All Quiet on the Stump Front

This week was quiet on the stump front, perhaps in anticipation of next Wednesday's eight-week anniversary of the foot removal service. My CP is going with me to get the verdict: yes, we start the prosthetic fitting process or no, not quite ready and wait another 4 weeks. Worst scenario: no bone bridge and revision surgery.

I still have the tiny spots of blood on my shrinker...not sure what this means but I guess I'll find out soon enough. After nearly eight weeks I would expect there to be no bleeding. I cannot remember how long I had bleeding after my first surgery; the heel osteotomy incision took the longest amount of time to heal, definitely more than 4 weeks but less than 8.

I joined the NYC Achilles Track Club this week and got an enthusiastic welcome. With our semi-tropical weather I am very concerned about the problem of sweating and running with a prosthetic leg. I have read about people having to stop and dry out the liner in more moderate climes, so I am anxious about trying to run while sweat pours off me. This was one question I thought other amputee (amp) athletes could answer.

The problem is the liners do not breathe, so until this bugaboo is solved sweat is going to pose trouble. I have been told that many use talc in the liner to help manage sweat, as well as the prescription anti-perspiration Drysol. It's going to be a few months before I can run any distance, so I will have to find what works for me as Dr. George Sheehan noted as "...an experiment of one." I do have an idea that I want to try should I find this to be a major problem, so I am ready the challenge.

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I asked my brother Mark to help with some yard work, meaning I would practice my supervisory skills while he clipped, poured, and tossed. There really was, as I promised, about an hour's work. Of course as he worked under my tutelage, I noticed several days' worth of details to attend to, so I am very anxious to get mobile again.

My PT session went well today. Whatever muscle I pulled in my chest is much better now, I imagine in another week or two the pain will vanish. I need to do more intense sessions, which I am scheduling for Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On those days I am going to try to do two sessions or at least one full body and then lower body/right leg workout if limited by time.

My right leg is atrophying and I'm trying to slow the rate it evaporates into punydom. This is to be expected but I do not like it much. Once I get up on my two feet I can stop this musculature death spiral.

Jennifer grilled us a delicious dinner tonight. Back in my two-footed days I would grill, yeah, the easy part, while Jen fixed everything else. In a few weeks things should be getting back to normal. We did go out to the Pitt Street bridge for a little while on Saturday, just missed seeing a waterspout in the harbor.

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I have Wednesday off when I have my doctor's appointment. Whether I go forward or a step back is out of my hands. Either way the journey does continue and I am along for the ride, although right now it seems I am strapped to the roof of the family wagon. The view is different up here, I don't mind the rain, but the drive-through clearance bar does pose a problem to my health.

As the wise Mary Hartman once said: "Things are not so bad that they couldn't be worse."