it. This is the first sore I've had since my amputation other than a really small one about 2 months after the amputation. This is the things you have to deal with as an amputee and I'm glad it has been my first one.

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This was the day I was getting the stitches taken out.

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Right at the end of the scar on the inside of my leg is where I got the sore. I've been worried about this area because of the scar and it make it not a smooth area for the liner you wear.

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This was 3 months after my amputation out walking my dog at my mom's house. It was my first time being able to walk all the way around the complex. Only about 1/6 of a mile but for me that this point it was a big deal.

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The front of my leg where the bullet came out. 7.62mm round in the back of the leg and out the front after hitting the femur and severing my femoral artery. Also damaged the perineal never to my lower leg. The never damage caused me to have foot drop, hammer toes, muscle apathy and chronic nerve pain.

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What the inside of my right leg looks like. 12 screws holding my femur back together along with a little bone marrow off my right hip.
 
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I hope your sore heals quickly so you can be up and about more. I guess even with the prosthetic there is no easy sailing.

Damaged my right foot and lower leg in a motorcycle accident in 2008. Crushed my ankle and pulverized and de-gloved my heel. Many many pins in my foot and screws in my ankle. Had hyperbarics and wound vacs for 6 months trying to recover lost tissue. Another year of wound care after that. Ultimately they took tissue from my right forearm to act as my new heel tissue because I lost too much.

I won't post the gory photos here. But from injury to the first time I was able to put any weight on the foot at all was 18 months. I too have drop foot and hammer toes. Foot looks like hamburger. I am able to use it pretty well with only a small limp. But, if I were to go out and work on the Jeep for 3-4 hours, tomorrow morning I would barely be able to stand. In fact I would have to stand next to the bed for 5-10 minutes just to be able to walk. Also, I have no back and forth motion in my ankle, just up and down.

I have considered amputation several times. Then last July I fell off a ladder and busted my other leg real bad. Broke a wrist in the same fall. I felt so blessed then that I hadf not had the amputation becausde if I had I would not have even been able to hop around on the walker...I would have been confined to bed. But if truth be known I am just too gutless to go through with the amputation... I am happy that it has made a positive difference in your life. I cringe when I see anyone going through wound healing issues...because wound care, and the worry that goes along with that is something I really never ever want to go through again... Good luck man!!
 
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Well I have had a sore on my right residual limb since Tuesday and went and saw a prosthesis on Tuesday since mine was on vacation this past week. I was told I needed to stay off my leg as much as I possible could. So Wednesday I didn't wear my prosthetic but on Thursday my dog had to go to the groomer and I had an eye appointment. Plus my Jeep club meeting was Thursday night. So I wore my prosthetic on Thursday but tried to limit my walking. Then Friday I stayed off it all day also and the sore which had turned out to be a blister had popped Thursday. Friday it was looking better so today (Saturday) I thought I might wear it a little. Around 10AM our power went out and at 11AM I told my daughter to get dressed as we were headed into town to have a late breakfast.

When we got home my leg wasn't hurting to much so I went out to my garage to install some parts for my shop compressor. Most of it I was sitting down so I was good. But with all projects like this I didn't have all the parts I needed so I had to run to town to the hardware store to get some fittings. So I got the new parts installed and then came inside and sat down. By now my leg was hurting so I took my prosthetic off and ate dinner. But then reading stuff I realized that I had installed something wrong so I went back out to the garage and fixed it.

View attachment 86728View attachment 86729

Not very big but it has me laid up. If it gets bigger or becomes a open sore it can be really really bad. The gray thing on the lower part of my leg is called a shrink sock. When you aren't wearing your prosthetic you have to wear that. I keep the leg from swelling up.

I had to have my lower right leg amputated in May 2018 due to a damaged nerve from a gun shot wound I received while in Iraq 2004. It took me almost 14 years to most doctors won't amputate because of nerve damage because they don't know if doing the amputation will help. I finally found a doctor who was willing to do this for me in July 2017. I'd given up on the VA in about 2012 as none of the doctors I saw would even consider it. This is the first sore I've had since my amputation other than a really small one about 2 months after the amputation. This is the things you have to deal with as an amputee and I'm glad it has been my first one.

View attachment 86719

This was the day I was getting the stitches taken out.

View attachment 86720

Right at the end of the scar on the inside of my leg is where I got the sore. I've been worried about this area because of the scar and it make it not a smooth area for the liner you wear.

View attachment 86723
This was 3 months after my amputation out walking my dog at my mom's house. It was my first time being able to walk all the way around the complex. Only about 1/6 of a mile but for me that this point it was a big deal.

View attachment 86721

The front of my leg where the bullet came out. 7.62mm round in the back of the leg and out the front after hitting the femur and severing my femoral artery. Also damaged the perineal never to my lower leg. The never damage caused me to have foot drop, hammer toes, muscle apathy and chronic nerve pain.

View attachment 86722

What the inside of my right leg looks like. 12 screws holding my femur back together along with a little bone marrow off my right hip.
Thanks for your service. It just takes one shot to change your life forever. It pains me to see the pain you are going through. It is hard for me to imagine. I pray the sore heals. Stay off it man! I can imagine how hard staying off it is. You want to do stuff. Fix stuff. Be a guy. That’s how we are.
 
Thank you for your service. I hope we can some day make the VA work better for the vets with wounds like yours. Sounds like you have a good attitude and will be hard to keep down. Glad there are folks like you out there.

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Thanks everyone, I was just about at whit's end yesterday. Not being able to wear my prosthetic SUCKS. My home isn't large enough for a wheel chair or power scooter so I use crutches. Every try to carry a glass of milk or a sandwich while walking on crutches? Or a bowl of cereal? I'm lucky my daughter is here and she helps out a lot when I have my prosthetic off.
I hope it heels soon so I can go back to wearing my prosthetic 8-12 hours a day. You don't realize all the things you use both legs for until you don't.
 
I hope your sore heals quickly so you can be up and about more. I guess even with the prosthetic there is no easy sailing.

Damaged my right foot and lower leg in a motorcycle accident in 2008. Crushed my ankle and pulverized and de-gloved my heel. Many many pins in my foot and screws in my ankle. Had hyperbarics and wound vacs for 6 months trying to recover lost tissue. Another year of wound care after that. Ultimately they took tissue from my right forearm to act as my new heel tissue because I lost too much.

I won't post the gory photos here. But from injury to the first time I was able to put any weight on the foot at all was 18 months. I too have drop foot and hammer toes. Foot looks like hamburger. I am able to use it pretty well with only a small limp. But, if I were to go out and work on the Jeep for 3-4 hours, tomorrow morning I would barely be able to stand. In fact I would have to stand next to the bed for 5-10 minutes just to be able to walk. Also, I have no back and forth motion in my ankle, just up and down.

I have considered amputation several times. Then last July I fell off a ladder and busted my other leg real bad. Broke a wrist in the same fall. I felt so blessed then that I hadf not had the amputation becausde if I had I would not have even been able to hop around on the walker...I would have been confined to bed. But if truth be known I am just too gutless to go through with the amputation... I am happy that it has made a positive difference in your life. I cringe when I see anyone going through wound healing issues...because wound care, and the worry that goes along with that is something I really never ever want to go through again... Good luck man!!

After they put my femur back together which was 3 weeks after being shot I then had to wait 6 months before I could do any weight bearing on my leg. And they hadn't noticed the nerve damage until the night before the surgery to repair my femur. So I was laid up for almost 7 months. And when I got shot I was a 1SG and working 20 hour days. So I went from being super busy to flat on my back. Once I was allowed to bend my knee a little I couldn't stay in my bed any longer. And as soon as I could bend it enough to drive I was gone. It was really funny watching me get into and out of my TJ. The first thing I did when I started driving again was trade in my 33" tires for 35" tires.

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Being one crutches didn't stop me from working on my TJ. I'd picked up a used Superior Axle Truss for the Dana 35.

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Working on my grandfathers trailer.

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I was scared as heck before I did my amputation but I had been talking to other amputee's and researched it a lot. So I was more or less as ready as I could be.
 
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Love the pics of you under the trailer and Jeep. You are obviously very strong willed. And thanks for your service to the country!!

To compare stories during my recovery still non weight bearing using a walker (I just could not do crutches), I learned how to mow my yard hopping on my good leg. And I detailed my car and changed my own oil.

I just wish those scooters where you kneel on the seat thing were around then.
 
My right knee is shot so kneeling isn't an option. I bought one of those IWalk things and I can't take the pressure on my knee. I tried a walker right after my amputation and didn't like it. But I had used crutches after I had been shot so that might be part of it.
 
So I went to my prosthesis on Tuesday and he made some more adjustments to my socket.
The good news is that I am cleared to wear my socket now. Just need to watch the sore and make sure it doesn't get worse.
And then yesterday I went to the VA for the start of a 3 leg study. So the DOD & the VA are doing a study where I am going to be getting 3 different ankles on new sockets. Then I wear each one for a week and then go back and swap it out for another socket/ankle. The KEWL part was yesterday I got to try out the other ankles. The mechanical ankle was THE BEST...……………...……..... The computerized ankle couldn't really be tested because it was missing the charger and battery.

To try and tell you what this is like is hard. The best answer I have is for you to wear leg weights. So imagine you have a 4lb ankle weight on your leg. Wearing the computerized ankle is like that. Not working it is just dead weight at the end of your leg. I'm excited about wearing these other ankles and seeing how I like them.
 
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Glad things are looking up some. And good luck with the ankles. As with Heeps I don’t think I’d want a computerized ankle. Just another failure point that would be complicated to repair.
 
Glad things are looking up some. And good luck with the ankles. As with Heeps I don’t think I’d want a computerized ankle. Just another failure point that would be complicated to repair.

Yes I was asking about that yesterday. Depending on how much you are using the computerized leg the battery only lasts 4-6 hours. So I see me having to carry 3 pare batteries with me on a busy day.
So far I think the mechanical/hydraulic ankle is the one I am going to like the most. I wore it for about an hour yesterday and it was AMAZING. Because it bends which the ankle I have now doesn't it was great. I walked better and I think had a more natural gait. I could feel it as I walked.