I loaded my mobility scooter to the gills with camera gear and strapped a GoPro video camera to the front of it, which captured what I am calling a dog’s eye view of Augusta. I still need to go back and edit the video, and will as soon as I have time, but in the meantime, here are some of the pictures I took at the Monday Practice Round!

It was very cool. It made walking feel more natural than my C-Leg does and made things like walking up hill MUCH easier. My prosthetist and I are going to write a letter of justification to my insurance so hopefully they will approve it and I can upgrade to this new technology.

While I was there I started taking pictures for a photography series I am doing called “Amputee” where I am taking a series of documentary style pictures that show the various things you see living life as an amputee. Here are the shots I got the other day.

This picture is a picture I took in the back room at my prosthetists office. These are molds of people’s legs. Each one represents somebody overcoming the difficulties of limb loss. Mine is the one of the far right in the middle row.

Yes, life is more difficult with one leg, but that doesn’t mean it is bad by any means. Just like everything in life, I think the attitude you bring in with you goes a long way towards determining your outcome. I’m pretty much back to normal life these days. I’m working, playing sports, going out with friends on the weekends and doing a lot of photography.

Life as an amputee can be as normal as you want it to be. Nobody should let their difficulties define them. Yes there are things that you are held back from, but those aren’t the things you should focus on. Concentrate on what you can do, and go out and make the most of it! But also never stop pushing yourself. There are a lot of things that I have done since I lost my leg that I wasn’t sure I could do until I did them. Don’t mentally limit yourself more than you are actually limited. I bet you’ll be surprised at what you can do!

Today I am going up to my prosthetist and being a patient model as they train and are certified on the new Genium Bionic Prosthetic System by Otto Bock. Basically this is a new knee that allows you do to things like walk up stairs foot over foot using a gyroscope in the knee itself. It also has a number of features like a knee that locks when you are standing still, which gives you more stability and saves the battery so that it can last up to like 17 days or something. My current leg gives out after about 4 days without a charge. And yes, I have found that out for myself!

While my current leg isn’t bad by any means, this leg would be MUCH more suited for me and my lifestyle. Currently I avoid going up stairs as much as I can. I hate the way I feel walking up them with the C-Leg. You have to take a step up with your actual leg and then pull your prosthetic leg up onto that step, then take another step with your real leg and pull your prosthesis up onto the next step. It is slow, awkward and both looks and feels really weird. I hate it and avoid it at all costs.

So we’ll see what I think when I test out the Genium this afternoon, but I’m thinking we might try to justify it to insurance as a necessary step up (literally! haha) for my lifestyle and see if they will approve it. I think I’m also close to hitting my out of pocket max for insurance this year, so if I do get it approved this will probably put me over the top and all of my medical bills will be covered for the rest of the year. Never a bad thing!

So anyway, I’m off to start my day and enjoy the fact that I’m still here, still cancer free and able to live life to the fullest each and every day! I hope everyone is so lucky!

I’ve been staying very busy lately. My leg is doing better than ever thanks to the help of Jacob at the new Procare Midtown office. It could still probably use a little tweaking, and I avoid going up stairs as much as humanly possible, but it is the best it has been to date, so I am definitely encouraged right now.

I’m still really enjoying wheelchair basketball. It is a lot of fun and a great way to stay in shape since I can’t run or anything yet. If any amputees out there are looking for a fun way to be active, I highly recommend checking it out. Most major cities have a wheelchair basketball team, so it isn’t hard to get involved if you are interested. Places like the Shepherd Center, where I play, even provide chairs for you, although they wont fit as well as getting one yourself. If you are interested in getting a chair, apparently there are a lot of grants and stuff that can help make the purchase more affordable.

Basically life is good right now. I’m entirely too busy and continually overbook myself, but that’s a good problem to have!

I’m going to start trying to update this more often and hope that anyone who may still read this is doing well!

We have about 25 people on the DIII team, and only 3 of us started this year, with the next newest guy starting 3 years ago. We are only taking 10 people when we travel for tournaments because of cost. I wasn’t holding much hope for being included, seeing as this was my first year, but the coach talked to me the other day and asked if I could make it because he wanted me on the travel squad.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited! We are going down to Augusta on Friday night and have 3 games on Saturday. Should be an interesting way to start out my wheelchair basketball career, seeing as I’ve never played a single game, let alone three in one day!

I’m really happy I started doing this. It has been incredible getting out and being active again. I’ve missed the feeling of this type of competition and am happy to finally have it back in my life!

Wish me luck!

I remember thinking that this wasn’t that big of a deal. Everyone freaked out but I was going to be fine. And I am fine. My life is entirely different, but not really. Honestly, this experience has made me cherish each day more than before. I truly do find myself stopping doing things that are wasting my time. I find myself in situations where I genuinely think “this is wasting the precious few moments I have on this earth and I’m not going to do that anymore.”

Each day we have is a gift, and it is up to us to make sure that we are using our time in the best possible way. I would challenge anyone who reads this to take a serious look at your life and what you do on a daily basis. Are there things that you are worrying about or fighting about that aren’t worth your time? If there are, stop! Are there things you do that don’t add any enjoyment to your life, but absorb hours of your time each week? Obviously we all have to do things that we don’t enjoy, but there are some things that we just do out of habit. Life is entirely too short to allow ourselves to be unhappy. Do whatever it is that you need to do to start living life to it’s fullest.

God has graced me with the opportunity to take advantage of the days I have left and I intend to do just that. I would encourage you to do the same!

Today is one of those days. It was an incredible day. I played golf with my dad and Jack and while none of us played particularly well, we all had a great time. We also took several pictures together. I was just looking at one of our pictures and had one of those “Man, that is weird” moments. Here is the picture:

My dad asked me the other day, “Do you notice people looking at your leg?” The answer is yes. Every 20 seconds. Everywhere I go. Every step I take. I see every eye cut, every glance away from my face shooting down my body to my prosthesis. Of course. How could you not? The point is, I don’t care. If I cared I’d wear pants. You wouldn’t be able to tell. But not caring if people know you are wearing a prosthesis doesn’t mean you don’t notice and it doesn’t mean you won’t see a picture and go “Man, that is so weird!”

Because I am the one wearing it, I don’t see it. I honestly don’t know how weird it looks to others, but if I can see a picture and it makes me stop and go “whoa!” then that is probably a 50th of what the average person I run into every day thinks when this unexpectedly enters their vision. No wonder kids stare so intently!

It’s interesting how this doesn’t feel like it has changed my personality, yet it has changed so much. I don’t hold myself to any lesser standards though. My brother and I both played horribly today. He beat me by a stroke. Our dad beat us both by 10 strokes. I am going to be going out to the range this week because I need to get used to hitting in my new socket and next time out, metal leg or no metal leg, I am going to hold myself to an equal standard and do everything in my power to beat them both outright. Handicap is a mindset. Although that mentality still doesn’t make walking up hills any easier! Haha.

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning and was very nice being out there before the crowds moved in. So peaceful and beautiful. They have some paths that are made of recycled tires which made it a pretty easy hike to the foot of the falls, which was very convenient and a welcome change from my hike through the woods at Stone Mountain last week. Here are some pictures I got while I was up there!

I recently upgraded all of my photography equipment and am taking full advantage of being back on my prosthesis by using it every chance I get! It has been a lot of fun learning a new camera and having an excuse to go out and shoot. Not to mention all the exercise I am getting from getting up early and going and walking through parks!

I am posting my favorite shots that I have gotten over the past 2 weeks here. I hope you like them!

Today, after going to the prosthetist and having some tweaks made to my prosthesis, I went by a BBQ place called the Hickory Pig for lunch. The Hickory Pig is in Gainesville, GA and is an incredible place. It is a dive restaurant that serves the juciest, possibly most delicious, pulled pork sandwiches I have ever had. I read about it after I left and saw that people rave about their hickory burgers too.

I was the only one in the restaurant and was served by “Lil Bit” a waitress who has worked there for the past 8 years. We had a good talk as I inhaled the amazing sandwich and then she showed me around the small operation they are running. She took me out back and showed me the smoker, loaded up with meat being infused with the hickory smoke that is their signature, as you could have guessed by the name of the restaurant. Phil the owner was out back and was a very nice guy as well. We had a quick chat before I took a few pictures and headed back into town.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, you should definitely make it a point to swing by. You won’t be disappointed that you did! Their address is:

The Hickory Pig
3605 Thompson Bridge Rd
Gainesville, GA 30605
(across the street from Kroger)

I am definitely going to have to put in a lot of work to get better at this, but it was a whole lot of fun being out there and really being active for the first time since I had my amputation. I’m looking forward to a great season!

Now that I am finally back on my prosthesis I am going to start trying to find ways to help people dealing with amputation and cancer. These things are definitely life changing experiences, but they don’t mean that you have to stop living!

http://www.google.com/doodles/hurdles-2012

Two of my favorite Olympic moments occurred in the 90′s. One was Kerri Strug in ’96 and the other was Derek Redmond in ’92. Both of these athletes overcame injury to finish their event and as a result inspired millions of people around the world. If you haven’t seen either of these, I’ve attached the videos of each below. This is what the Olympics are all about!

If you have any other favorite Olympic moments, please post them in the comments. I’d love to see them!

This simple occurrence struck me as a perfect metaphor for life. Sometimes we wander off course, but it’s up to us to find our way back. The further we veer off course, the harder it is to return, but it’s never impossible. We just have to constantly monitor our own lives in order to stay on the right path.

Matthew 7:14
Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Early on in my cancer treatment, 2 nights after my first round of chemo was completed, I remember laying in bed and praying about the ordeal I was embarking upon. I started praying by asking God to heal me from the cancer but for some reason that didn’t feel right. I restarted and asked God to use me as He saw fit. I asked him to use my life in the way that He needed it to be used and to transform me into the man He wanted me to be. I suddenly felt completely at peace about what was to come and had an overwhelming sense that I was going to lose my leg, but that it was going to be ok.

I’m not going to say that things haven’t been hard. They have been. There are times of extreme frustration and pain. But those are temporary and only a small part of the story. God has spared my life and I truly believe that He has done exactly what I prayed for: transformed me into the man He wants me to be.

People have told me that they admire my strength as I have gone through all of this. I always feel embarrassed when people say things like that because they don’t realize that I cheated. I didn’t need strength. I just trusted in the strength of God and accepted whatever He decided was best.

Everyone has pain and difficulty in their lives. If you are a person of faith then I would challenge you to take that difficulty and transform it into a reflection of God’s love. Not only will it help you through the process, but it will help others come to know Him through you in ways that you could never have done otherwise.

Wheelchair basketball is pretty cool. It’s generally run by NCAA rules, but with a few alterations to account for the wheelchairs. The way it works is that once you have the ball, you can only make two touches of your wheels before the ball has to hit the ground. If you touch your wheels a third time, it is traveling. Other than that it’s pretty standard basketball, just while sitting. Here’s a video I found of the Gold Medal round of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. It looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun!

Yesterday a 3 hour prosthetist appointment turned into an all day event and I ended up leaving with a test socket that wasn’t hurting me and high hopes that this is finally going to work! I wore my leg to work today and so far, so good. It is working well, and most importantly, it doesn’t hurt! The end of my leg has been ridiculously sensitive for a long time and I was worried that this would be a much longer process to get me up and walking, but it only took a couple of weeks since we started the process. Not too bad!

I also looked up some stats today because I was curious about the energy expenditure of amputees. The information I found said that above knee amputees use 40-75% more oxygen than someone with two legs. Going uphill on a slope of 10 degrees doubles the energy required. A slope of 20 degrees triples it. Soft or uneven ground can increase energy usage by 40% and even going downhill uses more energy than flat ground because you have to fight to keep yourself from going too fast.

I’m hoping that all this extra energy exertion will result in me losing a little weight! I was warned early on by another AK (above knee) amputee that it is hard for leg amputees to keep weight off their gut. He said you have to work 3 times as hard as everyone else to eliminate that extra fat. It’s funny that he said that because that is literally the only place on my entire body that has the slightest bit of fat right now. My left leg is in phenomenal shape because I hop everywhere and my arms and chest are in great shape from being on crutches. I just need to get my abs in line now. I’m worried that if I let that get out of control then it will limit what I can do on my leg in the future, and I don’t want that to happen!

Regardless, it is great to be walking again and I am excited to see where things go from here!

But I am surprised that banana pudding brings in so many people. To play to my audience however, I will go with it, and give more info on our delicious banana pudding. This is the absolute best banana pudding recipe. Nothing else comes close. The only thing you should change on this recipe is to double the custard. The custard is the best part and when it gets into the nilla wafers and turns them into a delicious mush, you will be glad you did!

Here is the banana pudding recipe: