 Would you like to pick a question? Hello there, my beautiful delightful internet friends. I'm very excited to have a real life friend with me today This is on the cut the amputee you can find on YouTube and Instagram So as you can probably tell from this video, we are both Right below knee amputees and I'll be honest before I was an amputee I sort of didn't think about amputee's life all that much and I kind of assumed that People's experiences were at least somewhat similar if they've both had elective bologna Amputation surgeries on the same side and are the same age, but I don't think that's actually accurate from conversations I've had so today we are gonna be going through some commonly asked questions of leg amputees and seeing if our answers are identical Super different see if we agree disagree I even made a cool bowl of actual questions to make it look trendy in YouTube. She's like, I want to be involved You can go and now say he's jealous. All right, I'm gonna pick a bad one. I'm gonna do it Please do Is there anything you can't do as an amputee? I don't have questions. So I I if you watch my YouTube if you see my Instagram. I am very active I do a ton of sports. I compete in track field shooting swimming archery snowboarding I also do gymnastics. I also surf I also rock climb like I do pretty much anything I want to do I will say I did get really sad one time when I realized I can't do ballet anymore Oh, yeah, because I did ballet my entire life and without ankle flexion It's really hard to do something as simple as a plie. Oh and roller coasters. I don't know if you know this Oh, I've wondered about roller coasters actually. They actually have a specific rule that says as an amputee You cannot ride. I'd probably say about 90 percent of rides. You can look to see which ones, but it's because There's some rides that you have to be strapped in at the ankle So they're a liable if your leg falls off, but you think like oh, I'm an amputee I can just take my leg off, but if you have to strap at the ankles and you have one like hanging and It's just a whole thing and it's a lot of ignorance and a lot of people like I do know amputees who want to rest their chances We're long pants, and they're like, I was like, there's no way this is coming Oh, yeah, like with skinny jeans on and the sleeve you absolutely could but Also in the case that your leg flies off in the middle of the ride You're without a leg and they're not liable and maybe I killed someone with it So yeah, I always feel like everyone's like there's nothing that you can't do with a disability Did you hear her fart too? No, my dogs are farting on you. There's dog hair everywhere She's just like, what do you look at me for? So after that horrendous gas attack from my dog Yeah So I always feel like people are like there's nothing that you can't do with a disability or whatever and the reality is There are some things that you actually can't do one thing the only thing that I discovered is mixed martial arts fighting like full contact like like UFC like I used to do that I did that for two years. I did MMA fighting and you can't kick people in the head with a carbon fiber You know well engineered carbon five. It's super lame because I love it I love that stuff so I could still like train with bags or whatever But actually kick people in the head for recreational purposes anymore. Yeah, you are so in the way Do you think you could I will say if you ever gotten a real fight like that's the first thing coming off It's gonna be with it. So if you do you want to take the next one? Oh, how long after your amputation did it take to get active again? I'll start this one off since I pulled the question It took me a lot longer than I expected to it was a pretty pretty Fine audio quality is just trash from dogs in this. It was a pretty long recovery for me I think I started sort of like being able to kind of get up and around and do normal things at like Six to eight weeks I could like go, you know see a movie when we were allowed out in public or things like that But I didn't get active active again probably until four months after my Revision so it took me a while to like start walking and then maybe like two months more to start hiking and then like another month Just start doing things like a ninja gym or experimenting around. How about you? I was in the military when I lost my leg and they don't really care about your feelings What you can't can't do you're you're just gonna go like field day It's a very in-depth cleaning that you do once a week and they like come around with the white blood to check your room I was still doing that the week after my amputation. Wait, seriously. Oh, wow. Yeah, so I mean you make it work I actually It was six or seven weeks post amputation. I did my first Competition and it was an international competition. It's such a badass. I'm so lame in comparison No, I just I had I have resources being in the military, which I did most of my stuff still seeded I did wheelchair track. I did wheelchair rugby Swimming and archery that competition. Yeah, I actually went dancing. I do West Coast swing. Yes, that's right I went dancing before I could even walk without a cane wasn't the best idea I did So our recovery times on that fairly quite significantly. Yeah I think I just think it's interesting like everyone recovers differently and has different complications or lack thereof That's awesome. I was very lucky to have not have complication. I remember watching yours. Yeah Poor Joe I'll get there when I remember watching a video. I think it was four months After my amputation maybe it's four months after yours because ours were around similar times of you doing like a backflip on a trampoline Oh, yeah, and being like so happy for you and then also so sad I'm like I'm like awaiting another surgery and I can't do anything. It was like one day But it felt so far away. Yeah, so it's very inspirational for like it's very like a goal setting like I'm going to get back to doing things What in your life is easier slash harder because of amputation? That's a loaded question, right? That's basically a what's different about your life. Yeah being at the airport So I I tend to travel my wheelchair just because airports are big and I Just never know like the place. I'm going. I just like to have my wheelchair with me So being in a wheelchair you get a board the plane first So yeah, seriously, you don't have to worry about like the Southwest like exactly 24 hours before I'm gonna be there Check in real quick. Yeah, so it's little things like that that I'd say are easier handicap parking is always a nice benefit especially like busy places, but yeah, I'd say probably the hardest things are just stairs and ramps and then days like so when I take off my leg for the day, I have a wheelchair friendly Apartment, yeah, so I take off my leg for the day I can do whatever I want, but then when people like let's go out and do things I already took my leg off. Yeah Seriously, like just having the motivation to do things at the end of the day because I just get tired Yeah, I'm like I already washed my leg. I don't want to wash it again Yeah, I think the the airport thing is definitely one that comes to mind for me too It's going through airports like it takes a while because I'm not super fast anymore But like getting through security is great getting on the plane Being able like get situated get my leg off before people sit down if I feel like it like that's that's really nice I mean, there's like a variety of things that are that are harder But the only thing that ever really comes to mind is like just the basic daily tasks Like if I want to like if I'm upstairs working and I want a glass of water And I'm taking my leg off because it's uncomfortable I have to like suit up and then like get down the stairs get a glass of water then get back up So it's like those little like yeah, most of it you just adjust to though. I think yeah How do you feel about the word disabled? I always feel like this is a loaded question because people have lots of different thoughts and feelings on it I don't have a problem with the word I think I think people think that it's like a dirty word or Not a slur, but like a bad thing to call someone. It's to me. It's not at all It's just descriptive of like there are certain abilities that are different for me There are other words like handicap that have different implications like handicap definition of it implies that like success is more difficult or something like that and like I don't agree with that But being disabled meaning that some abilities are different are restricted is a hundred percent accurate And it's not a bad thing to call someone in my mind. What do you think about that word? So I was in the Marine Corps. Yes. Oh, yes So I guarantee you the things I call myself would be offensive to people I'm like the word disabled to me is just like it just comes with the territory like I even handicap I know like you're not a fan of the word, but I have handicap part. Yes. Yeah, I see that too Yeah, very much. I've never cared about the word disabled I honestly kind of think it's annoying when people like try to like change it be like, oh, you're differently able Stuff like that. I'm just like just call it as it is Yeah, you're the people that are offended or people it doesn't even affect. Yeah seems like they're like They're like well my cousin. I'm like cool. Well, I'm the one that has the amputation. So yeah, I want to acknowledge it I don't care differently abled as one that really frustrates me because it seems like it like once to show Coated or make it seem like being disabled is like bad. It's like no, I'm not differently abled I'm missing a leg which means things are gonna be different like it is a disability, but that's not like a bad thing to say What is the weirdest part about being an amputee? I don't know if it's the weirdest part But one of the things that just comes up a lot is as an amputee everyone thinks you know every amputee that's ever existed Oh my gosh, that's so accurate. They're like, oh my uncle has a friend who's the amputee. I'm like cool You know Bob, right? Assuming that I know everybody who's an amputee That's probably the weirdest thing for me. Well, of course, you know all the people missing limbs I'm like I don't you may notice since our last shot some of the scenery has changed one of my dogs leaked on the couch So now we get Nicholas staring deep into your eyes. Okay, so for me I think one of the weirdest things about being an amputee is how weird my leg always smells like it gets Does your legs smell like horrible when you take it off? No when I sweat it smells real bad There's something wrong with me This is what I discovered I have a problem. Like you're prosthetic or you're liner. My liner. Okay. Oh, like if you're a liner I'm like, oh no, my liner Do you like it or what? Like the liner? I get so sweaty and it like drips sweat inside your liner. Yeah, so that's an odd part. All right What do you wish people knew about amputees that they don't? I think a lot of people and maybe I had this assumption too a lot of people assume that like being an amputee is a Significant part of my identity. It's really not it's just something that's a part of my life And I obviously have YouTube channeled out so I talk about those issues But in daily life aside from me adjusting to things like being an amputee doesn't come up that much I think a lot of people think it's like 70% of someone's identity if they're dealing with some kind of disability What in fact that's really not the case. I'm actually the opposite. Yeah I think being amputee is a big part of who I am. Yeah, how I present myself like I love showing off my leg I love talking to people about it. I think it's the biggest thing Hunter Woodall actually just didn't talk about this About how kids like stare at you and whenever you're just out in public And I'm like honestly the worst part is the parents I think the thing that I want most people know about amputees is well This is the consensus I've come to if somebody's out and about showing off their leg Yeah, they're okay with you coming up and asking about it They don't have someone talk about their story, right? But if they ask like how does that work especially kids like how how are you walking on that? Like I'm fine with that or even how how does this connect your leg? Yeah, if somebody's wearing long pants and you like see a sliver of a prosthetic ankle They probably don't want to talk about it. Yeah, so I'd say as an amputee I can't speak for everybody I'd prefer people to come up and actually talk to me and have a conversation with me like a normal person about being an amputee rather than staring and like Shunning your kids from even looking because it's such a bad thing to be disabled in public. Yeah I think that's a really important one because when you do that and I've seen parents do that all the time Or like a kid will say something and be like Don't ask questions, but you do that and you create this aura of amputees are weird or scary because we can't ask questions and like, you know, it's the other and so yeah I totally agree. I think that's so important also found it helpful to like ask Like if I'm not talking to other even if I am talking to another amputee being like, can I ask you a question instead of just being like Hey, what's that or whatever? Kids are different, but like adults. Yeah, but that's interesting Yeah, because if you're wearing shorts and you're showing it chances are you might be more comfortable Maybe no can't think for everyone, but yeah, no, it's just out. It's a good gauge. Yeah, I like that How often do you see a prosthetist? well We're actually kind of talking about this a little bit ago because I am retired military I have the option to see my prosthist as much as I want There was a time when I was literally going to see a prosthetist every single day to make minor adjustments Especially at the beginning. Oh, yeah, for sure at the beginning you see a prosthetist a lot but even now I I'm very fortunate because I literally go into Joanne's find new fabric and I'm like I want a leg with this Fabric on it. This would look pretty. Yeah Another fabric that I like that I want different feet attachments for so I just walked into my process. I'm like I want this So for me, that's an option. I know for people that are not military have a much different Yeah, honestly, sometimes I just go and hang out with them. Yeah, I really just go if there's a problem I'm having like fits bad or I want a new foot and so just getting readjustments on that and no once every couple months I think I haven't yeah, I don't I don't see my prosthetist anymore unless I'm like up there and just drop by and say hey or Unless something's wrong. I probably haven't had to have it adjusted in like three or four months But right at the beginning it was like it was it's a hike for me It's about a 60-minute drive to see my prosthetist But I'd still go out there at least once a week to get you know The next step or get this adjusted or fitted or my leg had shrunk so much that I needed to have a whole new socket again Yeah, so I think that that varies but tends to even out for most people that like you don't have to see them every week anymore At a certain point. What is the strangest reaction someone has had to you being an amputee? One when I first got my leg off I was in a shrink or sock as on crutches. Oh, yeah I was just at a commissary and this kid like yells like from probably like down the I'll be like mom Look, she broke her leg off. Oh my god. I had a kid do the same thing. I thought it was the cutest thing Yes, but my other favorite one this happened recently. I was running and my running blade is very skinny It doesn't look like a normal leg. Yeah, there was this little girl and I'm in Colorado at this point And she's on a walk with her mom and she goes mom look. She's wearing skis. Oh my god And her mom's like yeah, it's skis like she didn't even bother to explain She was so excited that this girl was out here like skiing on this trail in the middle of summer I've been lucky enough not to have any like mean reactions in public like no one's ever been like openly Aggressive or hostile or insulting towards me Online's a different story, but just one liner. It's not super nice all the time. Most of you are absolutely delightful I appreciate you being here except you Jim. Yeah, Jim. What are you doing here? What is the best thing best VES T? Decapitalized best about being an amputee. I've had so many opportunities I would have never so like like I've said a million times I retired from the Marine Corps at 23 years old Yeah, who retires from the Marine Corps who retires from anything at 23. Yeah, yeah, seriously So just things like that just the trips I've gone on the people that I've met and filming a YouTube video with Footless Joe right now, which feels so special The events I go to the sports that I do Yeah, I think the biggest thing is opportunities that I've had for me It's probably the conversations that I've been able to have and like the people I've been able to meet and the platform that I have that I Sincerely doubt I would I wouldn't have anything similar to this had all of this not happened Super super grateful for that. It's also always a conversation starter. I like having conversations with people I like having even real conversations with people and I feel like it's a gateway To kind of break the ice with people where you might not have been able to either But yeah, opportunities are definitely huge. Oh This is when I'm pretty sure we're different on what is phantom pain like for you? Oh, that's right. I was there. I made up the rule, but I can't remember them. So I do have phantom pain I've had phantom pain since Pretty much how I was probably a week or two after my amputation. I was like, oh, that's what's going on When the amputation like cast came off it got really bad It was like horrible for seven weeks It felt like the bottom of my foot that no longer existed was constantly getting stabbed with a cattle prod like days Sucked and there was no really medication that could help that because normal pain medications Don't really touch phantom pain because it's nerve pain is pretty specific There are some but they didn't work well for me But eventually through like me or therapy and through like, you know massage all kinds of things I was able to kind of get it under control where I still have phantom pain every day Sometimes my ankle will really ache sometimes it'll feel like someone's like cutting the side of it I had a weird phase where I felt like someone was paper cutting in between my toes, which was awful But most commonly I'll just get like electrical shocks where it's really painful for like three seconds and then I'm fine I don't have phantom limb pain. It's pretty great So when I first had my leg amputated everyone warns me about phantom limb pain So it's like oh I have phantom limb pain and the more I talk to people the more I realized I have residual limb pain All my pain is localized in my residual limb Yeah, I had targeted muscle re-intervation during my initial amputation. I don't know if yeah If that's why it was so successful for me like don't get me wrong I was in a ton of pain for about eight to nine weeks Yeah, but literally overnight it dropped off like I woke up the next morning, and I'm like, huh It's gone. Oh, that's crazy. That's so cool. I feel very grateful that I don't have phantom limb pain Yes, I hear how bad it is and one lucky ones. I guess. Yeah. No, I think that's awesome I was talking to Josh Nolan is someone else who I interviewed on the channel a while ago and He's a baloney amputee survivor of the roar of theater shooting and I asked him about found pain He was like I never had any I'm like that's amazing And I talked to some people who were like I can barely live with it And so there seems to be this huge spectrum of you don't know how your body's gonna react Everyone's different and so sometimes you have it sometimes it goes away sometimes it gets real bad And it's it's just a roll of the dice your attorney dear Do you have any fears about growing older as an amputee? My biggest fear as an amputee, which is something that you will not have to worry about because you've talked about it It's being pregnant as an amputee. Sure. It is a very big fear of mine because I mean I've never been pregnant, but I know people who do get pregnant and typically your ankles swell your legs swell things swell With a set socket There's not a lot of room for swelling and you don't hear about a lot of pregnant amputees because yeah Just as a majority there's more male amputees. Yes, that never have to worry about it Dealing with pregnancy as an amputee terrifies me. I do know two women now who did We're pregnant as an amputee. Yeah, so it was nice to see that it is possible and prosthetists will work with you And there's options But that's really the only fear I have as an amputee. I'm not worried about getting old I mean my body's already breaking down. What's the worst that's gonna happen? I die eventually Get up and grow like it's okay. I realized that like whenever I'm getting out of the car lately I'm always like Yeah, I think that's I mean that makes a lot of sense to me and on like we I've talked about this in videos before like we don't We don't want kids at least at this point neither brand I have a desire especially to have biological kids, but you know things happen And if that ever did happen that would terrify me. I yeah, I think I mean people obviously do it And it's incredible, but there there are a lot of complications like your center of balance totally changes And it's just it's just different I do have this like lingering fear that I'll eventually have to have like an above me amputation because something will go wrong You know because the pressure on it or whatever, but I think that's more in the logical fear than anything How many legs do you have what is your closet of legs look like Send you a picture What you're going first you keep doing And there to games was a question I know I now have three But I have two that are put together. We'll save the third one for an upcoming video But yeah, I have a biking leg and then I have this leg that I use for literally everything else So I have one Have a lot of legs. Yeah, this is my This is what I call my gymnastics leg. It has the flower all pro on it This is my favorite walking foot. I can do back flush back handsprings fun things with this leg Um, I have two running blades one for road running and one for track running. Oh cool I have okay. I should probably count. Yeah, I have another socket with something called a coupling system on it Which is I wish I brought it so I could show but it like there's like a pin that you can unattach so you keep the socket on But you can trade out feet because I have so many feet So it's just super useful, but with that one. I have one standard foot I have a beach foot which we just took. Oh, yeah Like a normal foot and just took off the foot shell put trend on it. So you don't have to worry about water I have my snowboarding foot rock climbing foot. Oh, yeah. Oh and a heel foot I have the foot that I can wear adjustable heels. Yes. I was actually wearing heels last night. I look cute as for Sockets which is this part the part that goes over my leg. I only have two. I'm getting a third one made That's pretty. I guess I have seven or eight feet. Cool I feel like that number obviously varies for everyone too But but most people most people most amputees that I know have at least a couple because One foot doesn't work for everything like you were saying like she is one for heels I can't wear heels in this because it doesn't adjust, but there are other foots that allow you to do that I can go hiking on like pretty intense trails with this because I was a lot of mobility and it's awesome Some feet are really just for like road walking and you know flat flat short distances There's huge variety in the types of feet you can purchase which is a weird sentence to say Purchasing feet. I was like telling somebody about all the feet I have and they're like, well, this is lame. I only have two. I know You're weird two footer. She's like an eight footer. I'm like a four one two three five footer How has amputation affected your friendships or relationships when I first had my amputation? I was dating a guy and he had a really hard time with adjusting to it Yeah, because my way of coping is making jokes. Yes, and even to this day I often if I'm not wearing my leg will wave at people with my stump. It's cute You do weird people out. It's great. Yeah, but I just thought it was fun So that really affected us we eventually got over it But then we ended up breaking up whatever but friendships It doesn't really affect because like even though it is a big part of my personality It doesn't affect me except for the fact that a lot of my friends can get uncomfortable with the staring because when you're on Oh, sure. It's just inevitable. They're going to stare at you Yeah, which in turn whoever you're with they're going to stare at as well So as long as they get over that at some point you just block it out. You just don't know this anymore That's very true. You get to a place where you're just doing your thing and yeah, whatever my newest relationship is also a Amputee. Yeah, he is an above me amputee And so we get extra stares. Yeah, seriously. It's a good time Initially, it really affected it because just people aren't used to it But once people actually get to know you it doesn't really do anything. Yeah for the most part Going through this hasn't had a significant effect on my friendships for sure It's had an impact on my relationship only in that we'd like had to go through all of this together I think both Brian. I have really grown. I'm really I'm so grateful that he's gone through all of this with me But an absolute rock star, but I think I had one friend who after I announced that I was having an invitation We're pretty good friends. She never she's never spoken word to me again Really? And I still don't know why it was yeah, it was very very bizarre She just completely disappeared out of my life So I don't know if she was really uncomfortable with that or just uncomfortable with someone going through something like that or had a bad Experience with amputees. I don't I will never know bad experience I've had I've had a number of friends tell me that like I always have to remind myself that you're an amputee Because I just see you as Joe. I can just get to know your friends as friends. I do think that some relationships It's been it's it's uncomfortable for me to articulate my limitations sometimes like that's something. I'm still working on being like That's awesome. I love that you guys are doing that I'm not gonna be able to do that because I'm not at that point my recovery yet or because my leg is gonna You know give out or whatever and generally people are absolutely incredible in thinking ahead I don't blame them if they don't like if someone's like live your life, right? But sometimes having to be like here my limits can get uncomfortable in relationships But it doesn't usually make them uncomfortable It's just something I have to get over so somebody asked me to go running with them recently And I'm like like I can but you have to understand that I'm going to have to stop and drain the sweat out of my leg every like Exactly just how it works. So even being able to do Normal activities you just do a little bit differently than people do so there we have it the similarities and differences between two Below-knee amputees That's right. Yeah on the right side as well. We're twinning. Also, we agree that purple is a favorite color I feel like that's a very important aspect to all of this So thank you for listening. Let me know what you think in the comment section down below Were you surprised at any of our answers? Did they make perfect sense to you? Do disagree if you're an amputee I would love to hear from you. Thank you guys for being here. Thanks for listening Make sure that you check out Annika on her Instagram. I'm gonna pop it up on screen right here She's absolutely fantastic close really cool videos and also super adorable I mean, so it's a it's a win-win win all around but thank you for watching I love you guys. I'm thinking of you and we will see you in the next video