The Legless Lizard

Time is of the essence and like most things, one thing leads to another, domino effect etc etc etc.  Focus has been largely on rehab and physiotherapy and maintaining Matt's mind space.   There's the catch 22 situation when one needs what they class as heavy drugs for pain, then trying to wean off those, yet with more movement and therapy, more pain increases.  It's one of those things that 'hangs in the balance' but one that we are all mindful of, particularly Matt himself.  We've been there before and it's not always pretty!  Yet it's a mindful process this time around.  You learn from your mistakes, or experiences as I'd prefer to call them.  You make sure you aren't going down that path again. So whilst we are focusing on getting going, on more movement, better life quality, more functionality we have completely forgotten to nurse the progress and the changes of the impact of actually being more mobile & functional!  It's been a long...

This day was absolutely amazing!  The smile and look from within, just shone through his entire being.  A very blessed day for us all.

After experiencing limbo, impatience, some detachment and depressive & frustrating moments, we have all survived the waiting, which has seemed like forever.  Most people say "wow, you're home already"  or "you've got a leg already" so it mustn't really be that long, but like anything I guess... if you're living it, it's totally different! So last week it was off to the Prosthesis Clinic at Nepean and there was Matt's new leg!!!  Funnily enough, the evening before, Matt says to me "did you buy me new boots?" and my answer was no.  Here is the most important appointment of all time and I'd forgotten to bring home the most vital part for this new life force!!!  Not that they're MY boots, or it's my leg!  The reality is Matt could've done that himself but just him getting back into some kind of 'normal' is a slow process.  Being in crowded places with staring eyes, is something he's not supe...

After a number of emails from centres & their expression on how much the clients miss Matt he took the plunge.  It was a big step after much deliberation about getting back to 'normal', Matt decided to give one session of work a go.  For those that don't know,  Matt does music therapy for persons with disabilities (he also does this for aged care centres and teaches guitar) where these centres book him weekly, a year in advance, because these clients just love him so much.  He plays for an hour, he takes them microphones so they can have their 5 minutes of fame and interacts with the clients as only Matt can.  These centres have been so understanding of our situation, and very patient in waiting for Matt to return to work, and we are very grateful. So Wednesday the 1st of March we were off to Penrith after the hospital.  The clients saw Matt through the glass windows and doors and were sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!  There w...

After the skin is on then it's wrapped in this strong glad wrap - actually would love some of this for the kitchen!!!  The artistry shows nerve & bone points.  We weren't aware until after casting was done, that Mark was drawing and touching and pressing on Matt's leg and looking for his 'reactions' to certain points so he could gauge pain points prior to prosthesis fitting. Matt hold this yellow strip right there... (neither of us asked why) Casting commences!  Yay! And this is the purpose of the yellow strip! Casting complete! Last but not least, measurements with the skin on....

 So this amputee process is an intricate and long one.  So many factors to be processed.  Matt's measurements were considered 'stable enough' by Katrina on March 1st so it was all systems go for casting his leg... well they say stump, but we just can't quite wrap our tongues around that one fully yet! Mark from Southern Prosthetics is the man of the moment and he's here showing Matt how to fit his skin reliever.  He's bought this home to test it out and get a feel for it.  Of course a number of condom jokes were thrown into the mix and reality is, that's a bit what this thing seems like on a large scale! Matt's coming out of the mentally and emotionally imbalanced phase of "limbo" now he's got a reality time frame for all of this.  Knowing he'll be walking around minus crutches within a few weeks is a major goal :)