I got a phone call this time last month, from the case manager handling my disability claim.
She said as of August 31st I was no longer disabled. I was very pleased to hear that. I can't wait for the 31st to roll around, and for me to pop out of bed, jump up, and carry on like I did over 5 years ago.
Oh wait, that's not going to happen.
Unless that whole spinach turning into a new heart muscle (true story) is going to happen with building a whole new leg, I do believe that on August 31st I will wake up, and still be disabled. Much to everyone's sadness, mine included. Well, sad that I know it isn't going to happen, not that I miss my leg, because I don't.
What I miss is being able to move... efficiently & effectively. I can move, sort of the same as an 89 year old. This was something I wasn't really expecting. Especially two years out of the gate.
As I type, I am not even wearing my leg, due to a tiny little ulcer that is wreaking havoc on the "medial epicondyle" (which is the location kinda right next to your knee on the femur) .. but that is the location of the where your bone is round on the end .. and now that this leg is skin and bone, it's rubbing kind of awful.
Anyways .. I am returning to work at the beginning of September (I believe). I must wonder how many prosthetists know people that return to work two years later, and do not have a proper leg yet, that works.
There is that slight oversight in the disability claim people. I mobilize with my leg, not in a wheelchair, but that is what they claim. I can work in a wheelchair, so therefore I can work.
Thanks guys ... love ya. Not.
My current level of function is this. Well, today I am "supposed" to be hopping with my walker. Although that is freaking brutal, so I have come to know, after hopping for a year, fuck. I walk with a cane, with my eyes cast downward. I can not walk and talk and concentrate on a task. If people brush past me, I immediately have a gumby like reflex that my free hand flies up, and I am locked into a stiff position, or somehow we could say I am having my own personal game of freeze tag. I walk next to walls, so people can't brush past me, I stop cold turkey if I have someone who approaches me from the front that isn't looking. I can't carry an object and maneuver through obstacles. I definitely can not go up or down stairs without severe concentration. I move as fast as somebody who is in their late 80's.
Who would have thought losing your leg, would have given you all sorts of hidden ripple effects in this.
Well ... it is off to work I go ... who do sue when you fall over? Asking for a friend.
