 hello my beautiful internet friends! I want to show you guys I have a prosthetic leg if this is the first video that you're coming to. Welcome back to part two. This is actually the first part two video I've ever done of things I wish I'd known before I became an amputee. I really appreciate everyone's comments on the first video. Thank you for wanting a second one. Before watching this video I would highly recommend that you check out part one which I will link up above and down below. If you aren't familiar with who I am it has a quick synopsis of my story and how I came to be where I am right now but there are a few things that I wish I had known before going through this major life change before becoming an amputee and while I realized some of this information may have been some places I either didn't absorb it or couldn't find it and these are things I think would have been helpful to be aware of before the fact. If this is your first time watching a video or your second and your third and you're not subscribed I would really consider it a personal favor if you would consider subscribing to this channel. I make content revolving around my life as a new amputee and mental health and exploration and adventures and all kinds of fun things and I would love to have you as a part of this community. Without further ado let's dive into things I wish I had known before I was an amputee part two. Number one humor is one of the best possible ways to deal with this. I realize that this isn't going to be true for everybody and if you don't think amputee jokes are funny that's a-okay that's perfectly fine but personally I think that having humor about a semi-horrific life change the light just did it again. Do you guys remember that happening in the first video? It like flashed a weird c- anyways that was weird. Speaking of having humor about things I really do think it's one of the best ways to deal with significant things happening to us. Before I even lost my leg my husband started making jokes about putting one foot in front of the other and other ridiculous stupid puns and it made me laugh and it kind of eased the tension of the situation and as I have gone through this process I love amputee t-shirts like I have one that said it cost me an arm and a leg but I was willing to negotiate and I have another one that I made that says I can see you staring at me and it's kind of like an inside joke to myself when people are staring at me. Making light of a situation that generally feels really heavy is so helpful. I can't stress enough the power of using humor to help you through this significant life change. I would highly recommend it. I wish I had done more of it and I incorporate as much as I possibly can into my life now. Number two this kind of piggybacks on what we were talking about in the last video about hey people are going to stare they're going to notice the next part of that is that people also kind of feel like they have a right to ask you sort of personal questions and hey I am a fairly personable person I am an introvert at heart but when I'm out in public I am more than happy to have a conversation with you but when I am going to a coffee shop because I have work to do and I've got a study and I've got a good stuff done and someone's like hey what happened to your leg tell me your life story sometimes that can feel overwhelming when that happens like six times in a day and finding a concise quick easy sometimes humorous way to answer that question is one of the best ways that I have found to deal because I don't always want to be talking about this but because I look different because I am noticeable people feel like they can ask questions not that looking different gives you a right to ask personal questions but I think people sort of assume that they that they have that and they try to be nice and they try to be kind and it's wonderful but sometimes it feels overwhelming so what I have found helpful is coming up with like a quick one-liner of what's happened and maybe making a joke about a shark eat it though that's probably not a joke for a lot of people who have actually lost their limbs to shark but I don't know it lightens it lightens the mood for some people number three I made this decision to become an amputee on my own terms because it was going to happen eventually and I couldn't live life and the amount of pain and how I was functioning right even with that being said I thought I had that feeling of control but as I became an amputee as so many things were different as literally every task in life was modified and felt overwhelming I felt like I had no control like everything was just spinning around me and there was nothing that I could do and I don't think people really talk about that loss of control you might feel really out of control and you might feel that way for a while and that's okay something that I personally found helpful was to make a list of things that were still in my control stupid things like I could still do a push-up I could choose to put color on a piece of paper and draw scribbly lines with colored pencils I could choose what to read I could choose you know things like that really focusing on the things I could control the sense of a loss of control over my physical body and over my life around me was overwhelming was a lot more than I expected it to be number four this is really freaking expensive so much more than I ever could have predicted sincerely and it's not just the cost of surgeries or prosthetics those are insane as well but we were kind of prepared for that but the loss of work and the time that you need off to go to a prosthetics appointment once a week for a long time um if you need follow-up surgeries those can be astronomically expensive and the amount of time that I had to take away from work because I kind of initially predicted for six to eight weeks because that's what I was told and while that is absolutely the case for some people it's absolutely not the case for other people and even then it's not like you can go from having your leg chopped off resting full time to working full time again at least for most people and so this past year has been challenging expenses they add up little things like extra mobility devices you didn't think you would need or house modifications like I talked about in the other video that once you get through surgery you're like oh I need this to happen I need this to happen lots of little things and I think the cost of work has honestly been the highest one for me but I kind of wish we were prepared for it to be expensive but we were not prepared for it to be nearly as expensive as it has been so losing a leg it's not cheap you can quote me on that number five clothing is weird clothing becomes a little bit difficult now I'm not sure about upper extremity amputees but for us lower extremity amputees um my entire wardrobe has changed I'm kind of getting back into my old wardrobe now now that I have a prosthetic leg that's kind of useful but at the same time it's really hard to use some of those pieces of clothing but even then there are pieces of your leg that you will probably have to change out throughout the day depending on what kind of leg you get and so it's really difficult to wear normal jeans it's really difficult to wear dress pants and so I had to change out a lot of my wardrobe and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it work clothing being a whole different animal is not something I had ever considered before losing my limb and I think it's an important thing to be aware of whether you're a guy or a girl there are absolutely ways to work around it it's more just what you want to wear and how to make that happen some people hire tailors to tailor all their clothes and put zippers in the legs um I can't do that I'm not going to do that and so I work with stretchy pants a lot and stretchy clothes and like figuring out how I can make that work and make that look more professional and it's a grand experiment but be aware that your wardrobe may change number six this is a huge one for me and I kind of wish I'd put it in the first video but the rest of your body gets thrown completely out of whack this makes logical sense I just didn't spend a ton of time thinking about it before surgery when you lose a part of your body whether or not you have a prosthesis even a really good one that's like really well aligned the process of adjusting to that your body doesn't have an easy time with our bodies are designed to work a certain way with certain body parts and we're incredibly resilient we can adjust to so many things but the adjustment process is painful and so my entire body is often very sore my back is really sore on certain sides because I'm putting so much more pressure on one side of my body than the other as I've started to use a prosthetic leg and I start transitioning weight over to my you know to my right side of my body again it's thrown my neck out of it is completely thrown my neck out of whack and out of alignment everything's being pulled in different directions all again because my body got used to just standing on one leg all the time and it's just weird it's just different and I didn't expect the rest of my body to get as sore and thrown out of alignment as it has as the camera been focusing on my bed and not my face this entire time uh I'm gonna be real upset if that's the case as I was saying uh I'm real sorry if that last bit was out of focus but take care of the rest of your body the best you can whether that is through massage or chiropractic work or if those are inaccessible for you stretching stretching is good to do anyways or yoga or even little things like meditation can really help and to be aware of the fact that it's going to affect the rest of your body not just one part are we on seven or eight I think we're on seven phantom pain phantom pain is really weird now this was something I was aware of before my amputation like I knew that it existed but to what extent and what it felt like is something that no one can really fully describe to you until you've experienced it it's like normal pain except that it's on a ghost but it doesn't exist anymore or a ghost limb it can be all different kinds of things like for me it's very electrical sensations and occasionally really bad cramping and feeling like someone stabbing the side of my ankle with a knife which is always a good time planning ahead and getting a large mirror that you can use for mirror therapy is a good idea look mirror therapy up do your research as you're recovering from surgery or if you have time to prepare in advance consider medications there are two that are generally prescribed for phantom pain Lyrica and gabapentin they work for some people they definitely don't work for other people the choice is up to you whether you want to try them or not but being aware of the fact that phantom pain is a very very real thing it affects the majority of amputees though not everybody is important to know is important to be aware of and to know that you're not going crazy that it's not all in your head it's a neurological situation where your nerves are firing they're trying to reconnect that limb it's just a weird thing it's good to know about number eight people are going to tell you different things probably repeatedly when it comes to prosthetics for instance that you talk to different people you will get different answers some people will tell you a pain lock socket is the absolute best other people will be like no elevated backing is what you have to go with and if you don't know what either of those two words mean I completely understand it's very overwhelming and there's a lot of different pieces to it and first of all it's okay and it's normal to be overwhelmed and secondly everyone has an opinion like I said a big part of this process for me has been realizing what I want what I like and learning to speak my mind with that if something's working for you and someone tells you no no you shouldn't have that you should have something else it's okay to be like I appreciate your input but actually the leg I have is working for me or fill in the blank with another situation but be aware of the fact that you will probably get conflicting information and it is a little bit overwhelming sometimes but persevere through find people you feel comfortable talking to find professionals that you trust and I promise you there is a way through it you will figure out what works for you and what doesn't last but not least and yes I'm going to end this on number nine and not number 10 is no one could have prepared me for how hard this has been I like to be a fairly realistic person but this is a lot losing a part of your body affects you physically obviously it affects you emotionally it affects you mentally it affects every part of your life and it's a lot to do it takes a long time to adjust to people told me that but I don't think I believed them as much as I could have because I saw so many success stories because I saw people's chapter 10 when I'm on chapter two there is going to be a long process most likely of adjusting and finding a new normal whatever that looks like for you that's okay however long that takes or doesn't take that's okay when I entered into this I thought of it as a solution to all my leg problems and it definitely hasn't been that it's still the right path for me but it's a lot more than I could have predicted so if you are making this decision or if you know someone who is going through this understand that it is a lot to deal with it is more than anyone could really tell you and it is something that needs to be paid attention to physically mentally and emotionally the amazing thing is we are such persevering creatures us human beings there's a way through whatever you're facing whatever you're dealing with if your amputation was elective as in you knew when it was going to happen or dramatic as in you woke up without a leg or you know someone who is dealing with this or maybe you're just interested in watching this video know that there is life on the other side of amputation a hundred percent you're still a person you're just a person missing a physical part of yourself and now we get to figure out what that means for us it's a process it takes some time I'm in the midst of it myself but you can get through this just as I can thanks for listening guys I really appreciate it add your tips down below if this is something you've experienced or if you just know experienced some kind of major life change or surgery what do you wish people would have told you that they did I would love to hear from you in the comment section down below also if you are not subscribed to this channel I would consider a deep personal favor if you would consider doing so if you enjoyed it thanks guys I really appreciate you listening a huge thank you to my patrons for making these videos possible for supporting us during this time it means a lot to us and thank you watching this video for taking a few minutes out of your day to spend here with me I love you guys I'm thinking of you and I will see you in the next video bye