Huge day tomorrow. Tomorrow, if all goes well, I will get to take my first steps since my surgery. Mind you, it's literally just 2-3 steps to make sure the socket fits correctly and will be functional for me once my prosthetic gets here. Kate is going to take some video and if I can figure out how to upload it I'll put it on here for everyone to see. I'm probably more excited than I should be, but to me this is a small glimpse of things to come. I'm really hoping that my leg is here and tomorrow I get a glimpse of what the Genium can do.
I've seen endless videos online of the capability of this knee. I've seen people running, climbing over various objects, walking backwards (which is huge step in the prosthetic timeline, and very important for EMS), and many other steps that most bipedal people take for granted. I'm just ready to see what this knee can do and will mean to me. I stuck at the mercy of the postal system and a German company. From what I understand my leg will make quite the journey, Austria to Germany, Germany to Canada, Canada to Minnesota, Minnesota to hopefully Louisville. I wonder if they will stamp the box like a passport? Anyway, from my understanding there is a Genium knee floating around somewhere inside the US and my prosthetic company is doing everything it can to get my equipment to me. I feel like a kid on Christmas, one who has peeked at his presents and just has to wait to Christmas morning to play with the toy he's been wanting all year. So, this is where I am. I'm hoping tomorrow I post a video on here of my walking with my brand new knee. If not, I'll at least post about how it went, I'm sure it will be an emotional step. I am placing a lot on this one step. As Gandhi said "A step of one thousand miles begins with just one step," tomorrow I hope to take just one step...
Follow along on the adventures of an amputee Paramedic. I have now fell into activism/advocacy work for Insurance Fairness for all amputees. I occasionally do some Motivational Speaking, I'm writing a book, and of course blogging all that stuff here. Follow me through all my wins and losses in the fight to break the stereotype of what amputees are capable of. I may write about EMS, Healthcare, Amputees, or Nonsense. Follow the blog and see what today brings!
Oh Joe! I am in tears! SOoooo happy for you! PLEASE post the video! We are all on this journey with you from behind a million computer screens! I will donate Friday, get paid Thursday bro! It ain't much, but it's anything I can spare! Good luck, but with your will...it doesn't seem like you need luck! <3 you kids!
ReplyDeleteThe first time I put on my prosthetic leg it was as if I could feel the missing foot inside that piece of plastic and rubber. I stood and walked immediately, if somewhat poorly, down the hall. And I let nothing stop me from doing what needed to be done in order to get comfortable using that new limb. The military docs even threatened to take it away, saying they would only let me wear it for an hour a day if I kept walking myself "stump bloody" on the thing. But I kept at it despite their threats and the discomfort, and within a few weeks I could walk without any limp at all...you'll do fine too. There will come a day when you find that it’s really nothing more than an inconvenience at worst, and that you aren’t even aware of it, most of the time.
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