Personal Appreciation for Emi

[Bara]

Any other questions/curiosities?

Yes, I can understand that a wheelchair would limit your mobility more than your prosthetic. Have you ever used a cane or crutch along with your prosthetic to help keep weight off it? Or would those not be too useful/awkward?

[Shaddox]

I can understand that a wheelchair would limit your mobility more than your prosthetic. Have you ever used a cane or crutch along with your prosthetic to help keep weight off it? Or would those not be too useful/awkward?

I have a cane, but it only looks good together with my suit, which I don't wear very often (only on occasion). I also have a crutch : I use it to move around the house when I'm home alone. It's very useful indeed around the house, but I'm not carrying it around in society.

[DuaneMoody]

I have a cane, but it only looks good together with my suit

How convincingly can you say "It's never lupus"?

[Akira]

At first I was reluctant to post my appreciation for Emi because I didn't want to get a Drama Queen tag. Thanks again.

Nah, Drama Queens flock to 4Chan. Only cool people come here
Welcome

Besides I like Emi too, even if she is hard to keep up with.
*HNNNNGGGs and falls over on the 3rd lap!* MEDIC!!!

[Bara]

I can understand that a wheelchair would limit your mobility more than your prosthetic. Have you ever used a cane or crutch along with your prosthetic to help keep weight off it? Or would those not be too useful/awkward?

I have a cane, but it only looks good together with my suit, which I don't wear very often (only on occasion). I also have a crutch : I use it to move around the house when I'm home alone. It's very useful indeed around the house, but I'm not carrying it around in society.

Yeah, I can understand that choosing not to use a crutch in public. At some level inside, you probably might feel like its like carrying a big sign saying, "Look, something is wrong with me.". I guess we all make choices of comfort vs. looks every day. People will put up with a lot for their self-image.

[Warwick]

As with everyone else, welcome to the forums, Shaddox. Also, thanks for showing up to share your experiences with us. I've been meaning to ask about this in the really dumb questions thread, but your timely arrival is just what I needed.

You said before that wounds would open up on your leg after prolonged friction with your prosthetic. This is a point that I've been curious about for a while. I thought that surgeons also capped the ends in some way other than just sewing the skin over it. I was also curious about how the body heals over the wound. I wondered whether over time the area would scar over enough or flesh would grow around the stump in some way that it was not uncomfortable to put pressure on it. Then again, you weren't very clear on the nature of the wounds. Are they friction burns/chafed/ripped skin or are the ends of the bone wearing through the flesh from the inside out? I'm curious whether or not the "stump" (if I may use so blunt a word) becomes sturdy enough like a fingertip.

[erisi236]

Relatedly, I had my leg taken off right at the hip when I was a lad, for awhile I went with artificial one, but the damn thing was so annoying I hated it, but I still wore it through highschool. Right after graduation I ditched it and just crutch around. It's amazing how much better I get around without that lumbering weight attached to my hip.

[Layzuhl]

Nice to finally see some Emi appreciation! I love her, heck, I'm perfectly able-bodied and I wish I could have half of her energy! Great to hear that people with similar difficulties can relate to her.

I could bore a hole through your head with staring alone.

[Bara]

Relatedly, I had my leg taken off right at the hip when I was a lad, for awhile I went with artificial one, but the damn thing was so annoying I hated it, but I still wore it through highschool. Right after graduation I ditched it and just crutch around. It's amazing how much better I get around without that lumbering weight attached to my hip.

Do you think if you had more of your leg left you might decide diferently?

[erisi236]

Do you think if you had more of your leg left you might decide diferently?

It's possible. There's like a sliding scale of annoyance when it comes to different mobility devices. You always have to balance stuff like speed, distance, amount of chaffing, really how it looks to you or how you might think it looks to other people, ability to carry things, things of that like.

I went crutches but it's certainly not the best thing in the world, people aren't meant to walk with their arms.

[Bara]

Do you think if you had more of your leg left you might decide diferently?

It's possible. There's like a sliding scale of annoyance when it comes to different mobility devices. You always have to balance stuff like speed, distance, amount of chaffing, really how it looks to you or how you might think it looks to other people, ability to carry things, things of that like.

I went crutches but it's certainly not the best thing in the world, people aren't meant to walk with their arms.

The way you say it; It pretty much sounds like the same choices anyone makes when getting dressed, where am I going, what will I be doing, and who will be there. There is just a prosthetic option in the wardrobe?

[Envy]

I don't know if you're trying to troll me, but I'll answer my best.

Polite, inquisitive questioning would be a pretty fucking strange way of trolling, I'll say that.

I felt it was there, but the reality of not being able to stand told me otherwise. It took me about 2 weeks to accept that my leg just wasn't there.

Phantom limb pains and shit, yeah?

He doesn't treat me like a mistake, and that makes me feel human again. Generally speaking, strangers treat me with either a velvet glove (out of mercy, smth like "That poor faggot..." ) or an iron fist (some people find amusing bullying me).

I think you're either being too hard on yourself or everyone else is being too hard on you. I'm not going to say that it's easy to get around with a leg and a half but at the end of day it's only a leg. There was nothing in that leg you lost that makes you any less of a person. Okay, so maybe you can't jump around a ring like a springbok, join the army or sprint a kilometer but there's plenty else out there you can do, plenty. Boxing was important to your dad, maybe it was important to you too, you tell me, but it's not the end of the world if you can't do it.

As for college, if you're struggling then ask for help. Unless they're right dicks who don't do their job the teacher/lecturer/whoever isn't going turn you away. Even if you do fail college there's plenty else out there for you. Fuck me, I failed college (this is UK college here, not even university) and I'm going somewhere.

And bullies, you can either just ignore them and hope they go away or you can deal with the problem, walk right up to them, doesn't matter if you can't walk up to them very fast or steadily, get in his face and say, "Yes, I've got no leg. Do you want to lick it? No? Then shut the fuck up, you pikey-faced cunt."

Only way you ever get anything is by grabbing it by the balls yourself. Stay in school, kids.

[Synoptic]

This thread has gone from expressing your "Personal Appreciation for Emi" to let's talk about Shaddog's missing leg. :]

Yo Shaddog, my friend, wuts up? :]

[Shaddox]

First of all, I'm going to politely ask everyone to ignore Synoptic. Unfortunately, I know him for some while and his douchebaggery level reaches astronomical proportions. Don't bother talking to him unless you want a pain in the ass.

The way you say it; It pretty much sounds like the same choices anyone makes when getting dressed, where am I going, what will I be doing, and who will be there. There is just a prosthetic option in the wardrobe?

You'd be surprised. Often one (especially girls) combines different kind of prosthetics to try and look as natural as possible.

Then again, you weren't very clear on the nature of the wounds. Are they friction burns/chafed/ripped skin or are the ends of the bone wearing through the flesh from the inside out? I'm curious whether or not the "stump" (if I may use so blunt a word) becomes sturdy enough like a fingertip.

I don't know the exact details over mine, but reading on prosthetic development, I've seen that now they don't only pull skin, but also muscle over it. I hope you were joking about the "bone wearing through the flesh" part, I can't imagine how painful that would be. It's just friction burns, thankfully, since I stop from time to time to take a rest, but if I have to push myself, I may get ripped skin too. If you touch yourself (wow, that sounded pretty weird ), you will see that the skin is rough on the "edges" (fingertips, legs, etc.). A stump will never be as resistant or sensitive as "natural body pheripherals" since, well, it's not natural and the body is not made like that.

[vaen]

about those friction burns, I'm under the impression that any skin that's in contact with frequent friction will develop layers of callus. doesn't this happen to where your leg is in contact with the prostetic? I know a gitar player even develops it on their fingertips and such.

in fact, if the underside of my feet wasn't covered in it I'd be pretty unhappy too O.o