My Life as an Amputee *EDITED*

Some Questions I Get Asked

Ok so here are some of the questions that I get asked a lot:

Q: Can you take a shower or go swimming with your leg?

A: well it all depends on the type of leg...you see all different kinds of prosthetic legs out there; running legs, swimming legs, etc...which I have a regular one and a swimming one. However, most of the time I'm just too lazy to alternate between the two, so I just take off my regular one and do my thing (be that swimming or showering or whatever)

Q: do you sleep with it on?

A: depends where I'm at...if I'm at a certain friends house or at my family's houses then yes..but not so much if I'm around certain people I'm not comfortable with yet. However if I do sleep with it on, it gets very uncomfortable (very sweaty, painful, rash-like...not very fun)

Q: what happened to your leg?

A: now this being the most common question (mainly being from little kids) is what I'm used to hearing....well, I developed what is called a Congenital Short Femur, which i will provide a link below if you are interested in that, as well as having in the lower portion of the same leg only forming the tibia and not the fibula. So when I was around 10 months, I got my foot taken off by a procedure called a Symes Amputation, so I still have all of my leg except for my foot, granted that one leg is still shorter than the other.

For more information on a Symes Amputation as well as a Congenital Short Femur, go here:
http://www.aofas.org/footcaremd/treatments/Pages/Syme-Amputation.aspx

http://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/congenital-short-femur

Q:(usually from smaller children) Can you move your foot/feel anything?

A: No I can not move my foot up and down like you would think. The prosthetic limb is basically one piece; yes there are some that move and whatnot, but those are usually used by athletes or sports people, which I definitely am not.😂 As for the feeling thing, I normally don't feel anything unless it's quite obvious that my leg had been bumped or touched roughly, or even if I'm standing on something (however that doesn't always work, since I've been known to accidentally step on people's feet/hands and not even know it and keep standing there...or occasionally my poor cats😬).

Q: What is it like living with a prosthetic?

A: Well since I've had it for most of my life, it feels pretty normal. But I will do my best to explain; basically the only differentiations I have to deal with apart from a non disabled person are as followed:
-leg appointments where I have to be measured, casted and fitted for a new leg every 2 or so years. The same goes for liners (there are many different types of liners as well as legs as I've said above...I have a locking pin leg and the liner has a pin on the bottom of it. That is how my leg stays on and not fall off)
-Occasional pressure pain from said leg, either from too much standing/walking or if my leg may somehow swell. In this case I just have to push the release button on the side (pictures on top) and this will usually help, although sometimes I have to take the whole leg and liner off just to get some relief.
-certain activities or sports I cannot do, mostly because of my shortened femur (one knee is up high yet than the other) the ones I've found I can't do very well or at all: anything that involves climbing like rock wall climbing for instance, soccer (mostly like the tricks and footwork), ice skating or roller blading (because my balance is sh*t so you can imagine...)

If you have any other questions that aren't listed here, please feel free to ask! Trust me, I don't get offended too easily! So don't be shy, even if you may think the question is dumb, I'll be more than happy to answer! 😊