|
Post by leftyeric on Feb 27, 2019 22:23:20 GMT -7
This is my first post. Mine's a left forequarter dating to 2004, necrotizing fasciitis.
These days I've no real complaints (other than it's taking way longer than I had hoped for my arm to
grow back. Perhaps you all have tips for some brand of special cream to rub on the stump?)
I just thought it would be fun to interact with some other amputees.
|
|
|
Post by stonecutter on Feb 28, 2019 15:06:05 GMT -7
Welcome to the forum!
|
|
|
Post by leftyeric on Feb 28, 2019 21:32:54 GMT -7
Thanks, Trevor, I see that one of your fellow forum admins has a forequarter also. There are like three or four arm amputees that I run into around town, but I've never met another forequarter amputee in person. I once saw a guy like 40 yards away in an airport but thought it would be just a touch on the creepy side to run up to him and say "Check it out! We're very very high amputation buddies!" I may not be on the forum every week, but if people show up with forequarter questions, feel free to send them my way. It took me ten years to figure out how to wear a suit jacket or a sports coat without it sliding down my flank, and now I'm happy to share. For my part, as I start to get older and naturally lose muscle mass, I find it very difficult to maintain core strength in an even, symmetrical way. My posture is worsening and I worry long term about my spine bending/twisting. If forum members here have tips, I'm interested.
|
|
|
Post by snowyh on Mar 1, 2019 4:06:32 GMT -7
Hello, Eric, fellow forequarter amp Helen here. LOL There's no special cream that I know of to speed arm regrowth (plus, I get the inside joke--you don't even have a stump to rub it on!) When I was a relatively new amputee I was working at the front desk of a hotel when a guest walked up to register who had a left forequarter amputation, the mirror of my right forequarter. I checked him in like there was nothing unusual about him/me/us. Though he was the first forequarter I had ever come across, at the time I didn't realize just how rare we are. I guess I just thought I'd be bumping into others on some sort of regular basis. Well, it's been 45+ years and I think I've only seen 3 others in person--the most recent being a cashier at a restaurant in Costa Rica whom I hadn't noticed until I went up to the register to pay; once again the transaction went on without any acknowledgement from either of us of our special connection (I don't really speak Spanish and I was pretty sure he didn't speak English). The other two were at the One Arm Dove Hunt, held annually in Texas. I've also been contacted by a couple through Facebook, and there used to be one other on this forum.
I'm afraid I don't have any advice about how to maintain core strength symmetrically. Losing muscle mass is not something one thinks about if they've never been active physically, though I hear you about worsening posture and the potential for spinal injury. My spine is not actually straight, and hasn't been for decades. I believe the distortion (mid-upper-back) is due to my body naturally compensating for its changed center of gravity. I used to go to chiropractors until I figured out that there's nothing they can do to effect a permanent "correction," plus I no longer believe the curve should be corrected.
So, Eric, where in the world are you? Might I notice you riding your bike along Texas country roads enjoying the fields of bluebonnets?
Helen
|
|
|
Post by leftyeric on Mar 1, 2019 13:46:30 GMT -7
Hi, Helen, wow, you are 45 years post-amputation. Whatever you are doing for your spine, that must be the right thing, since it has worked this long! I live in Boulder, Colorado -- that's the Colorado river near Gypsom behind me in my picture. I don't get down to Texas often, alas, except once in a while to visit my brother-in-law and his family, in Dallas. My wife and do bike some, on a tandem bicycle. She steers. Trying to steer, brake, shift, and still hang onto the bike, it was all just a little too shaky for me post-amputation.
Yes, that was my little joke -- not much by way of a stump for us, even if there were a miracle cream to rub on. Although, at least for me, if you know where to look, there is about 2" left of my left clavicle, which mostly lies flat under some skin grafts. But the leftmost 1/4" of it pokes out a little, causing a little bump in my skin that you can see where the left side of my neck merges into my chest. I _guess_ if you wanted to you could call it my "stump", or, if you please, my "residual limb."
Costa Rica sounds like fun. Is that the Carribean in the back ground of your photo?
Eric
|
|
|
Post by snowyh on Mar 2, 2019 3:56:11 GMT -7
I have the same "residual limb" as you (hmm... I'm thinking that the surgical technique hasn't changed much in so many years). Do you have an extremely sensitive area now that the brachial plexus nerves are no longer protected by the clavicle (hoping that the surgical technique has evolved to fix this problem)?
When I had my amputation I don't remember having much of a problem continuing to ride my old Schwinn bicycle. You get to sit upright, brake with the foot pedals, and only use the handlebars for steering or resting your arms. With newer bikes, I never got used to having to lean over and rest my upper-body weight on the handlebars (tough on the spine), nor using hand levers to brake--newer bikes are definitely not designed with arm amputees in mind. Thank goodness they still sell the old-fashioned ones!
I make an annual trip to the west coast of Costa Rica to visit my sister and brother-in-law after they retired there a dozen years ago. My profile photo was actually taken while whale watching on the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Quebec.
I was in Loveland, CO a couple of years ago with some high school friends celebrating our collective 60th birthdays. One of our outings was a very gentle rafting trip down whatever river is near there. I figured I'd just sit in the middle and let the others do the paddling, but they surprised me with an adapted paddle that had a shortened length and a strap to attach the handle end to my forearm just below the elbow. I grasped the other end a few inches above the paddle with my hand, and was able to join in the hard work (and fun) along with everyone else.
H
|
|
|
Post by leftyeric on Mar 3, 2019 11:31:11 GMT -7
Yes, I know what you're talking about. Not far from the nubbly tip of my residual clavicle there is a super-sensitive spot, which was described to me as where the nerve bundle that served my arm now comes abruptly to an end. The first few years post-amputation one could just tap it lightly with the tip of a finger and I could barely keep from yelling. It's not quite so crazy sensitive these days. Anyway it certainly sounds like there is a standard way to do a forequarter amputation that hasn't changed to speak of in a long time. I don't think any given surgeon does very many of them, like one in his/her career, maybe, so no opportunity to experiment.
How fun that your friends rigged you up and adaptive paddle for your river trip. Sounds like you were on the Big Thompson river, which is pretty tame near Loveland except for those two terrible days in 1976 when it wasn't.
I realized I said something wrong in an earlier post. Some eight years ago I did meet another forequarter amputee, a guy named Dan. Someone put my wife and me in touch with Dan's wife during the many weeks when it could have gone either way with his struggle with necrotizing fasciitis. Shortly after he was released we had dinner with the both of them. Besides the same distinctive silhouette that you and I both sport, he definitely had the been-through-the-wringer look of a guy who did three months in an ICU. But I also thought I recognized a glint in his eye, kind of "I'm happier to be alive than I am sad to have lost an arm." I just googled him -- these days he's back at work, a middle school science teacher, and looks great. Near as I can tell from the photo, his arm hasn't started growing back, either, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time!
|
|
|
Post by stonecutter on Mar 4, 2019 8:14:12 GMT -7
((THIS THREAD... THIS THREAD IS WHY THIS FORUM IS AWESOME!!))
|
|