Shrinking Leg and New Prosthetic

My residual limb – the lower part of my leg remaining after my below-knee amputation last year – has been steadily shrinking over the past year. I’ve gone from a “size 30” to a “size 25” apparently. That’s not a bad thing. This is a common side effect of reduced muscle.

My prosthetic of course doesn’t shrink, so I’ve also needed additional padding from my prosthetist. I’ve been wearing compression socks at night and building up layers of socks during the day to fill the gap.

A year after the “interim limb” (funded by the NSW Goverment) I’m fortunate to be eligible for a new prosthetic through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). I had a fitting today and the new leg promises to be lighter, more flexible, and a better fit. I’m excited to get back to a more active lifestyle! I’m hoping the entire process should take only four to six weeks.

The fitting process involved lots of measurements, glad wrap, marking pens and a traditional plaster cast. To help a prosthetics student attending gain experience, I kindly agreed to go through the process twice.

I’m sharing some photos of the day.