The Last Leg

Today we began our last lower limb project.  Pretty hard to believe.  Granted, this is a two week project so we are not out of the trans femoral woods yet, but hard to believe that I spent the morning casting my last leg as a student.  And what a leg it was!!  Let me tell you!!  I could have easily taken up residence in my cast when it was done :)

You are looking at four hours of hard work laying on the floor of the treatment room.  These are the four casts that were made today by me and my partner, Michelle.  They look haphazardly discarded, but I can assure you they were placed on the floor with love.  We are instructed to finish casting and immediately focus on getting our patients dressed and cleaned up and walked to their car before we even start admiring our own work.  If you look around the room at the end of the patient appointments, it is just casts strewn about.

My patient today, I shall call him Paul - nice guy, not really interested in spending a lot of time at the school (which makes it tough on those of us who do not work up to the speed at which he prefers), and like most of the other men with amputations I have met this semester (and yes, I am generalizing) - a little inappropriate at times.  I do not mind an inappropriate joke or two on the occasion, but they are a little tougher to politely laugh at when you have your hand shoved in precarious places on the person making the jokes.  Needless to say, Paul and I plodded along and we managed to get through the morning.  My first cast turned out to be better than my second cast and I was able to get it filled before having to go to lecture in the afternoon.

Since this is our last big project of the year, we are being set free on our own - the instructors have told us they will be offering very little assistance, reminding us that we should know what we are doing by now and will be out in the "real world" in a matter of weeks.  Sounds like a good opportunity for a lot of the infamous "failing forward" if you ask me.

I am excited about this project because we get to spend some time on it and actually produce an entire leg - (finish it by laminating it) as opposed to just creating the plastic test sockets that we have mostly done.  Apparently this is the time to get creative and we can use fabric patterns to create fun socket designs - its is all free reign at this point.  We are allowed to use whatever components we can get our hands on (once again, I am counting on Ossur to pull through for me) and we are supposed to create a leg all on our own.  Seems a little out of reach for me at the moment, but it always seems out of reach when I am looking a 15 pounds of plaster that does not really resemble a leg at all.

Tomorrow is a full day (we are talking the entire 9 hours) of modifying.  I am planning on going in a little early - I have no clue how long this is going to take me (I am assuming longer than 9 hours) and I would rather have a surprise early afternoon than have them turn the lights out on me at the end of the work day.  We are doing the same modifications on this leg as we did on the last leg, but like I said, this time with no help.  I think this is going to be a struggle, but I am feeling really focused now - I have gotten a second wind in regards to school...this whole 6 week countdown has rejuvenated me and I want to go out with a really great leg (and also a cool one with a fun pattern, but I am trying to keep my priorities straight and focus on getting a great fitting socket first and foremost).

Pray that the plaster is kind to me tomorrow and that I am able to transport this giant leg around back and forth to the necessary rooms in the building :)