What's going on with the beard?

That's the question everyone has been asking me.  I'll get to it shortly, but first I have an update.

We traveled to Nashville today to visit my prosthetist.  While there I was fitted for a liner.  This liner is temporary, as they'll fit me with a tighter fitting liner at my next visit.  Right now we're trying to see how my skin grafts handle the liner.

It was also mentioned that we could end up getting a mold for a socket at my next appointment, and I'll likely have a prosthetic within a week or two after that.

Now back to the topic of this post.

During my stay in the hospital, I decided that my beard would remain untrimmed until I walked on two legs again.

This is the longest I've ever grown my beard, and I'm interested in seeing what it looks like when I'm done. It should be just a few more weeks now, since that's the timeline I was given for getting a prosthetic.

I'll likely still need crutches for a little while after getting the prosthetic, or a cane (I'm hoping I get to use a cane), something to give me some assistance.  That said, I'll be on two feet again, so I'll be trimming up at that time.

First Time Walking With Crutches

Nashville Limb Loss Education Day

I spent today at the Amputee Coalition's event in Nashville called Limb Loss Education Day.  The goal of the event was to educate amputees and those around them.  Since my amputation, I've been learning quite a bit about amputations and prostheses.  It's almost like learning a new language, and as I've heard many people say, most people don't know enough to ask the questions they need to ask.  My goal has been to get to that level of knowledge and beyond.  Today's event helped with that goal.

My mom and I started the day off by running through Starbucks and Chick-fil-a for some breakfast (I love me some chicken mini's).  It was an earlier start to the day than we've had in a while.

We ate our breakfast on the way to Nashville, when we arrived we found the location pretty easily (thanks to modern technology, i.e. the magic box that tells us where to go).  What we didn't find so easily was a parking place.  You get a bunch of amputees together and all the handicap parking places get taken pretty quickly.

After registering and receiving our goody bags, we spent some time checking out the vendor booths.  We didn't make it far since the first stop was at my prosthetist's booth.  We spent some time talking and goofing off before the talks began.

I learned several things from the talks, most notably a good way to help deal with sweat in the socket: wear a sweatband for your head on your leg above your liner.  This and many other good tips made the trip well worth it, as well as the chance to meet other people who have experienced limb loss.  The vendors also taught me quite a lot about the different prostheses that are on the market.

At lunch time my prosthetist gave me some new shrinkers, then we decided to leave the event to get some lunch with my sister.  We ate at the cheesecake factory, and I probably ate much more than I should have (I was already over my calorie limit before I made it to the cheesecake...). Although, I did weigh in at less than 200 when I got home, so even after the huge lunch I'm back to being a little guy for the first time in five years.

Here's a quick video to give you a glimpse at my day.