What A Bummer....

   Well....I know some of yall are wondering how my appointment in Nashville went. An for me personally it wasn't the best. The night before my appointment I blogged about my whirlwind of emotions and anticipation for this day. I was not even able to sleep all night. I mean I tried not to expect too much just in case this was to happen. After driving two hours we arrived in Nashville at Hanger Prosthetics. During the appointment I met a total of three prosthetist. I had been in contact with Bill Limehouse from the Hanger in Texas, he travels along the southern region. Through Amputee Coalition of America I had got in contact with him since he travels to Nashville, TN. Bill is an upper arm amputee specialist therefore it seemed like a great idea to give Nashville a shot, especially since it is within driving distance. Bill is a very knowledgeable prosthetist, he has experience of about forty years and at the appointment I did learn a lot. I came prepared and brought with me a list of questions and he was able to answer most all of them, which was very helpful. Now at least I have something to compare other appointments to. 

    For those of you that have been reading and keeping up with me, one thing that I found out that was a relief is that my scapula bone that sticks out, he did say that he didn't think it wouldn't be a problem; with the silicone padding they would be able to line it where it would be protected. During the appointment he mainly just shared information which to me felt more like a salesman. He did feel of my arm and test my strength to see how far I have come in physical therapy, an he was impressed, Of course! I Got Guns! HA! But I have loved physical therapy even if my arm doesn't. :) Strength and a healthy lifestyle now is very important! After a physical assessment he addressed how I would be able to control an arm. He brought out a myo-electric tester to find the best sites for electrode placement. This was to see if I was a good candidate for a myo-electronic arm or rather use an electrode pad to move the arm. To sum it up both use electronic signals from muscle contractions to move the arm. In a later blog I will go over different kinds of arms right now its all still new to me. Anyway the tester showed I had could be a candidate for either one, which is good considering my level of amputation, but he believed the electrode pads would be best.

    After going over all this information I for one was getting a little arm anxious, my mom asked if we could see some products. I thought finally! After four months I am going to see some arms! Possibly try some on! An then he said that he had no products to show us! I was so disappointed! It was like waiting for the biggest Christmas ever and Santa never showing! I knew I wouldn't get an arm that day of course but I just thought I could at least see what all my options were. Bill claimed that he saw 15-25 upper arm amputee patients a year and that is a lot! Most prosthetist will only see maybe 1 or 2 a year, now he is a traveling specialists so I now his will be higher. But then he also claimed that the Hanger in Nashville saw about the same as well. Okay so to me this was a red flag...if there are upper arm specialists here and you see that many a year why don't you have arms available for people to see? Maybe this is a normal thing if it is I apologize but it seemed odd to me. He wanted us to do a body scan that day where they could make a mold of me without me seeing the products they had to offer, they said I had to drive back in another week or so and he could show me everything. Well to me I would have rather him postponed my appointment and had everything available then me have to drive back again. Would you go to a car lot that has no cars to drive? NO! He instead just had only a few previous patients to show me, and they were just in the initial stages of making their arm none were the final arms for me to see. I have found more information on the Internet. So that was very disappointing! Mom asked for patient referrals at my level of amputation and he wasn't able to give me any. An that was one thing I liked about Dallas, they will talk to the patient and give them your number and it is their choice as to whether they contact you or not; that way they are not conflicting with HIPPA. One other thing I did not like was the visit frequency necessary that he said, I would be coming up there again in a week and then at least every two weeks for a bit until the final arm was made and then after when needed. At Dallas they said on Skype it would be coming up there once every six months and then taper off. 
 
   My previous blog I wrote I told you how important it was to feel comfortable with your prosthetist since they will be apart of a important part of your life for the rest of your life most likely. An as knowledgeable as Bill was and as good of a guy he was I just felt like this just was not the place for me. I am not in any way trying to knock down Hanger or Bill, because he was a very informative and nice guy and I have some people involved in Hanger who enjoy them. But one last thing that really bothered me is that he asked me what my goals were to get back to when I receive my arm. I told him how I loved to hunt and fish so that is a must! I also told him how I love working out now, and would really love using my arm to do that! I get real tired of the empty arm handle hitting me in the head on the lat pull down machine! lol! I told him how I had a niece and nephews and how family is important especially being able to play and interact with them. He stopped me and said that he wanted realistic goals and to me these are realistic goals whether you give me my robot hand or not! But I will do these things!Your just helping me do it better and with ease I hope by giving my a prosthesis. So I told him I did not know what he wanted me to say or meant and started stating how having help with my hair would be awesome! An he shot me down again! He said that it wouldn't help with that and that I needed to just getting used to doing my hair one handed. I was like well dang man you keep telling me all these things I can't do with it what are you wanting me to say?? So that told me he was not invested in actually getting me back to the things I actually wanted to do. Needless to say I was not a happy 
camper after my appointment. I am just going to have to save up to go and fly to Dallas where hopefully Ill have better luck. An I just have that feeling I will. I prayed before the appointment and night before for wisdom and guidance because I know its a big decision and I just felt it in me that it wasn't the place. I wish it was great news and I could tell you all this exciting things about all these different arms I saw but hopefully my next trip will be better! An who knows God may just want me to be a One Arm Chick!