Hi, I'm Lisa. I've been an above knee amputee since July 7th of 2017
and one of the things that I definitely wish that I would have known about or
been able to do was to get to know someone who had been through the process
before me and had some advice for me and things to offer you know other than just
medical advice from the doctors and different things. It's always nice to
know someone who has experienced what you're getting ready to experience and
can talk to you and share with you some of their stories. You can definitely find
some things online, they're out there, and there are things on Facebook
different you know support groups and different pages but it is nice to
actually be able to talk to someone or go to a support group or something that
where you know people.
Everyone's great and very nice
you know doctors and people in the hospital and everything they go through
but it's just that emotional support, finding a mentor finding someone who can
just say to you, you know, you're going to be okay
you're gonna you're gonna be able to walk again. You know I went through
this, this is what it took, this is how long it took, because that's the other
part. You just don't know how long you're going to be working to try to get better
and to try, you know, to build up that strength and your stamina so that when
you do go to the grocery store you can walk the whole store, you can push the
cart and not be tired halfway through. You know you think that you're just
gonna get better and get a prosthetic and you're gonna walk within a month or
two and you know it's.. it's not that easy it definitely takes a whole lot more
time, a whole lot more work. It definitely takes a team to get you in the right direction
and find someone to help you through it. Since becoming an amputee, I've definitely had
that experience. I have been lucky enough you know. I've got a great support group at my
therapy office. I have met some people through a support group that have, you know, gone through the
same things I've gone through and it definitely helps to tell your story, to
talk to other people they share their story with you and just tell you, you
know, it's okay. You're gonna fall down. You're gonna get back up, you know, you're
gonna have some bad days you gonna have some great days. You know you might cry a
couple times it's okay you know. Just.. just get it out, let it out. Pick yourself
up and keep going and that's.. that's really one of the most important things
that I found, you know, that that definitely has helped me and I think for
anyone if they're able to find that, even before they go through their surgery
that will really help them to get their mind in the right place. It'll help them
to know what they're up against and what they're getting ready to go through
Start with your doctors. Ask if they know of any support groups or anyone that you
can talk to. Once you get to therapy definitely your therapy group. Your
therapists will be able to set you up with some people or let you know there's
usually someone that they know that has come through the program that's willing
to talk to you, willing to help you, willing to mentor you or they know of
some great groups. So, you know, make sure you take it upon yourself to ask your
doctor, ask your therapist, ask.. even at when you go to your prosthetist
sometimes they have listings up in their office of support groups, so they may
know somebody that's come through. And there's lots of people that want to help
they just don't always know that there are people reaching out to them.
So, if you ask all of these questions of, you know, is there someone out there? How can I
get in touch with them? You know, what support groups have you found that
people have talked about or worked with that they found to be really helpful
will definitely help you.. all the way through your process of your healing and
you know just getting stronger and getting to a place where you're able to
get out there and just walk again and be strong and do all the things in life that
you wanted to do.