Fat Guy in a Little Socket

Got the new socket today. My leg has shrank enough that my new socket can nearly fit into my old socket, it's amazing that my leg has gotten down that small and it's expected to get smaller than that. Now that I can start walking a little better, it's amazing the difference in the feeling of a properly fitted socket to a socket that is too big. One of my friends has likened it to the equestrian world and ill fitting tack on a horse. If it doesn't fit right then everything is wrong. I have one area that is pinching and is painful that they will fix tomorrow. The next step is to start losing some weight and getting into fighting shape again. I'm ready to start exercising, strengthening the leg and getting ready for the next step. I'm trying to come to terms with my impending termination from my current employer and get ready for where I'm going next. I'm thinking about attempting to become a flight medic. I have the experience and skill, now just have to get down to flight weight and get to the point where proving myself is second nature.

I want to become an advocate for the unipedal peoples. I want to prove that being an amputee means nothing. That just because I have one leg has no bearing on my skill as a medic or a person for that matter. I have taken to wearing my prosthetic with shorts on and instead of being frustrated at the stares of strangers just keep my head held high and owning my new look. I'm thinking with the fit of the prosthetic, current issue notwithstanding, I will be walking without crutches or a cane in the next few weeks. Now I have to learn to trust my equipment. As a medic we learn this from the beginning. I trust my equipment because I'm the one who checked it out, I know it inside and out, I know every in and out of my equipment and have learned to adapt to any hiccup that may come. Now I have to apply this philosophy to my new prosthesis. If it didn't think that Matt and Sienna (my prosthesist) would kill me, I'd have this leg taken apart and learning the guts of it so I can know how it works and therefore how to adapt if something messes up. Don't worry guys, if you are reading this I promise not to take apart the leg...yet...OK I won't. I have come to the conclusion that leaving my current employer, although terrifying and not what I want to happen, I will move on. Kate is behind me on this one, she's not too excited about be being an airborne prosthetic medic, but she knows that even before I fell I have always wanted to be a flight medic and have always planned on moving on to this in my career. I just wonder if they will let me wear a flight suit with the leg rolled up...I wouldn't mind showing off the leg.