 I then summon my leg, much like Thor summons his hammer. It gets a little weird smelling, I'll be honest. I could probably hang upside down by this leg for at least a brief period of time. Hello there, my beautiful, lovely, delightful, and talented internet friends. Welcome back to my channel. Today, I'm going to be answering every question you never even knew you had about prosthetic limbs. The month of April is limb loss and limb difference awareness. And for me personally, I think a really important part of awareness is being able to ask questions and get comfortable with a topic that you might not already be familiar or comfortable with. And I know that a lot of people have questions about prosthetic limbs. You yourself may have seen an amputee or someone with a prosthetic leg lurking around a coffee shop you were in and found yourself wanting to ask questions but not knowing what was appropriate to say, what was not appropriate to say, not wanting to offend someone, maybe staring a little bit too long, we've all done it. So let's take a few minutes today to answer all the questions people commonly ask and some that you may not have thought of. How much does it hurt? How expensive is it? Do I wear it to bed? How does it actually feel and more coming up after a quick word from our amazing sponsor? Are you thrilled to be able to introduce you to our video sponsor today? Skillshare. You've heard me talk about this company before because they're someone I honestly believe in and I actively use their service. If you don't know what Skillshare is, it's an online learning community and platform with thousands of classes on basically every creative subject you could think of from YouTube to Instagram to art to watercolor to business to life hacks. It's absolutely amazing. Most recently I've been checking out this course about telling stories on Instagram in 60 seconds or less. I've been playing around a lot with Instagram lately kind of trying to do a good job of putting up content on that platform and so this course has been helpful in instructing me on some tips and tricks on how to best tell stories in short segments. So I'd highly recommend checking out Skillshare and for the first thousand people who click on that link down below there is a free trial of Skillshare premium waiting for you. If you click that link and check them out, not only does it help to support this channel but I also think it will genuinely benefit you especially when so many of us are stuck at home and bored and watching the same shows over and over again. Maybe that's just me. It's great and empowering and engaging to take some time to learn about something new. So check it out, let me know what you think. However, speaking of new things and learning about new things, let's get back to the video at hand and learn about prosthetic legs. So let's start off with an easy and one of the most common questions. How does my leg actually stay on? Is it at risk of flying off? Is it secure? There are a variety of different ways that prosthetic limbs attach to bodies. The one that I use is called a section system. Basically, there is section in here that allows this to stay on to me and the fit is tight. In all honesty, I could probably hang upside down by this leg for at least a brief period of time. So there are a few pieces involved. This part that you see right here, this black sort of neoprene sleeve is called a sleeve. The outside is kind of fabric-y, but the inside feels like gooey rubber. I could probably think of a better way of describing that. Basically, it's this squishy joe. Now, when I roll this down, I am able to detach my prosthetic leg. This gray part right here is called a liner. Now, what actually forms the suction is whenever I put my leg on, I roll it down to about there. This is also a sticky sort of gooey gel substance. And when this side is in contact with this, it forms a seal that then allows the leg to form suction. Now, this being the part that is in contact with my skin all day long, it gets a little weird smelling, I'll be honest. I mean, think about it though. If your body was encased in a rubber suit all day and you were out sweating and doing things and rubber doesn't breathe very well, imagine how that would smell? So those are the components that make up the suction, but when I go to put my leg on, I also have this weird little silicone patch. This basically forms padding at the bottom of one side of my limb. I often experience pain on this part of my leg, so we created this and placed it right here to help build up some padding for that area. When I go to put on my leg, I put that little patch on, then I slide on my liner. I then summon my leg much like Thor summons his hammer and step into my leg. Now, if you listen very closely, sss, sss, sss, you're going to hear some hissing and that is the air escaping through the valve at the bottom of my leg. So I push all that air out, roll this up, make sure these are in contact, step back and forth a few times to get that remaining air out and I'm good to go. Now, because my leg attaches to me through suction, it does mean that I feel that pressure, the pressure that actually keeps my leg on. So if I'm sitting down for long periods of time, what I can do is press this little fun button on the side of my leg. It releases the air and I'm able to sit a little bit more comfortably. I don't quite feel all the pressure in there. Next question. Are prosthetics comfortable? I think every amputee will probably give you a different answer for this. For me personally, my honest answer is that no, wearing a prosthetic leg is not comfortable. I have this sleeve that is pressing around me all day long. I am stepping into a carbon fiber socket. There are parts that rub and hurt if I'm walking for more than, you know, 20 minutes a mile or two. I start experiencing a lot of pain in my socket, depending on the day, depending on the swelling. However, with that being said, aside from the pain, most days, I barely notice that I'm wearing a prosthetic anymore. It's just become a part of my routine and kind of like how you might be able to tune out white noise or an uncomfortable jacket that you're wearing because you have to wear it all day. It's the same way with this leg. It really gets normalized. Once I got to the point that I was wearing it consistently on most days, I really stopped noticing it. Another question that I get a lot is, is it really hot? Like, do I get really sweaty in here because my leg is encased in something all day long? Honestly, I don't really notice the heat. However, they've created that liner and sleeve system. It really does help with temperature control, at least for me. So even though there are layers upon layers, even on like warmer summer days, I don't really notice that this leg is too much hotter than any other part of my body. However, with that being said, there was one day that it was like 90 degrees in Colorado and I was sitting in the sun like this. And after about 20 minutes, I noticed that I like felt burning through my leg because, you know, dark clothing in the sun really heats up. So there are some situations where it gets really warm, but for the most part, it's okay. Speaking of temperature, though, I'll tell you one of the most uncomfortable parts of having a prosthetic is waking up in the morning, like if it's a chilly day out or that one time I went camping. This stuff right here is not warm, meaning that when I put it on in the morning, I am rolling up an object onto my leg that is made of cold gel. It's kind of like jumping into a cold shower every morning. It really wakes you up. I guess that's a plus. So how expensive are these suckers? You might be shocked, maybe not, to find out that prosthetic limbs are very, very pricey. And health insurance, as I live in the United States of America, is not fantastic. And so you usually have to fight with your insurance company to get a good prosthetic and the fittings that you need. This, like in particular, not including the socket, like from here down, was $16,000. Like the sleeve and the liner and all of that are additional money on top of that. It is insanely expensive and here's the thing. This doesn't even have any computerized or robot parts in it. Like it's just static. When you start adding in parts that need to be recharged, if I was an above knee amputee, I needed a knee that moved on its own. You start talking about $70, $80, $90, over $100,000 depending on what kind of leg you are looking at. That is absolutely obscene. And though most amputees are able to get at least one prosthetic limb, another issue is that additional prosthetics are pretty inaccessible. For instance, I can't run in this. It's not built for that. It's incredibly uncomfortable. Like I feel the bottom of my limb absolutely like pounding and grinding against the inside of my socket. If I try to run, it's very uncomfortable. I would not recommend. But as you may have seen, they create running blades for amputees. Amazing. So cool, right? Except that they are thousands of dollars and that is inaccessible to the average person. Now there are grant programs out there and I was actually able to receive one from a good friend of mine who had an extra. But that is not the case for a lot of people. If you want to be really active, either you have to be independently wealthy, rely on grant programs, or go without. And this goes for all different kinds of legs. For instance, this right here is my biking leg. I need a different leg to be able to bike. The socket is built differently so it doesn't cut into the back of my leg when I'm bending my leg to pedal. None of the legs I have have adjustable heel height so I can't wear high heeled shoes or even boots with a bit of a heel. That is the leg I am dreaming of getting next because I've never been able to wear high heels and I just think it'd be cool. It'd be fun. It's not super comfortable, but it looks nice. So how often do I actually wear this? I'm also very glad I didn't sit on my coffee. I did forget it was there. So I did a video previously on how often I wear my prosthetic limb when I'm at home. I'll link it up above. But essentially, I am able to wear this pretty much from the moment I get up to the moment that I go to bed with a small caveat. There are a lot of days where wearing this for hours on end does get uncomfortable. I'll get those painful spots, feel sore, get really uncomfortable. And so I'll take my leg off. I might ice it. I might elevate it. I might take care of it. However, I need to take care of it. But I am physically capable of wearing it, you know, up to 16 hours a day. A lot of people wonder if I sleep with it. And the answer is absolutely not no. Never. Aside from a few naps, I've just fallen asleep without taking it off. There are a few reasons for that. Number one is health and hygiene. It's important that your skin actually can breathe the clean air. So taking your leg off every night, cleaning it is vital. There are infections that can develop. There are sores that can happen pretty easily because again, your leg is encased in a moist environment from like dusk till dawn. I said that backwards. From dawn till dusk. And warm, moist environments are great for bacteria and infections. To keep these parts and pieces clean, I use a kit called the liner wand. I'll link it down below. I'm working with this company because I absolutely love them. I'm not getting paid to recommend them in this video. But if you're an amputee or you know an amputee, I'd highly recommend checking them out because actually sanitizing down these parts is much more important than most people know. Now the other reason that I do not sleep with it on is that I have a lot of metal parts and pieces here. That's just not comfortable to like rest my other leg on or to accidentally kick my husband. And also again, it's just, it's not comfortable. So when we reach the end of the day, I always take it off. I clean off my leg and then I put it on first thing in the morning. Has my leg ever fallen or flown off? As I mentioned earlier, it is pretty secure. However, that is because I have a suction system. It happens to work really well for me. I know of other amputees. For instance, one of my good friends who went surfboarding for the first time and I had her leg sucked off into the ocean, which sounds absolutely awful. Thankfully, they actually were able to rescue it from the sea because again, that's like a $20,000 investment that's just sitting down there. But the vast majority of the time, this is perfectly stable and attached to me. Ironically, I am not allowed on the number of roller coaster rides. Even if I was like wearing pants additionally because there is fear that prosthetic limbs are going to fall off, there is still a lot of misinformation when it comes to properly secured prosthetics, which is kind of a bummer because I do like roller coasters. How do you figure out what prosthetic leg to get? It may surprise you to learn that there's basically catalogs of different kinds of ankles and feet and knees if you need a prosthetic knee. There are a number of major prosthetic companies out there and some smaller ones, so how do you find the foot that's right for you? I can speak from my own experience and that I did some researching online and read reviews on different feet. My primary goal was to be very active and be able to go hiking, so those were kind of the keywords that I was looking for. I ended up with this one, which is the Osser Pro Flex XC torsion. This little ball right here really helps when I'm hiking on rough surfaces to kind of compensate for some of that movement, but talking to your prosthetist is usually the best place to start. Now, they are going to have personal opinions on, you know, which ones they like or which ones they see working the most for people. You're generally able to try out different ones, see what styles you like, talk about activity goals that you have and what leg would work best for that. But the decision you make is really important because it's kind of final. Because again, insurance will only pay for one leg every three years. So once you get your prosthetic leg, you're good, right? That's a misconception I definitely had, but the answer is no. Having a prosthetic limb of any sort really means continual adjustments the rest of your life. My residual limb is going to continue to change size, change shape. As I lose muscle in the remaining calf that I have, the size socket that I'm going to need is going to get smaller and smaller, a lifelong adjustment process. Now for new amputees, there are weeks, months, sometimes years of trying different sockets as your leg is shrinking a lot in those first few months after having an amputation. But once you get your final leg in a perfect world, you shouldn't have to see your prosthetist too often. I probably go see Zach and his team at Rise Prosthetics once every couple months for new parts and pieces, maybe another sleeve, things of that nature, just to say hi because I like them. But honestly, now that I have my permanent leg, not too often. No. Absolutely not. A lot of amputees do choose to try to get prosthetic limbs, but oftentimes there can be complications, either physical ones where they can't find a good fit, or monetary ones where insurance won't cover what they need. And there are sometimes where people simply do not want a prosthetic leg. They don't feel like it's a part of them for aesthetic reasons or whatever it is and may choose to use a wheelchair or any other kind of mobility device. What are some of the pros and cons of a prosthetic leg? I think for me, one of the biggest pros might sound a little bit silly, but having to clean this every night, when you get to the end of a long day, like I'm out of it, I'm tired, I want to just like crash in bed, but every day I have to go through a process of like undressing my leg, cleaning it out before it can actually be done for the day. I think another issue that I've been having lately is your skin will get irritated. I don't know if you can see here, but I had some kind of reaction to I don't know what where I had a rash that kind of just encompassed that dive down. There are definitely skin issues that can pop up for people. I'd say one of the biggest pros for me is that there have been a lot of really cool conversations that have been started. I love being able to talk to kids about my robot leg and provide some education and hopefully lower the stigma for people. It's also a great conversation starter. A lot of people kind of automatically think that you're cooler for having a robot leg, which is kind of nice. Like I'm actually not cooler for having a robot leg, but part of that is sometimes people are very weird and uncomfortable about prosthetics. Either they don't want to look at you and they don't want to make eye contact and you're weird and you're different or they're staring for uncomfortable amounts of time and you feel like just like you really stand out and you're really different. The staring is definitely something that took me a little while to get used to, but now I pretty much never notice it. Shoot. A lot of people have asked me for remaining foot. They'll pick the correct shoe size based on your body. If you have your other leg they'll match it to that side so I can just go out and buy a pair of shoes and I'm good to go. It is a little hard to get shoes on over this prosthetic foot because there's no movement in it, right? It's like trying to stretch a shoe over a hard plastic and a rubber. It's doable but shoe horns have become my best friend. So those are some of the most common and interesting questions I could ask about my prosthetic limb. What have you always asked that you just weren't sure if it was okay to ask? I'll let you know. You are welcome to ask me anything in my comment section down below as long as it's asked in a respectful way and I will do my very best to respond to as many comments as possible. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me today learning about prosthetics. Happy limb loss awareness month. If you are interested in prosthetics I've linked a few other videos about my prosthetics process as I documented it all on this channel down below. Skillshare, and get you check it out if you want to try out a free trial it's something I would highly recommend. Not only does it support this channel but this is a company that I actively support and I learn from on a weekly basis so I'd highly recommend and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. And as always a gigantic ginormous huge thank you goes to my patrons over on Patreon thank you for supporting me and thank you for your generosity and being a part of my community there. Do you watch this video right now? Thanks for spending a few minutes out for me for a few minutes and I truly appreciate that. I love you guys I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next video. Bye guys.