Part of the point of this whole blog was to share with you some of the things that you may not know about people with physical differences. I live a pretty normal life for the most part, but there are occasionally things that I have to deal with that most people don’t have to deal with. So I am going to share some of the minor inconveniences that come with being an amputee. There are several that I deal with from time to time, and occasionally something new pops up that I have never had to deal with. Life is an ongoing learning process like that. Since there are many little things that bug me sometimes I will just start with one of my favorites (and by favorite I of course mean least favorite).

My amputation is below the knee and the prosthetic leg I wear comes to just below the knee. Since just my foot was amputated I have most of my leg below the knee inside my prosthetic leg. When I was a few years old I had to wear a strap to help hold the leg on, and I have already told you about the sleeve I used to wear to help keep my leg on. For the last few years I haven’t relied on anything to keep my leg on. I wear a sock over my stump and when I slide my leg on there is enough suction created to keep my leg on on most occasions. I put my leg on once (and only once) when I was younger without a sock, and that turned out badly. Without the sock there is too much suction involved and it was very painful to get the leg off. The problem with the leg is that depending on several things the suction may not always stay constant. Throughout the day my leg may get tighter or looser depending on the weather, or how much I sweat during the day, or any other number of factors. I can always tell when my leg starts to get loose, and I make adjustments in the way that I walk to compensate for this. I may have to step a little harder on that side to keep my leg on good, but its not really a big deal. Oh, except for one little thing. You know how when have something that creates a suction effect and then all of a sudden that suction is broken you get that sound. You know the sound of air suddenly escaping. Yeah, you know the sound I am talking about. Just imagine that sound coming from your leg, every time you take a step. Try as I may, people just don’t buy the excuse “that was not what you think, it was just my prosthetic leg”. Yeah, sure it was buddy. It also happens sometimes when I sit down and my leg comes loose. When I stand back up and my leg is loose the air that makes its way down between my leg and my prosthetic has to come back up and when it does, there’s that sound again. “No really, that was just my leg” just doesn’t seem very believable for some reason. For the most part I keep on top of things and don’t let things like that happen. Still, every once in a while I wont be paying attention and that sound will just sneak right out (and by sneak out I mean make as much noise as possible). Oh well, what can you do, right? Just one of the many joys of being an amputee!