 I'm officially done with this prosthetic leg. Listen, baby, it's you, it's not me. But for my own mental health, I'm gonna have to end this relationship. So I have had the same kind of prosthetic suction system for years. Basically there are a variety of different ways that you can get a prosthetic limb to attach to a human body and the one that I have been using relies on suction. There have been a lot of times when this has been very comfortable for me, but there are so many issues that I've run into over the past four years but specifically in the last few months that I'm set up my beautiful internet friends. I am done and so today I've been embarked on a brand new adventure. I'm headed out to Denver to work with you folks at Extremity Prosthetics to make an entirely different system of attachment for me. I'm going to be trying something called the pin lock system. So every prosthetic attachment system has pros and cons, right? A big pro of this for me is that it has been very comfortable at times but it is also very prone to breaking. So these sleeves, which is the piece you see kind of coming up my leg here, if they get even these tiniest hint of a hole in them that can let air in and mess with that suction, it gets incredibly uncomfortable very quickly. These are not cheap. Insurance pays for two every six months. They generally wear out for me after like two months. So it's a constant source of anxiety, never knowing when a hole is gonna happen. It could happen on the second day or the 60th day where I'm gonna be when that happens and if I have a sleeve to replace it or if I'm gonna have to use crutches or a wheelchair or just not be able to walk for days at a time as I try to get another sleeve. And darling friends, I'm tired of it but I also don't know if it's gonna be comfortable for me. Everybody is different. Every amputee has a different opinion from their experience. Every prosthetist has a different kind of preference based on their experience. But I just made the universal call on my own that it's time for something new. I'm actually really excited slash a little bit nervous for this, could be a life changing really good thing. It could also totally and entirely not work but we're gonna find out. So let's head up to Denver. But first a quick word from our sponsor then we'll get on the road. I said it was time to make the bed, not sit all over the mattress. Big thank you to Helix Mattresses for sponsoring today's video. So we obviously all need good sleep. And as someone who deals with chronic migraine, getting good rest is extra, extra important because a lack of good sleep is a huge migraine trigger. So getting quality sleep is a must. Helix sleep makes premium mattresses and bedding that are customized to fit your needs and then very conveniently shipped right to your front door. Like I said, getting quality sleep during your sleeping hours really determines how your waking hours are gonna feel. Getting a mattress that's right for you is a must. She agrees. Every single body is different and Helix knows that which is why they created a sleep quiz which matches your unique body type and sleep preferences. It's a lot of dog care. There's something for everyone's unique taste and if you have a partner you can actually take the quiz with them to find something that's the perfect compromise for you. I personally was matched with their Twilight Deluxe Mattress. It has my Sophie and Leo's full stamp of approval along with recent guests. So this is actually in my guest room. I have a cousin coming in and she'll be sleeping on it here in just a few days. So I am a side sleeper and I also tend to toss and turn a lot. And I also sleep a lot more comfortably on a more firm mattress so this one is delightful for me. I've had my Helix mattress for just about over six months down in my guest room and we love it. Not to brag or anything but I have gotten compliments on how well this sleeps. So when you purchase the Helix mattress you actually get a 100 night sleep trial as well as a 10 year warranty. There are financing options also a flexible payment plan which can definitely be a great choice. If it makes you nervous to buy something you haven't actually slept on like I said, don't worry about it because you'll have ample time to sleep to rest and to figure out if it's perfect for you. If it's not, go come pick it up and give you a full refund. I love my Helix. The puppies obviously do as well. I think you would too if you're looking for a new bed, check them out. Click on the link down below or go to helixleep.com slash below the show or up to $200 off your Helix mattress and two free pillows, which is delightful. Thank you to Helix for sponsoring today's video and I'll dive back into it. These are some sleepy dogs. God, I always underestimate how difficult it must be to be a puppy. So much naps, treats, loves, snuggles. It's rough guys, it's rough. Couple days before Christmas I headed up to Extremity Prosthetics to see my prosthetist trace. He got started on making me a new pin lock system and I asked him about some of the pros and cons. In general, different suspension systems have pros and cons. There is no best system. There's the best system everyone can be in. I kind of compare it to cars. So pin lock is kind of like a pickup truck. It's the most kind of, it's easy, right? You hear the click, you know it's locked in. It's not falling off. And I see about pin locks is they're very durable. So suction and vacuum systems are much heavier means. Like I was saying earlier, every amputee is different, every body is different. You just gotta find what works for you. So we're gonna give this a shot. Trace finished up the casting of my leg and had me come back a couple days later because of time constraints to actually try out this pin lock system. Today is the day. I just made it up to Extremity up here in Denver and I'm gonna be trying on my newly minted pin lock socket. I have never used these to walk. After last week and kind of doing the initial casting, I am a little bit concerned that it might not be the right system for me because of how my bones are situated. We're just not sure, but it is worth a try. And even if it works well enough, I think it'd be good to have a leg that doesn't rely on suction when suction fails. Like even if I stay with suction legs. So anyways, it's an experiment. So we'll just see what happens. Now there are a lot of different pieces that go into a fitting. It's not only how it feels on your leg, but also the alignment of the ankle, the height, how you're stepping, things like that. So we spent a while kind of tweaking that, getting it right, using the heat gun to make quick modifications to make it more comfortable, which is something super cool that these sockets do if you're interested in hearing more about that, check out the video you've linked down below. But after about an hour, I was ready to go and honestly, I really liked it. I took it home for the weekend over the holidays to really give it a shot and see what I thought about it in daily life. Please welcome to the stage, my brand new socket. So it is now, oh goodness, I spilled coffee in the last video too. Oh, that's a lot of coffee. Hold on, this time it's tea. My poor caps. Thank God these are washable covers. But it's not a couple days after I got this pin lock socket. So there's some major benefits of this that I'm really excited about because honestly, in so many ways, it really is just the little things. Unfortunately, the pain is not any different, at least so far. And when you get a new socket, there's always gonna be modifications that need to be made as you have it for a few days and kind of figure out what it feels like if there are painful spots. But overall, I'd say it feels pretty much the same as the suction system I had, which I kind of count as good news honestly because if this leg can work for me, getting rid of the anxiety that the suction is gonna randomly fail if I'm grocery shopping or traveling or my sleeve is gonna get a hole and now I don't have a leg and it's insurance gonna pay for it. Can they ship it in time? Will I not be able to walk for days? Like the suction system that I've had before has worked in so many ways really well for me. But I kind of got to a point where I was just, I was really tired of the continual small problems that I was running into and kind of like Trace my prosthetist who you saw in this video who was making this one for me was talking about. This is kind of like the all terrain model. Like if I was gonna be stuck in a zombie apocalypse, this is the kind of lay out one because it is a very simple system. There are much fewer parts that break. It is much more durable. It's just step in and go. But there is one thing I really don't like about it that we're gonna fix right now as I tell you about some of the other benefits. Sorry, the camera is moving. He's licking the tripod. Why is he doing that? No one knows. Okay, so one of the things that I do not love about this is the aesthetics. Especially if I'm adding a sock in for layering which I need, it looks messy. I don't love that. So I'm going to see if I can figure out a solution here. I have not field tested this just yet so we're gonna discover together if it works. Benefit number one, like I was saying, it is ridiculously easy to get on and off. Depending on what I'm wearing, it cuts down the amount of time that I'm spending like trying to get my leg back on and feeling right by like 400%. It is so much faster. I would be way more comfortable taking this leg off pretty much wherever I am because if I need to get out of the building quickly or move fast, all I have to do is quite literally step into it. And I'm good to go so I can move a lot faster. Also aesthetically, especially with, you know, some kind of sock which I could change the colors out, you know, matching an outfit or whatever. I like the way that this looks so much better. Without that big sleeve coming on my leg, my skin also has more room to breathe. But if I'm like wearing leggings, I can just tuck them into the top there. Super easy and my most favorite thing. I've talked a lot in some of my short form videos about how annoying pants are with a prosthetic leg because I basically have to undress to be able to take my leg on and off unless they like cut the leg of the pant off, which with like jeans is difficult to do and looks weird. But with this one, if I was wearing these Christmas EPJs for example, which I would normally have to cut the leg off of to be able to get high enough to roll my leg down to take it off, problem solved, I get where I'm going, pop it off, I'm good to be comfy. And the last thing that I really like about it is that the range of motion in my knee is so much better. Like being able to actually look at this, like bend my knee this far, that was unheard of with the sleeve and the other socket that I had. Like I can do this comfortably, walking up and down stairs, I'm not feeling so much pressure in my knee, you know, at the back of my leg with a socket kind of cutting in. So that part is amazing. I'm not sure how the men's dress sock looks, but I'll work on the styling of it. All in all, I would call this a major success and I don't know how it's gonna work, you know, I don't know how it's gonna go. I would say that a couple of the downsides for me personally are when I am taking off my leg and sitting somewhere, I now have this screw coming out the bottom of my leg, which looks kind of funny. It's harder to get comfortable. I might like accidentally bump or cut my leg with it if I'm not careful, not that big of a deal. I just did, that's just not my favorite, but the benefits that it has certainly compensate. Also, it does get noisy. So as the volume changes in my legs, sometimes my leg shrinks or swells up through the day, it will start making these clicking noises unless the fit is right. So that clicking basically tells me I need to add or sometimes remove the sock. Not a bad thing, the noise is just super annoying, but thankfully pretty easily fixable. I don't think that I would wear this like running or doing any kind of high impact activities at least yet. It still feels kind of weird not to have as much contact with the rest of my leg. It feels like it could come off easily, even though it's not going to. I don't quite trust it yet, I think. And I know a lot of people who use pin lock sockets who do still wear sleeve for additional support when they're doing high impact activities, like running, snowboarding, things like that. But for now, I would call this an absolute success. It's really, really amazing to have another option to nothing else. I'm so grateful to Trace at Extremity and just the Extremity team for making this for me, for letting me try this out, for getting me the supplies. Even if the pin lock socket ends up not being it for me, it ends up causing more pain or anything like that. This is amazing to have as a backup option for days where, you know, section fails. I think that there are different systems and different likes for different purposes. And this one so far is really great for sort of the normal everyday ease of life. Also, real quick before signing off, I wanted to say a word about my last video. I talked pretty candidly about some mental health struggles and sort of the emotional space that I have been in and how that's been pretty dark. And I just want to say thank you so much for all of your comments for your support. So many people related to that. I know that a lot of us are struggling and we're making it through day by day. So I just want to say thank you and also reiterate the fact that I'm not okay, but I am taking the steps that I need to to get there. And also, it did indeed get a yet tattoo. Like I talked about, I actually got quite a few tattoos in the last few weeks, which I love. It makes me happy. It gives me something to look forward to. I enjoy the process. But they are still healing and don't look great for close-ups yet because they're a little, you know, scabby and my skin is irritated. So I shall just show you them from afar and we'll get close-ups in another video if you're interested. By having this word, you know, permanently on me as a reminder in those dark moments that I might not feel better yet. I might not see me hope yet. I might not see a path through this or any way that anything could ever be okay yet. And to just keep holding on is something that's helped me even in the few days since I've had this tattoo. So that's pretty cool and also a win. Big thank you again to our sponsor today. Check out that link down below. It helps support this channel and also is a company that I actively use and really like. To all of my patrons over on Patreon, thank you so much for your continued support. I'd also like to thank Sophie for her incredible cuteness as we film this video. And Mr. Leo, who is just staring out the window. And by the way, to you watching this video right now, thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me today. You could be anywhere else in the world doing anything else. And you chose to hang out with me and see me get a new leg and talk about that for a little while. And I really appreciate that. I love you guys, I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next video. Bye guys. Sophie says bye too.