Thursday, September 16, 2010

He walked!

It wasn't far and it wasn't fast - but he was able to get up and walk on his temporary leg.



His "leg" was swollen from his two falls so they had to wrap Ace bandages around it twice to help with the swelling. Here's a picture of him playing with his new foot, but it shows the wraps around his leg.


They left the wrap on for about 15 minutes the first time and closer to 30 minutes the second time. They weren't able to get his leg to go down into the socket liner at all until after the first wrap, and then couldn't get it to go down into the socket until after the second wrap. Once they got him in the socket far enough, they started doing some "tweaking" of the shaft of the leg.

You can see in this picture that his right knee is quite a bit higher than his left knee.


The black band around his left leg is part of a carbon fiber brace that goes down into the shoe, under the toe filler, and then up the side/back of the calf. It mimics the "toe off" motion during walking to give him more stability. That helped immensely. (Help doesn't come cheaply, though.)

He goes back next Friday for more adjustments. As he is up more, his leg will continue to shrink so they gave (I use that term loosely) him a total of 12 sock/sleeves in three different thicknesses and a total of two "shrinker" sets (those I know are $25 each). He's supposed to use the leg a little bit each day (will have to be when I get home) and increase a bit each day. We have to watch for skin issues and break-down, etc.

All in all, it was a good trip.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tell Ron that all I want for my birthday is that he behave with his new leg. I am serious. - No need getting fancy pants and trying things when you and Keith aren't there.

I received zero presents for my birthday [true] but if Ron can promise me this [is it too much to ask? I don't know. Is it? Well I am asking anyway.] It will be the thing I am wishing the most for. I am.

It looks wonderful and I am so happy for you both, but he needs to do what is best for him and his new leg and if he grants me a birthday wish, it will, honestly, be the bestest birthday ever.

Hugs and love to you both.

Kathy's Klothesline said...

I bet he is happy to anticipate being mobile again. I am glad for him.

TinaM said...

That's so great :)