It's October, and my thoughts have turned to Halloween. It turns out that one of the good points about limb loss is that it allows for all kinds of costumes that would otherwise not be possible. Who else could be a pirate -- with a peg leg or two and a hook for a hand -- with such authenticity? (My friend Dave, a unilateral leg amputee, once wore a pirate costume to a party, complete with a wooden peg leg. Another attendee said to him, "It must be really painful to squeeze your foot into that!" Dave responded, "Lady, you have no idea.") Unfortunately, I didn't start planning early enough to have a peg leg ready for this year... maybe for next year, though, when I hope to be walking better on prostheses than I am now anyway. Another fun costume possibility is "zombie attack victim" or something like that: a bit gory, perhaps, but a good use of all these stumps, and it would be delightfully (for me!) shocking for people who don't know me....
Recently I passed the second-year anniversary of my initial infection, hospitalization, amputations, and so on. To say that I'm now, health-wise, much better than I was then is an understatement -- and even from one year ago, I'm now stronger and more capable than I was. I wouldn't say yet that I feel "whole": that's probably going to take a few more years. But we take things day by day. Tomorrow I have yet another surgery scheduled: a minor thing, correcting a non-functioning portacath. It'll be good to have it working.
