I have been cautiously hopeful that the episodes of "Phantom Pain" that others on the site have reported and I have read about would, somehow, pass me by.   And, in the 17 months since my L BKA, I had experienced more of a "phantom itching" along the bottom of my left foot, even though there is now no left foot.  But, Sunday night, I finally discovered what everyone had experienced.

Around midnight, I woke up with a stabbing pain in my left ankle -  it felt like someone was trying to drive a spike into the left side of my left ankle.  It kept occurring about every ten to fifteen seconds, and lasted for two to five seconds each time.  This went on until around six a.m. Monday.  Needless to say, sleep was not an option.  I read a bit, watched TV, and kept massaging my stump, trying to get the pain to stop.  It finally decreased intensity from about 8 on the pain scale to about 3, asnd I was able to get some sleep, after calling in to work and saying I would be in after lunch.

This has been the only episode of "Phantom Pain" that I have endured (so far), and my hat is really off to those who suffer this affliction constantly.  In essence, I think calling it "Phantom" is, somehow, a misnomer - it is real, actual pain, and not some ghost of discomfort.