Yey or Ney (Kinda long sorry)

[Will Wood]

Ok here is the thing. I'm throwing this all out over the place forums friends family. I'm trying to get all the imput possible, so be serious please

I was born with (Not even going to try to spell this huge medical term). In otherwords, I was born with a messed up Tibia bone. My leg was bowed. At age 8, I went in for what was to be a simple leg straightening procedure. That turned into a 4 year nightmare.

Now, more than a decade later I'm left with a leg. I weak leg. I can't do anything phyiscal .. my leg would snap in half. There is little muscle, and the bone is extremely weak in two spots.

I *HAVE* a brace. I can do some things. The problem is.. It's a PITA. My leg is still weak, it can take the abuse but I have no power in that leg. I can barely jump on one foot with it. In fact, to recenly, I couldn't.



Background story over, hopefully it wasn't too long.

Here is the question: I'm rethinking my life and I want to get alot more physically fit and do more things. I've been working on the rest of my body but I feel so limited because of my leg. I can't go running alot or anything like that. It has nothing to do with pushing myself to the limit, I just CAN'T. My leg won't take it.

I'm thinking of cutting it off and getting one of those nifty fake legs.
It was a serious option at numerious poinst of time through my countless surgeries. I was aware that I would be limited to what I could do later on in life for keeping my leg, but I wanted to keep the bloody thing.


I feel there is so much more I could do if I got just went with a fake leg.

I've tried doing some research and I can't really find much info.
So I'm trying to ask everyone ... what would you do in my position? Do you think the idea is crazy?
Basically, did I just start thinking some stupid idea and am getting stuck with it for a while?




I could get it all paid for so I wouldn't have to worry about that.
But speaking of paid for, I'm sitting on about $5,000 down in medical bills. Thanks to my insurance at my current job, Home Depot, it's alot less than it should be. The problem is, my hours suck at the place. It's different everyweek, and they will not give you a set schedual as a fulltimer. As part time, you can have a schedual to work around, but as part time I won't have that insurance anymore. I can't sit on these bills forever, and with what I'm doing now, rent insurance etc I have very little money to start paying this off.

So I need to work there, or find another place with insurance. But untill then, I can't do much. Even at work being on my legs all day long my leg often starts to ache really badly. I want to start getting into landscaping, or some other job like that. Some job where my leg would really suck having. Basically, where I want to go in my life, my leg is starting to be a hinderance. I need to start making more money, and the problem is, it seems like it would be an easier goal after I'm fulled recovered, with a fake leg capable of so much more than what I got now.


I'm thinking I can get out of my dept so much quicker with cutting the old sucker off. And I would really like to start doing more physical things.

[Lohman446]

Not to be insensitive here, and understanding there are underlying problems that most people don't deal with - any extra weight you carry will further stress your leg. If you are overweight you might look for a low impact form of exercise (Im thinking bike, but you and your doctor could discuss this) and diet to help reduce the load. Granted it won't cure the underlying problem, but it may help before you take other drastic action.

Really not trying to be a jerk, and it may not at all apply to you.

[Will Wood]

Yea I'm skinny :) So that's not the problem. Super fast metabolism FTW.

[wjr]

Mabye a paintball friendly corner is not the place to get input on something as life changing as this. I'd consult youre doctor

[Will Wood]

Oh I am. But I'm also looking for imput from someone that isn't a doctor either.

[maxama10]

Well, its going to be diificult for you at first to adujust to your new leg. Maybe youre not concerned but I also think that youre going to attract a lot more unwanted attention with a prostetic then a brace. I doubt you care but I thought I'd throw it out there. I really think you should talk to someone with a prostetic leg first and tell them the whole story. If you feel like you could get used to a prostetic leg and that you would be able to function better then by all means I think it sounds like a reasonable idea. Then again, I know next to nothing about prostetic appendages. Good luck though.

[Steelrat]

I've read stories about military personnel who were in similar situations. They could either deal with a damaged limb and be forced out of duty, or have it replaced and return to active duty. It was surprising that some of them actually had the limb replaced so they could do what they wanted to do, and they voiced no regrets over it.

A good example is the story of Carl Brashear, whose life was the basis for the movie Men of Honor. Here is a small bit from taken from a website detailing his life story.


Carl Brashear’s life had also been spared, but his leg would not be. Following two months of fighting infection and gangrene, Carl told his doctors he could not spend three years in the hospital while his left leg (which would be considerably shorter than his right leg) healed. He made a decision to have the doctors amputate. He thought it was the only way to save his Navy career.

I don't envy the decision you have to make. Only you will be able to determine what you want. Some people cannot deal with the loss of a limb. For other, the loss enables them to live their lives as they want.

Good luck to you!

[wanna-b-ballin']

that must be a really hard decision. like if it was a finger, i would probably just remove it, but a leg is so big, its like taking a chunk out of you.

what would the down sides be to a fake leg? i'd say weigh the downsides and then base your decision off that.

[ScatterPlot]

I would probably say go for it, taking into account the knowledge of prosthesis I have (read: zero). But I would tend to think that it would sorta be good to get it over and done with so you can move on. With all the advances and stuff being made in this area, you could probably do well with a fake leg in 10-20 years, if that- by "well" I mean terminator-style-better-than-the-old-one type leg. Even now those things are looking pretty good. But then again, I have no real knowledge of this at all- for instance, do you need something to "remove" before you attach nerves in this hypothetical robo-leg of the future, or will a current amputation limit your future as far as prosthetics go with the tying off of nerves now? Again- I don't know a thing about this stuff, but it would be something I'd want to look into if I was in your position.

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you good luck!
Bert

[SpecialBlend2786]

Dale Price over at http://www.peglegpaintball.com/ has a prostetic leg.

Maybe if you could get in contact with him, he could help you out with this choice.

I cannot even begin to put myself in your position, so although I can't offer my help, I can offer my support. Good luck, and I hope everything works out for you!

EDIT: looks like you can read an article about Dale and his accident here: http://www.peglegpaintball.com/about.html

[yeahthatsme]

would it be removed under the knee or the whole leg? i'm not so sure where the tibia is.


anyways, if its under the knee i would definately do it, as then you would still have close to full flexibility. i'm not sure about prosthetics though, so you might have just as good flexibility taking off the full leg.


i would do it if i were you, thats just my personal opinion though.

[magman007]

dude, go for it, it could be the newest in body mods. :)

but serriously, most prosthetics are better than the real thing now a days anyways. Have you seen how fast some of the legless runners actually are?

although, i suppose ski'ing, skating, and snowboarding are out of the question...

but yea, why not, serriously, its been a bum leg all your life, you might as well go for it, im sure no matter what, the results will be better than they were.

[gimp]

That is a pretty big decision, one that you should definetly think about for a long time before acting. I had a pretty major surgery, and I got a lot advice from a forum for people who had the surgery. I would spend some time searching the internet for a resource of people who have lost a limb. They would be the people who could probably help you most.

One thing to consider would be the attention you'll draw. You know, people are going to stare. That can be tough on you.

[MicroMiniMe]

I've read stories about military personnel who were in similar situations. They could either deal with a damaged limb and be forced out of duty, or have it replaced and return to active duty. It was surprising that some of them actually had the limb replaced so they could do what they wanted to do, and they voiced no regrets over it.

A good example is the story of Carl Brashear, whose life was the basis for the movie Men of Honor. Here is a small bit from taken from a website detailing his life story.



I don't envy the decision you have to make. Only you will be able to determine what you want. Some people cannot deal with the loss of a limb. For other, the loss enables them to live their lives as they want.

Good luck to you!

I thought you were going to cover what was just on some recent news/propaganda ( :rolleyes: )
Servicemen retuning from Iraq are in all shapes of hurt when it comes to roadside bombs and missing limbs lately. The technology is getting better for fine arm/hand movements, but it looks like the leg prosthetics are already pretty close to 'Terminator' functionality. There was an airplane pilot who flies Air Force One currently who has a prosthetic leg, and gets enough feedback from the prosthetic leg that he can fly a plane with it.

I suppose you gotta weigh the technology now and projected for the future. Any real chance at regaining full function of the leg later down the road? Or, ahem, cut your losses and go with whats best for fuction right now, probably being prosthetic?

.

[Will Wood]

One thing to consider would be the attention you'll draw. You know, people are going to stare. That can be tough on you.

I was on cruches for two years. Wheelchair for 6 months. I lugged around the extra weight of the russion external fixator (http://www.hamptonandrawlings.com/scan0006.jpg) device for quite some time. Trust me, people staring is minor :P


So yea, people can stare all they want. :wow:

[tribalman]

this choice is up to you.


my grandfather served in WW2. he was POW and during his time, he had bullet wounds in his upper and lower leg, and lower back. it wasn't until the 80's that something went wrong and his leg needed to be aputated. maybe it's cause he was older, maybe cause medical science wasn't as good, but he kept complaining of limb pains from part of his leg that was gone. they seemed pretty bad from his reactions that i saw.

there are prostethesis that allow the user to run, with or without knees, replica legs, and i've even seen in a documentary about the topic electronic limbs that hook up to your nerves and can react in a semi useful way. the one they were showcasing the amputee had his arm removed above the elbow and he wanted to stay in the service and help around the house. this limb allowed him to move the elbow, rotate the wrist in 360* motions, and clasp items in the hand. it did take training to get used to the limb, but he thought it was useful and worth it.

[Skittle]

well, I have a weak knee because its been trashed a few times, I know its not really near what youre dealing with but I go to the gym to strenghten it. Mabye you could go to the gym and start VERY light and just build some power in it.

[magman007]

yes, the phantom pain is one draw back.

[warbeak2099]

I know I'd never be able to live without one of my limbs. It's up to you as to what you're comfortable with. I'd seek every possible way to build up the leg as Skittle suggested.