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Sometimes even I stand in awe… Meet SaraJo!

Sometimes it takes a lot to impress me.. Well most times it takes a lot.. Pretty much all the time, truth be told. But I have to say I am now a bit inspired, very impressed, and am truly in awe of a wonderful person I was introduced to.

Meet SaraJo.. SaraJo and I have a lot in common. We are both triple amputees. Both bi-lateral transtibial, and both with finger amputations, on the same hand, no less. We were actually in the hospital at the same time, although back then I had yet to have my surgeries, and I believe she had just had hers.

We are also very different. I was lucky enough to go to one of the best therapy hospitals this side of the Mississippi, and have, in my opinion, the best damned prosthetics team any amputee could have. SaraJo was not as fortunate as I was in that regard. While she had therapy and prosthetics, she had unforeseen setbacks. But those setbacks- well honestly – that is what has me in awe.

SaraJo had a four-wheeler wreck. She had major trauma. She had broken bones and brain surgery to deal with. Some memory loss. But, she pushed ahead. Forward. That takes courage, and lots of it.

SaraJo has essentially taught herself how to do all the things she needs to do to get through her daily routine. I had teams of therapists helping me along, and this young woman did it all by herself! She takes care of her young son and herself quite well. She has pushed herself to do her own strength training and exercises to keep herself fit – and ready – for the time that she can start using her prosthesis. No one made her do it, or told her how. She. Just. Did. It.

She has spunk and attitude. And when I say attitude, I mean a “I can do it!” attitude! And she can. She did it for herself. No ongoing therapy sessions, no ongoing doctor’s care. Just SaraJo, and her drive to continue on with her life.

As I said. I’m a bit in awe of her. And glad for her. So often I get told that I inspire people, and that never sits well with me, but now I think I understand… Because I have met someone that has inspired me to try harder, reach farther, and continue living life on my terms.

So, if you would like to meet who can inspire the inspiring, well, here is your opportunity.

Meet SaraJo:

[youtube //www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjQk5wmV5gk&w=420&h=315]

SaraJo hadn’t yet had the opportunity to drive since her accident in 2010. She simply didn’t have hand controls available. I let her try out mine in my truck, and now she has a set of her own to put in her next car.

She drove a lot more than that, but this was the only video we had a chance to get, as the light was fading. She started out in a large parking lot so she could get the feel of the controls, and then off she went! Before the evening driving session was over, saraJo got out on the road, navigated traffic, and then ended up driving nearly two miles back to her neighborhood and to her home.

SaraJo said there was only two things she had left to do… Drive and walk….

She can mark driving off of her list, and I am confident this spitfire of a woman will have that last little thing on her to-do list accomplished very soon.

Very soon……

And I am quite sure I will again be in awe when I get to see her walking.

I am glad I got to meet SaraJo, and I am glad I have been able to introduce all of you to her, as well.

Please feel free to use the comments section below to say hello to this amazing young woman, and mother. And If she just inspired you a bit, why don’t you let her know about it?

I just did 🙂

Neil

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Gone mobile!

I am trying out some new things for my blog, namely mobile apps!

so, if you want to help me out and test these bad boys, please grab the:
Windows Mobile Version
Android Version

And for iOS, go here on your iPhone or iPad then follow the pop up instructions for installing on your desktop.

Please, try these out and tell me if they seem to act OK!

Before I go and spend money on getting them on all the app stores, I need to know they work!

Thanks!

Neil

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Great weekend!

So I had a good weekend in Louisville! Got to see some new faces and old friends.. Hopefully helped out some OTA/PTAs with their perception of people with amputations, and with how they will give therapy in the future.

Went to eat at Buca’s with an old friend, then discovered my hotel had a bar.. Good times!

I got hit several times over the weekend with comments about my blog, and how I don’t post nearly as often as I used to. I was also told that still many new amputees within the circle of care I had are directed here.. And that I now have a responsibility to maintain this blog a little better..

I will do my best… My first things first.. I am going to reorganize all my videos onto one group of pages.. I have never been a big picture person, so I am going to concentrate on the videos more, I think..

I have lots of thoughts about being a person with amputations, and I need to get more of those thoughts written down, so they might help others..

This weekend has motivated me to get rolling a bit better on doing what I set out to do with this blog, to help others!

I got to meet some local “celebrities” this weekend as well. Kevin Trees, an above knee amputee who is a Sergeant for Louisville Metro Police Department. I got to meet Joe Riffe, the Prosthetic Medic, and I got to see him Walking on his new leg with the help of crutches. (links to his blog and his paypal donation site are on the left side bar, go check this guy out!)

I also got to meet a young lady who is a soccer player. She lost a leg below the knee only 4 weeks ago, and is already walking unaided!

Bravo girl, bravo! So proud for you. Keep it up! And remember what I told you.. No one (except mom and dad, lol) is allowed to tell you what you can and can’t do! No one is allowed to set limitations for you, and you are not handicapped!

Don’t be afraid to tell anyone off that tells you you can’t do anything you want to do, because you can! I know you can. I have seen you walk…

Next soccer season, if you and your mom invite me, I would love to come see you play in your first soccer game of the next season. I’ll be glad cheer you on, and knock down anyone who says you can’t.

You inspired me this weekend, kiddo.. you did good!

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A mother’s love…

Parents can do amazing things when it comes to their children.. They will sacrifice everything, including their own life to keep them safe.

This woman, Stephanie Decker, nearly lost her life protecting her kids during the recent storms. what she did lose was her legs.

//www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/woman-loses-legs_2012-03-06

I read that story, and was moved, almost to tears. As a parent, as a fire fighter/EMT that has worked tornado wreckage, as an amputee… This woman had the courage to do what had to be done for her children.

I saw that she is in the same hospital system I was in when I had to lose my legs, I know she is in the best place for recovery and therapy. And I wish her well. She will meet many of the people that helped me, and I know they can do for her as they did for me.

I am told many of the new amputees at the U of L and Jewish/Frazier complex are directed here, to see life goes on. That there is still hope. So, on the off chance that Mrs. Decker or her family is directed here to read about my experiences..

You have my respect, Mrs. Decker. You paid nearly the ultimate price for your children. You are what other mothers should strive to be. “I’m Sorry you lost your legs” is something you will hear. But, because you lost your legs. your not hearing “I’m sorry you lost your children.”

As you go through your therapy, get new prosthetic legs, learn to live your life again… You remember that. You have your kids, you did it right. Your kids are worth it, and will always be worth it.

I stand in awe of you for it, and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Mrs. Decker, you are a hero.

 

I invite everyone that reads my blog to go to the link above and share it. I think more parents should learn from this courageous woman’s actions.

I know I have.

Neil

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Gait 2.0

I have really been working on improving my gait, and have taught myself a few new things in the process! Here is a short video of my much improved gait!

[youtube //www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEj-3syuuAM&w=560&h=315]

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Just checking in!

So, it has been quite some time since I posted a real text blog! I have been getting polite reminders that videos just are not enough! Well, here you go!

So, I have started back to college, with my major being PTA. That’s right, the guy who went through months of physical therapy wants to now torture other people! Yea Me!

College, at the age of 38 is a chore. I have to remember things from high school and my previous college experience, and it is a little overwhelming! Homework, homework, homework! Geez, really? Wow, math is what is really kicking my butt. I used math every day, but some of this stuff is just…plain… silly… Who cares what two points on a graph are going to do, when it comes to Physical Therapy?

Apparently, my pre calc teacher cares.

also, I am doing a lot of writing, but it is all for my English class! Thesis, outlines, summaries… I love to write, but not when it is a chore!

The classes I really enjoy are the Bio and Anatomy, and the Public Speaking class. I am holding an A average in those classes right now. I like to talk, and I understand the basics of Bio from my EMT days, so those classes are great! The other day, we dissected a rat! It was funny watching all the (very) young kids trying not to get sick while poking and prodding through the thing!

Also, I am simply enjoying the walking itself. I have three different buildings I have to go through and walk in.  And I do it unaided. One day, during the snow, I used a cane, but only because I was worried about slick sidewalks!

Life is so getting back to normal for me. I am enjoying myself again so much. I don’t think about my legs much, and i put on my prosthesis just like you put your shoes on in the morning. It is just something to be done so I can go about my day. I wish more people understood that.

I get told all the time if people that don’t know me well see me out.. “Oh, it is so good to see you out!” Of course, they say it in a slightly hushed and sympathetic tone. Like, this is the first time I have been out, and poor me is walking. HA! Get real! My friends and family tell me they get asked in those same tones, “So, how is Neil.. Is he ok?” Again.. Get real! It has been 14 months since my illness and all, and I am over it, recovering fine! Stop talking like I am still in the hospital, already!

The favorite thing for my brother Wes to say, when asked “Well, how is your brother doing?” in those poor pitiful tones is to ask them “Which one, I have two?” and then when they say me.. He responds “Oh, he is the same prick he has always been, doing fine!”

I love it! Wes gets it. I am me. I am over what happened, and moved on! I am walking, working, going to school, hanging with my kid, going out with friends… Just. Like. Always.

I’m good, so stop wringing your hands and asking about me in hushed tones! I am still the prick I have always been, and I am doing just peachy!

Enjoy your day! I have pre-calc homework callin my name!

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Merry Christmas!

[youtube //www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMtnWda7wIc&w=560&h=315]

I feel just horrible! I totally forgot to mention Dr Warren Briedenbach in the video! So, thanks, Doc B! I wouldn’t be this far without your hard work!

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OH, but am I pissed right now….. (caution-explicit)

 

OK, so. All this time, I couldn’t properly remember events leading up to my coma/hospital stay. I was going on half remembered things on events leading up to me losing my legs.. well, I was just going through an old FB blog I wrote before I went to the hospital for the last time, and I am thoroughly pissed.

I mean clean-my-sidearm-and-load-the-hollow-points pissed.

I wont re post that blog, but I actually wrote down a timeline up to the 26th of September, last year. I dont remember writing it, but I know I must have. I even have comments from friends telling me they hope I feel better soon….Let me lay out the timeline for you I just pulled from my blog.

  • Thursday, 9-16-2010 BD attack started in mouth.
  • Saturday 9-18-2010 Last day I worked, throat hurt bad enough I couldn’t eat.
  • Tuesday, 9-21-2010 Went to DR in Bowling Green, prescribed pain meds and AntiBiotics. Mom came to pick me up and take me to Providence.
  • Friday, 9-24-2010 Late Friday evening, I was taken to RMC ER by my mother. I stayed until Early Saturday morning in the ER. Here is what I wrote about it.

I was told I had a case of old fashioned thrush……So, I went through 4 bags of IV fluids, 2 dolauded/zofran (sp?) combo shots, steroid shots and other things while in the hospital….. I was rolled out to the truck in a wheel chair, new pain meds script in hand and a vile mouthwash for thrush as well.

  • Saturday 9-25-2010 Early morning released from the ER
  • Wednesday, 9-29-2010 Late night rush to the ER. My mother tells me I staggered into the kitchen and said “I need help”
  • Thursday, 9-30-2010 Admitted to ICU from ER.. Coding, Coma… And the rest is history….

Why am I so pissed? Because I didn’t have THRUSH! I had a fucking MRSA infection! I was already at that time having a bit of trouble breathing.  I don’t remember everything they did to me on that first visit, but it stands to reason that a competent ER doctor would have taken a throat culture for strep.. Don’t you think?

I know that strep and staph are different things, but what the fuck? From my understanding, a MRSA culture is a simple positive/negative test. Did they draw blood? Did the test blood? I don’t know, I can’t remember. They put in an IV line, so it stands to reason. You can damn bet that I got run for the basics in that blood test. Why no throat culture? How did the MRSA not show?

 

I do remember this. The doc spent no more than a few minutes with me, total. Nurses, yes, Doc, no.

 

If the doc had spent possibly a bit more time, or ran a few simple tests to confirm his theory, my ass might not be legless right now. Or fingerless, for that matter.

 

But Neil! You can’t know that!

 

Bull shit. Bull shit. Bull shit.

 

Arrogant fucktard doctor, takes one quick glimpse, calls it thrush, and sends me home…

 

This is the problem with RMC. It is a low class, triage hospital. Granted, the nurses, therapists and a select amount of doctors there are top notch.. Dr Kitchens and his team, for example, who saved my life after I went to ICU.

 

But there would have been no need for ICU if the doctor would have ran a couple of tests in the ER. Or actually admitted me for observation.

 

And while I am ranting about the hospital, let me just talk about that asshole ortho surgeon there. Donnelley. That mother fucker came to my room when I wasn’t even a day out of ICU, still dazed from my coma to tell me what HE was going to do to ME.

Not to mention he was 12 hours late for the room visit, and talked to me with no one else in the room…

 

I didn’t even have my own power of attorney. I couldn’t make my own medical decisions. That didn’t stop that old bastard from telling me he was going to take my legs off at the knees, take my fingers off at the palms, and then schedule the fucking surgery…

 

They found me in my room.. thrashing in bed, muttering “not viable… Just going to cut them off” over and over…

 

I had to be sedated, and then shackled to the bed to keep from hurting myself!

 

My old man goes and finds Donnelley, tells him not to do any surgery, and never come in my room again… His response?

He doesn’t have to talk to my dad, because my mom has power of attorney. He needs to talk to her, anyway..

 

Then why did he tell me that shit?  why, if he knew that my mother had power of attorney, did he not wait until she was with me? If he would have been on time like he was supposed to, she WOULD have been there.

Why? Because he is an arrogant old son of a bitch. He needs to be put out to pasture. Could you imagine the shape I would have been in right now if we would have blindly followed his advice?

He is on a short list of people at the hospital right now that are not allowed to speak to me, go in my room, or look at my charts. Glad I am not there now…

And I hope to God that he retires before he does this to someone else.

 

I am going to have to request my medical records for the night of  9/24/2010 and see what doctor it was that treated me. I really want to know his name. And I want to make sure he will NEVER forget mine.

 

Now, some of you are going to say I am in some stage of healing/denial/whatever… Keep your psycho-babble to yourself. This is not about denial, or trying to find something/someone to blame. these are simple facts.

 

Like I said, there are some good doctors at RMC. But you watch. It is a continuing cycle.. The good Doctors do their residency there, and the get the hell out. Go somewhere else. Why? Even they know what kind of place they are working at.

 

and for those that might say I am being an asshole myself for saying any of this… Well, I will be more than glad to say these things to the Doctors themselves who deserve it. Trust me. When I go to RMC  on occasion to visit the GREAT therapy staff there who helped me, I keep a look out.

One day, he will be standing in the lobby, and I will say my piece. And show him that I still have knees, because we were smart enough to stay the hell away from his ortho department.

Enough said.

Rant over.

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Life goes on…

Well, it has been a bit since I posted a new blog that I actually wrote, instead of throwing up some new videos. I thought it was time for a real update for all of you!

Just as the title suggests, life goes on, even after triple amputations.

every day I get a little stronger, a little more stable on my legs, and a little more of the feeling that I might be moving on from this disaster that happened to me.

I have had my legs since February, but due to Behcet’s issues, i have only really been on the prosthesis and walking for about two and a half months. I have gone in that short period of time from forearm crutches to cane. Now, in the house, I am forgoing the cane.

When I walk in the door the cane goes in the corner, to be left until I go outside again. Why, you may ask? Why not use it because I might need it? Simple. If I use it, I will rely on it. If I have to rely on myself, and not the cane, I will be forced to walk without aid. Pretty simple, eh?

And so far it is going well. I of course, use the cane outside, as I have some stability issues on uneven ground, but inside is all nice and level.

I also limit my use of the wheelchair to shower time. I used to use it first thing in the morning for that first up of the day bathroom run, but not anymore. The wheelchair is just another version of a cane, if I let myself use it, I always will. So, I don’t. I will always need a chair close by at night, in the event of emergency. I can get my legs on and be walking in about seven minutes now, but, seven minutes is a lifetime if there is a fire or tornado.

So, until I get to the point that I can have “quick on” legs, I will need the chair. In time, I will have a set of legs that i can “pop” on in a few seconds each, but until then, I will keep the chair around. The legs I have now are the best that can be had… But the technology involved also involves prep time before they can be put on.

I am now back to working, part time, at my old fire department. I am a dispatcher. That has helped my head immensely. Feeling like I am doing something productive is nice. And, the people I worked with before at the department are still the same people. And they treat me just the same as they always have. They might might make a nice comment now and again about my walking abilities, but otherwise, they still give me hell like they always have.

I need that. I need to be treated like I am the normal guy I was, the normal guy I am.

I went yesterday and signed up for classes at college. Starting in January, I will be taking 13 credit hours towards a degree in Physical Therapy Assistant. I want to be able to help other amputees, and this is the starting point.

I am also going to be guest speaking to an OTA class soon. One of the kids from the old neighborhood I grew up in, and went to school with, grew up to be a fine OT in her own right, and is teaching at the college. She has asked me if she might use my videos, and blogs in her class, and asked if I might be willing to be a guest speaker to her students.

I really feel honored to help out. My hope is that by helping out the class, I might be helping out an amputee down the road!

See, I have found that both OT and PT have a few set in stone ideas about how things are done. Mostly, they are spot on, but some things are not. As an amputee, you are taught to do things just like a person who is paralyzed from the waist down. Someone who has legs, but cant use them.

Here is the problem. I may not have all my legs anymore, but I sure as hell can use and move what I have!

You also tend to get crammed into the “no movement box” for things such as wheelchair transfers, bathroom usage, and baths/showers.

Here is a good example.. I posted long ago about sitting in the floor of a shower to bath, and not in a handicap shower chair. My OT in Louisville was not pleased with this. Her basic attitude was, “That’s just not how your supposed to do it.”

Well, screw that. why force me to sit in a chair when I am safer, and more comfortable, sitting in the floor?

Oh, right.. You put me in the “box” again.

My shower at home is now set up just the way I want it, and was done all by me. the only handicap aids I use now is a small shower “seat” on legs about an inch tall. I dont use a shower chair, I don’t use any toilet seat helper chairs… Nothing. Just my little seat. Why the seat? well, able bodied people might occasionally stand in that shower to bath.

I don’t want to sit my hind in in someones funky feet fungus… 🙂 I don,t need the seat, but I use it as a precaution. That is now the extent of my “handicap” tools. I’m not handicapped, so why should I use handicap accessories?

Wait! Yes! I did just say that! I~am~not~handicapped! When I have my legs on, and my fingers or glove on, I can do all the things I need to do.

Hell, I don’t even park in handicap parking, or have a tag for my car. Why? Because every time I take the easy way out like that, I miss out on an opportunity to be the normal guy I am. Also, I would hate to take the last handicap parking spot when someone who is wheelchair bound might need the extra space to get their chair out.

thats why those spots are extra wide, people. So, every time YOU use a tag you don’t really need and park there, your taking away from someone who really needs it!

I refuse to be that kind of asshole. Really.

Some may argue that I am being silly, but I am who I am.

Wow, I got a bit off track, but hey, that happens. Maybe I didn’t.. All of this really falls under what happens when life goes on, Doesn’t it?

Life does go on, and I am living it.

Maybe I will see some of y’all around campus!