Patient Stories: Paul Jennings

I had a nice job working nights from 6pm to 6am.  I felt good and I was never sick or took off work.  My right foot started to hurt. I had high blood pressure and I got very weak and could not stand up.

I decided to go to the emergency room on June 4, 2014 since I did not have a general doctor.   The doctors at the hospital told me I had gangrene in my right foot, and that I was a diabetic.  My blood pressure was very elevated and my kidneys were failing.  I had cataracts in both eyes.  So, I thought I was a caterpillar and my world was over.  With the doctors' help though, I became a butterfly.

The doctors cut my leg off above the knee. They gave me some medicine for my blood pressure, which came down to 130/70!  I had cataract surgery. My kidneys started to function better and my diabetes became controllable.

Physically and emotionally there were a lot of ups and downs in the past three years.  Some were easy, others were hard and took some soul searching. But I made a promise that I would stay positive no matter where the road took me. Having diabetes is an ongoing battle to stay healthy.

I have a prosthetic leg now and learning to walk so I can become more functional. I did go to the Amputee Coalition annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky this past summer, and recommend everyone with missing limbs to attend. It was very motivating and I became a better person. (Mr Jennings also attended the June 2017 of Amputee Walking School, pictured below.)

Last, but very important, I have several sayings that I live by every day.

1) Never ever give up. (Winston Churchill)

2) Always be very positive even if you are terrible.

3) Say the following every day by Christian D Larson:

“Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism came true.  Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.  Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no to time to criticize others.  Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.” 

4) Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. (Neale Donald Walsch)

5) Just when the caterpillar thought that the world was over, it became a butterfly in a better world. (Proverb)

So I say, life is not about finding yourself – life is about creating yourself.

Mr Jennings preparing to leave the Sinai Office, wearing his Dankmeyer T shirt.

Patient Stories: Revisiting Richard "Dick" Devers

Last year at this time, Dick Devers told the story of his unexpected amputation in 2015.  Then, he thought it was a good time to reflect on and “celebrate” the anniversary of surviving an illness that his wife Lynn thought would take him.  (You can read this story in the Archives.) This year, we asked Dick to share with us how his life has changed since he told that story and what he has been up to since he got his definitive prosthesis.

Well, he has been climbing fifteen foot ladders apparently and making Lynn extremely nervous!   Dick says that after his amputation, a light bulb in the cathedral ceiling fixture of their home burned out after 25 years.  He had no idea how he was going to change it.  He sure couldn’t climb on the rafters to do it like he had the first time.    And he couldn’t find someone else to do it.  Finally, he invested in a fifteen foot ladder and made the trip up himself.  Now, Lynn has plans for him to do some gutter cleaning. 

In the past year, Dick has learned to control and work with his diabetes – the thing that took his leg. He attends a monthly diabetes support group – and has been known to resort to what he calls “amputee humor” when talking to others about his experiences.  He tells others “try and walk in my shoe”!  But on reflection, Dick speculates that if he had been seeing the doctor regularly, and not being a stoic “country boy”, he might still have his leg today because he would have known about his diabetes and had it under control.  And while sometimes he wonders what it would be like to have his leg back, not having taken care of himself really is his only regret.

Besides the ladder climbing, which he does regularly now, he and Lynn spent part of the summer remodeling their garage.  Perhaps more importantly, he has resumed traveling on his bike with Lynn.  After spending many years on road trips roaming the country, this was the one activity that he dreamed of resuming.  During the summer he and Lynn got the bike down to Myrtle Beach for an event and they had a great time.  But here he learned another lesson.

Going full steam ahead 100% of the time, can land you in wound care.  It isn’t in his nature to slow down, but this taught him that he has to adapt and be willing to moderate his behavior so he doesn’t injure his residual limb.  He visited his prosthetist, Mark Treasure, who adjusted his prosthesis for additional comfort, and gave him some advice about wearing the prosthesis and healing.  Dick is paying more attention to how he approaches projects and doing new things so that kind of thing doesn’t slow him down.

He thinks that this more thoughtful approach to life has in some ways made him a different person, and that others have commented on that.  And while he depends upon Lynn more than he used to, and the support of family and friends, the willingness to adapt and keep a positive attitude has almost reinvigorated him.  He says that 25% of the recovery was physical, but 75% was mental.  Coming to peace with his limb loss and contemplating his many blessings allows him to make better what he can. Now he is thinking about what he is going to do to keep himself busy as the colder weather moves into West Virginia.  An avid hunter, he intends to hunt this season, keep an eye on his West Virginia Mountaineers football team, and plan for a trip out west come warmer weather.  And, as always, wake up every day with a prayer and tell himself “onward and upward.”

Lynn and Dick Devers.

Patient Stories: Jose Casas

Jose Casas is one of Dankmeyer’s international patients from Peru.  We are so excited to share with you a commercial that he was featured in very recently to promote a telethon in Peru for disabled people.  This televised event was held 10/6/17 and 10/7/17.  The video captures some stunning scenery as he leads a group of trekkers through the mountains.  No one knows that [spoiler alert!!!] he is an amputee until the very end.

A member of the Peruvian military, Captain Casas became a below knee amputee as a result of trauma, and has returned to a number of highly physical activities. He has participated in the Amputee Walking School here.  Here are some pictures from that particular AWS event, which was shortly after he received his prosthesis three years ago.

In addition, he has also competed, representing Peru, in an international competition in Brazil.  Besides his running leg, he uses a special prosthesis for swimming.

We appreciate that he wore his Dankmeyer T to a recent visit.

Patient Stories: A Moxie Update

Moxie attended her 1st Amputee Support Group meeting on August 1, 2017, at the University of Maryland Rehabilitation & Orthopaedic Institute (UMROI). Nina Bondre, CPO, and Jeanne Smith, Patient Services Representative, shared Moxie’s story of rescue, adoption, and how she has adapted to her life as an amputee (you can read earlier stories about Moxie by looking in our News Archives.) Attendees also discussed and shared their experiences, challenges, and successes as amputees in the community. Everyone was surprised to learn about how similar dog prostheses and human prostheses are, as well as the various adaptations used to overcome obstacles in daily life. As Moxie flaunted her newest tie-dyed prosthesis, she modeled for photos and received lots of love and treats from the members of the group.

Thanks to Naomi Miller, PT, for inviting Moxie to attend this social and informational support group. The University of Maryland Amputee Support Group is held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 6:30-8:30PM at UMROI: 2200 Kernan Drive, Baltimore, MD 21207. 

Patient Stories: Kimberly Daum

It isn’t often someone can say that a piece of furniture may have saved her life. Yet, three years ago this spring, the day she whacked her foot on a kitchen table leg rushing to answer the phone may have done just that, according to Kimberly Daum. When it happened, aside from the pain, it certainly didn’t seem significant, but running into that piece of furniture is what started a series of events that eventually led Kim to becoming an amputee. At first, she thought she had broken toes, and was put in a boot to heal. She was on her feet 50-60 hours a week as a long term employee of Lowes and it didn’t take long for her to be ready to get out of that boot! After six weeks, still having pain, she had an MRI. Kim got some shocking news – there was no fracture, but she had an invasive mass in her right foot.

A biopsy revealed a rare, aggressive form of cancer called synovial sarcoma that had her surgeons recommending foot amputation. By early July she had done her research on prosthetics and was ready to go. Post surgery necrosis set in and only a week after her initial surgery, Kim found herself a below knee amputee. On top of that, she was still fighting the cancer! This very active working mom of two struggled with this sudden change in her situation. Depression and anxiety set in even as family and friends surrounded and supported her.

She wasn’t able to start chemo until five months later. For six grueling months she and her husband Chris made the hour and half drive to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, VA, where Kim checked herself into the hospital every month for a week to do battle with her cancer – using the chemo drug they call the “Red Devil” because it is so toxic. Adriamycin and Ifosfamide are the two chemos used in treating synovial sarcoma. This cancer is very rare and unfortunately affects children. The normal treatment for this cancer is amputation because it is very aggressive and attacks bones, muscle, tendons and joints.

After completing her treatments and because of her depressed immune system, Kim could not spend time with the pets who would normally comfort her – Mugsy the Beagle, and Cheyenne the cat. At the same time, her son had to leave and report for duty for his Navy training.

Kim credits her teenaged daughter, her husband, best friend, mom and her father for keeping her going. It was almost a full year after her amputation before she was physically strong enough to start physical therapy with a preparatory prosthesis. Even then, she had a lot of pain and required a revision to her residual limb. This meant additional healing time and it was making her nuts! She was increasingly frustrated by her limited mobility. She wanted to do something as simple as clean her house her own way.

Once she was healed and headed back to PT, she “never looked back”. As she became stronger and more mobile, it was time for the next fight on her hands – with the insurance company. Kim had done her homework and she wasn’t going to settle for something less than she needed to regain her mobility and active lifestyle. She was determined she wasn’t going to let the insurance company tell her what she could do and what she needed. After numerous appeals and fighting them as aggressively as she had fought her cancer, she got the high activity foot she needed. She finally got her definitive prosthesis and is back at the gym three days a week and is working toward getting her driver’s license back. Through a Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services program, she is getting retraining so that she can get back into the workplace. She speaks highly of the program and looks forward to new job opportunities.

During her long recovery, everyone told her to keep looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. For a long time, she couldn’t see it. There were a lot of rough days, crying, anxiety and pain – but she fought on for her family and she DID come to see the light and now, she says she is “OK. I am here! Never give up!” She is cancer free now, but there will still be some anxiety when she goes for regular checkups. She speaks highly of her children and their own accomplishments while supporting her through her difficult time. Her son graduated from his Navy training and is now married with a child. Kim lovingly tells the story of her daughter confronting the doctors more than once, despite her youth, to make sure her mom was getting what she needed. She is in college now and wants to be a doctor herself.

Kim regrets the lack of an amputee support group in the western Maryland area, since she feels like this would have helped her better prepare and adjust to her amputation. She says it was heart wrenching not to have other amputees to talk to. Travelling to the nearest support group in Baltimore wasn’t really an option. Kim has resolved to work on remedying this situation as soon as she has transportation by starting a support group in the area. There, amputees could share their recovery experiences, support each other when tackling insurance issues, and share tips and tricks – like the compression sleeve!

What, you say? She is determined to have some fun with this prosthesis. She told Mark Treasure,  her prosthetist, that she didn’t want to wear tennis shoes for the rest of her life, and she wants to wear skirts and shorts – but with style! She got the idea to get really fun compression sleeves and pull them over the socket to create a different look any time she wants to. It is an inexpensive way to dress her socket up or down, depending upon her clothing or her mood. Rumor has it that she was going to vacation on the beach and intended to wear a sleeve that had great white sharks on them just to see the reaction she might get! It is with sense of humor and determination that she moves forward and sees a light at the end of a tunnel.