I wasn't able to swim since March 2001, since I had a big hole in the bottom of my left foot (diabetic ulcer).  In August, for our fourth anniversary, my lovely bride and I spent the weekend at "North Bend", a James River Plantation that is currently a nice B&B.  They have a pool there, and I was able to go swimming again!

 I wore my prosthetic as I entered the first couple of steps into the pool (only the foot and the metal shaft got wet).  I then sat down on the edge of the pool, took off my leg and the liner, and slipped into the water.  What bliss! Especially since it was near 100F outside at the time.  

It took a while to get comfortable, since I felt so off-kilter with part of my left leg gone.  But I used one of those "noodles" to help stay balanced, and spent a great half-hour in the pool.

 Since then, I have found out about "Shin Fins".  Go to: http://www.shinfin.com/

They will strap right on to my leg below the knee, and help give me a more normal swimming kick.  A guy with two BKAs on another web site recommended them.  I am ordering a pair.

So I was standing at the Deli counter at the local grocery store, waiting to get some Boar's Head Roast Beef (Excellent!), when a little boy in a buggy nearby pointed at my pros and asked his Mom ,"What happened to his leg?".

I was wearing shorts, since it was still in the mid-80's Saturday, and I have never been shy about displaying "Robo-Leg" (as I call it).

The little boy's mother "shushed" him, and I could see that she was very embarrassed. I smiled, and said "Hello" to the boy and his mother. I am not embarrassed by my prosthetic at all. I think that people are, as a whole, much more embarrassed about the whole situation than I am.

Too bad this encounter didn't happen on Thursday, which was International Talk Like A Pirate Day; I could have worn an eye-patch and used my best "Aaaarrrrr, Matey, have ye seen me parrot?" line...

[Correction - Wednesday, 19 September, was "International Talk Like A Pirate Day".  For details, go to: www.talklikeapirate.com.  Every September 19th, remember to start off the day with a hearty "Aaarrrr!".] :)

What a great, truly awful movie!  I'm recording it on my DVR as I write.  

I'm sure that Ed Wood thought that he was making a horror masterpiece, instead of what is often considered to be the worst movie of all time.  Still, it's good to be remembered for something, isn't it?

Isn't the weekend wonderful?!

I know, in the back of my mind, that it's back to the ol' daily grind again on Monday.  But, doesn't it feel great to sleep in late on Saturday?  To laze over a cup of coffee and read that magazine article you've been meaning to read for a week?   To surf the channels and stumble across an old favorite movie on TCM?  To surf the web while listening to your favorite tunes on Windows Media Player, and sort of drift back in time to 1984 when you heard this song on the radio?  To wait with anticipation for the 'Bama-Georgia game to kick off in a few hours?  I love Saturdays!

I've been an amputee for six months now.  I had a diabetic ulcer on the bottom of my left foor for over six years.  I always knew, in the back of my mind, that if the ulcer didn't heal, I would eventually loose the foot. 

People ask me, "How did you loose your leg?", and I always reply, "I didn't loose it - I gave it up.".  I also say, depending on how my "sense-of-humor-meter" is running, that the "Leg Fairy" took it one morning when I was asleep, and only left me a quarter!

 Turns out that the BKA was a blessing.  I had been suffering from recurring infections for years; I could count the days I actually felt "good" during the last three years on the fingers of one hand.  Now, in the months since the BKA, the good days far outnumber the not-so-good days.  Overall, I feel better than I have in a long, long time.

I'm still able to do pretty much everything I did before the BKA - I work at a job I enjoy, I play my guitar and sing, I spend time with my lovely bride.  Life is very, very good.

Is it all roses?  No, of course not.  Being an amputee is a challenge.  It takes getting used to.  I admit getting a bit down when I see photos and/or videos of myself from a few years ago, when getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom did not involve putting on a protective sheath on my residual and trying to balance on a walker.  But no one ever said that life was going to be easy, or even fair.  It is what it is - and it's mainly what you make it.

Anywho, that's my $0.02.  I guess my philospohy can be summed up thus - life is far too serious to be taken seriously...