Fall blows. No, really… it’s been blowing seemingly non-stop this fall. 7 foot four had a one jump reunion Saturday morning at Skydive Danielson before the winds cranked up to the 30’s. It was great to get out of the plane with my brother, Stephanie and John to turn a few points. Sadly, when I went to log, my previous jump had been way back on October 2nd. How depressing!
We made some of our own fun at the DZ that involved a big round reserve parachute and a Tupperware box big enough to sit in. The world can never be truly safe from bored skydivers.

Now I’m on a plane again, and they won’t let me jump from this one. I guess it will upset the other passengers. I’m headed back to Virginia for round three of leg making.

It’s interesting to me that many people are surprised that I have to get a new leg built. The prevailing assumption out there is that once you’ve gotten a leg, and adapted to being an amputee, that’s it. You’ve got a leg and you’re on your way to living the rest of your life.
It’s not surprising really that this impression is out there. Any media focus is always about the new amputee. In fact, I was contacted by a reporter a few months ago who was working on a story for a major national newspaper about amputees who skydive. After a few emails and a long phone conversation the reporter asked me if I knew of anyone who who was a new amputee that skydives. She explained that she really wanted to make it about an amputee who is just learning to to walk and skydive at the same time. The story about the guy who lost his leg ten years ago and started skydiving in the past couple years just doesn’t have the same cache. I pointed her to the USPA who just this year did a feature on some really kick ass amps that got licensed this year.

Of course, it’s far more interesting to read about the new amputee’s struggle. Each step of the process brings new light, new hope, new mobility. Even the prosthetic industry primarily focuses on the new amputee. Pick any one of their publications and you’ll see that the articles and advertising is heavily slanted toward the recently modified people in our world.
For the practitioners of course, working with the new prosthetic users is very gratifying as well. You take someone who couldn’t walk, and you give them mobility, freedom, humanity. Weather taking a new amp, or someone who’s never had good prosthetics, every improvement is a thrill.

I’m looking at prosthetics from a very different prospective. Yes, I’ve been through all of the trials and tribulations of being a new amputee. The trauma of the loss, learning to walk all over again in my 30’s, and learning how to make my life post amputation normal. I now inhabit the world beyond post amputation. I’ve had a few great legs and some crappy ones as well. I know the difference between a leg that that has become an extension of my body, versus a leg that’s merely an assistive device.

When building me a leg, the differences are more subtle, the improvements come in smaller increments. You don’t get the whole chair bound one day, walking the next day dramatic turnaround. Its more like: highly functional with a little limp, or no limp. Let’s face it… it’s not nearly as exciting as guy who’s just entering the the struggle after a trauma.

When it comes to practitioners my perspective has a huge influence. I can tell the difference between the good and the best. As we all know, the good are the enemy of the best. I also know what is possible for my leg and my body. I know that it is not acceptable that people who’ve known me for years ask how my leg is doing because they see me limping, taking any seat that is offered, and making decisions based on my mobility. Those who’ve known me know that this is not my standard.

The difference between a good prosthetists and a mediocre prosthetists can be seen when things start to get a little tricky. This often happens in this final stages of the build, during the fine tuning process. You’re on a walkable leg, and that would make a lot of amps damn happy. But if you’re a guy like me, walkable describes a broom handle. Pretty soon the mediocre prosthetists start saying “close enough”, and starts trying to wrap things up. If the amputee tries to push beyond the skills, experience or creativity of the prosthetists, he’ll get shut down. The mediocre practitioner will start to turn the tables. “There’s nothing wrong with my leg” he’ll say. You know you’re in trouble the CP starts referring to the prosthetic as “his leg”. Now there’s an emotional attachment to an inanimate body part that is supposed to belong to someone else. (isn’t this how B horror movies start?) You can bet the next lines in the script lead to the prosthetist blaming the amputee.

A good prosthetist doesn’t blame the user for not getting along with a leg. He works to the best of his ability until the amp is comfortable with the leg. It’s gotta take loads of patience to get there!! This is often a confounding process, but the good CP works until the amputee say “Good enough”.

Of course the best prosthetists go beyond that. When an amp says “good enough”, the best reply “I can do better”, because after all, if I guy has to say “good enough”, that means there’s room for it to be better. I remember being shocked by on prosthetist who said outright “no it’s not” in reply to my “good enough”. Up till then, I’d only met practitioners trying to get me from start to finish in as few moves as possible. This guy wasn’t interested in producing the best possible outcome. Thanks to him, I started skiing again, and now ski everything but bumps and trees (which I hope to work on this winter).

Unfortunately, people move on, companies get bought, insurance changes and you can’t always get the people you want on the job.

Thus all of this travel. Finding a CP with the skill is one thing, but a CP with the skill and the will is all together a more difficult thing to find. It’s easy for a guy to take the amps that are going to show instant improvement and be the hero. It takes a little more mettle to take an already highly functioning amp and say “Bring it” to the challenge. Hopefully I’ve found that guy. We’re getting closer to the right leg for me. This week should hopefully yield a final socket that allows me to move like I did a few years ago, and most importantly, pain free once again. We’ll be collaborating in some cool stuff this week. I’ll try to post pictures as we go.