Archives for 2006

I now have my prosthesis, still a few adjustments to be made, but I use it everyday (kind of have to since I can’t legally drive without it). I thought you might be interested in how it all works, so I took a few photos to help explain.

My prosthesis consists of a “socket” that attaches to my stump. There are different approaches as to how a socket attaches to or can be “suspended” from a stump, in my case it uses suction to stay on (the nice part being there aren’t any extra harnesses or braces).

I first put a silicon liner on my arm, a bit like putting on a wetsuit. The liner helps protect my arm, but its main purpose is to create a seal inside the socket via the lip at the end (these liners cost about $450 a piece).

Next I slide my stump into the socket, there’s a bit of a knack to this since my arm is a little bulbous in the middle. I slide my stump in bit by bit, alternating between pushing it in and trying to pull it out again. The air escapes through the white, one-way valve you can see in the photo. Once on, the vacuum keeps the socket locked in place nice and secure, I just press the valve to release it.

Now I velcro the cuff around my bicep, which routes the cable behind my back (this is still a work-in-progress), and put my arm through the white loop which goes over my right shoulder. Using the movement of my arm forward, or a shrug of my shoulders, I can pull the cable and thus open the hook on the end. I’m still getting use to this system and most often just take the cable system off and use the hook as a “passive” device…which is just fine for driving.

I have several other attachments that Hanger ordered for me from TRS, Inc., each one connects to the end of the socket via a quick release, so it’s relatively easy to change the devices around.

The “Grip Prehensor” is what’s called a “voluntary closing” device, unlike the hook above, which is “voluntary opening”, pulling on the cable closes the hand allowing me to exert 100 lbs or more of force (the hook uses elastic bands to close and is limited to 5-10 lbs of force).

My plan is to use this for bike riding and weight training, there is also a lock pin that I can insert that allows me to lock the hand on to bike handlebars, for example. By the way, these things aren’t cheap, this attachment alone is in the region of $1200 (thankfully my medical insurance covers 80% of this).

My last attachment currently is the “Super Sport” flex-hand, which allows me to do things like yoga…but more on this later. I have also just ordered a guitar accessory that will allow me to strum a guitar again (unfortunately not covered by insurance), I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

I had my hearing at the DMV on September 11th, about 3 weeks after I received the notice of my suspension. I had got my doctor to complete another medical evaluation form, with specific instructions on what information he needed to provide, hoping this would be sufficient for them to make a decision this time.

My hearing was in Oakland with Ms. Joseph, who was very friendly and understanding. She reviewed my medical form, but since the doctor had ticked the box that he didn’t know if an adaptive aid would help compensate for my disability she wasn’t able to say I’d be safe to drive. My options were to wait until I had a prosthesis and take a driving test or undergo an adaptive driver evaluation course at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. Fortunately, as you know I’ve been in the final stages of getting my new arm so I opted for the re-test on the basis I’d have my arm by then…this seemed to be the quickest path. Ms. Joseph scheduled my test for the 21st in Walnut Creek…just over a month after my suspension.

And so I found myself at the DMV office ready for my drive test in my little, red Toyota Prius. My instructor came out, went through a vehicle inspection and then we were off. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I assumed it would be unlikely that the instructor would have any experience with upper limb amputees, but lo and behold he proceeded to tell me about his good friend, a pediatrician, who had lost his right had in Vietnam as a surgeon and how well he got on with his prosthetic. Also his cousin made prosthetics for children…strange how fate can lend a helping hand.

Anyhow, I made a show of using my prosthetic to aid driving, at least it makes reaching the indicators on the left a little easier. We drove around Walnut Creek for 20 minutes or so, ending up back at the DMV. The instructor then told me I had passed with only 2 errors out of a possible 20! Now I just had to wait 5-10 business days to be notified I was free to drive again.

To my surprise, the next morning I got a call from Ms. Joseph to say she had received the report and spoken to the instructor at DMV who felt that I didn’t really need the prosthetic to drive since I had good control with just my right hand…which is what I’d been saying all along. She asked if I’d like to take another test without my arm or otherwise she’d lift my suspension with the restriction I drive with it. I opted for the later, anything to get back on the road again, and so she lifted the suspension there and then!

The irony was, I’d just dropped my arm into Hanger for some adjustments the day before after the test, so driving would have to wait until Monday when I could pick it up.

It’s been a little frustrating to say the least, but all in all the DMV have been pretty good and I’m back to driving again without any concerns over legality. Oh, and I also picked up my new license plate…

I always enjoyed “vegging” out occasionally and playing games on my Playstation 2, I love the Metal Gear Solid series and Ratchet and Clank. As you can image I’d figured my game playing days were over since it generally requires two fairly dextrous hands to use a game controller.

Anyhow, thought I’d give it a go the other day. I balanced the controller on my leg, using my right hand to hold it as normal and my left stump to try and move the left joystick. The problem is the tip of my stump is quite “squishy” so its hard to get precise control, which led to many untimely deaths.

Kerry had the bright idea of using the gel sleeve from my prosthetic, which has a rubber end to it. This worked a little better, although it was still hard to get precise control since I can’t see the joystick under the stump.

The next challenge was the cable wasn’t really longer enough for me to get comfortable, I had to sit on the edge of the foot rest we have with our sofa and balance the controller on my legs. The solution was to buy one of those wireless controllers and now I can sit quite comfortably on the sofa and brace the controller in my lap while I play.

I’ll be interested to see if things improve once I get my prosthetic this week, I might be able to use the claw to hold the left joystick, or maybe someone has designed a Playstation attachment…never give up I say!

On Wednesday I tried on my new prosthetic arm at Hanger for the first time. It really brings you face-to-face with your disability to see this chunk of plastic and metal attached to your arm. I’d got quite use to just not having my left had up until now – it’s going to take a while to get use to this I’m sure.

My prosthetic is a mechanical device, the carbon composite socket attached to my arm over the gel sleeve I put on, staying put by suction alone. The claw attached to the end of the socket and has a cable that opens it and rubber bands that close it (I can adjust the number of bands depending on the force I want). The cable is attached to a harness that goes behind my back and over my right shoulder. I open the claw by either moving my arm forward or flexing my right shoulder…pretty primitive but effective so I am told. Unfortunately the cable rubbed on my arm, so Richard has to add a sleeve to the top of the socket so he can run the cable up a bit higher…I was close to taking my new arm home, but just one more adjustment to make.

I can get different attachments for the socket, there’s one that looks like a hand for a more cosmetically appealing look, for example. I’m also looking to get attachments so I can ride a bike again (push bike for now), get back in the gym and lift weights and even play guitar (I’ll have to learn to play left-handed though!). Next week I should be able to take it home and start experimenting.