#winter falling

Winter Falling is a fun little Game of Thrones themed browser based strategy game that allows you see if you could plan the Battle of Winterfell better than Jon Snow!

I've been spending quite a bit of downtime on my sofa over the last nine months. In that time, I have realized I haven't had any falls because of these new prostheses. It's amazing. I was falling numerous times a day in my old prostheses and that would cause more pain and open sores. I think this whole having a secure fit in my prostheses is kind of blowing my mind.

I always thought I was super clumsy and accident prone when really I was just wearing shitty prostheses. I never knew there were other options and the prosthetics company I went to my entire life would never have wanted to give me anything that would further benefit me. It seemed they only wanted me to get out the door so they didn't have to deal with me further. Now that I have been walking in these prostheses for a good nine months with no falls, I can finally say they work. Sure, I have had to deal with a few issues regarding breakdowns but now I'm getting those figured out. I am having these breakdowns because the prostheses weren't fitting perfectly. I can call up and get seen right away and the problem gets solved immediately. No waiting.

It's weird to have always expected to fall down when walking and now that is not part of my daily life. It's obviously nice but I always kind of expect it to happen. In at least the last 5-10 years, that was my daily life and again its hard to break such a long standing brain pattern. It's now a new year and in the dead of winter, there is constant ice and snow situations that make me more alert than the average able-bodied person. I keep a giant jar of road salt in my car in case there is a super icy parking spot I happen to be using. I haven't fallen outside because of these conditions per se but I did fall just inside a Walgreens the other night. Apparently, the entryway of this particular Walgreens has built in rugs (or something that appeared to be rugs) and also had strips of shiny (and slippery metal) every few inches. I happened to be wearing these super cute t-strap shoes and when my right heel landed on this metal stripping, my feet came out from under me. It hurt. However, this fall wasn't like the falls I had experienced in my other prostheses.

The back of my right knee used to be bruised constantly due to me falling down all the time. The back of my knee would get pinched between the socket and the plastic (yes, plastic) corset. Many a blood blister was had and many a tear was shed. When I fell the other night, my feet simply came out from under me and I landed hard on my butt. My back hurt for a few days but after using my heating pad it seems to be just fine again. I didn't have any bruising on my legs, so I'd say that is a 100% improvement from anything I had experienced previously.