The Right Fit..Or Not

May 2, 2014

Today Shaun has his fitting for his prosthetic.

Dave puts on a sleeve so that the arm can slide on easier. Then we ran into a problem. The arm wouldn't fit.

So Dave tried a different technique thinking maybe the end of the limb was getting hung up inside the mold. He tied a string onto the end of the sock and strung it through the end of the mold. The idea was to guide the arm down in.

Still no luck with that. One more try with a thinner sleeve in hopes in would fit.

Again no luck.  He measured the size of Shaun's arm and turns out it has changed since the last visit. We are thinking because he hasn't been wearing the compression sleeve anymore. Dave would like us to wrap the arm in a bandage again and let him know if the arm measurements change. In the meantime Dave is going to make a new mold for Shaun. Our next visit is for Friday May 9th. Let's cross or fingers we have a good fit and Shaun can take his new arm home! 

A Bit More Ink

April 22, 2014

Session 2 of Shaun's sleeve begins...

Shaun brought some of his own design for Jeff to go off of. Only Shaun could incorporate the flux capacitor into his sleeve and pull it off...he is a die hard Back To The Future fan.

Jeff prepping the surface for ink!

Free-handing the design in marker!

Let the 3 hours begin...

1.21 jiggawatts!!

Session 2 comes to an end. Holding off on the 3rd session for a bit.

Let The Molding Begin

April 11, 2014

Dave called to let us know that Shaun's forearm and hook had come in and he would like us to come see it and get molded while there! So many exciting things happening!

Well, here it is in all it's glory! Part of it anyway. The top part is what Shaun has to be molded for.

Black carbon fiber forearm with a black anodized aluminum hook

Dave said with the hook being aluminum, it isn't quite as strong as the normal stainless steel hooks but on the plus side, it is lighter.

This gives us a look into what he will look like with it on. Pretty awesome if you ask me!

Now for the molding process....

First Dave starts out by putting a protective compression sleeve on over Shaun's t-shirt so the plaster doesn't stick to his arm and armpit hair (ouch!) Then he attaches an elastic band around him to hold the sleeve in place.

Someone is excited about the new arm!   Shaun says,"One way to make an amputee look even more different is to dress him up like this!" Glad he has a good sense of humor! (I'm sure he will be thrilled this pic made it onto the blog)

The process reminds me of having a cast put on. They wet the plaster roll and start wrapping around the arm, over and over.

Dave's assistant had to press up and hold the end tight while it hardened.

They went up over the shoulder a bit so that the prosthetic will have extra support and also to help with movement. Dave starting to release the mold. He was trying not to pull on any hair!

It came off quite nicely.

Dave drew a line on the mold to know what angle Shaun's arm hangs so that the prosthetic will be positioned properly when he wears it. Because he doesn't have the muscles to hold the arm back and from having it forward in a sling for so long, the arm is positioned forward rather than hanging straight down.

One final look....until next time!

New measurements

Time For Some Ink

April 2, 2014

INK DAY

Since this whole process has started, Shaun has been scouring the internet for images of tattoos. He has been planning on getting his limb completely tattoo'd (A full sleeve...or is it a half sleeve since there is only half the arm?) Anyway, he has been leaning more towards the black work tattoos. This is where more of the skin is colored in black and the showing of natural skin tone is the main part of the design. 

Shaun stopped in 2 weeks ago and made the appointment for his 1 of 3 sessions. Jeff, the owner of Area 51 Tattoo in Muskegon, MI would be the artist. Shaun patiently waited the two weeks and here we are, nervous and excited all at the same time. He doesn't have much feeling in his limb but he was worried it might hurt.

Shaun arrived and Jeff drew the design on Shaun's arm. They decided to start on the shoulder area first to give the end of his arm more time to heal completely. He started the design with pink marker, decided how they liked it. Then went over it with red marker, making any changes. Jeff is very good at free handing his designs.

The Start

Jeff was saying how strange it was that Shaun didn't flinch or anything each time he started

 (because he couldn't feel it)

Almost done with the outlines             Starting the filling in process

Jeff said he normally stops and restarts a lot to give the person a break but with Shaun he could work longer off of the puddle of ink he had going.

Front/Top View                                       Top/Back View

            Still Filling in                        Doing a nice job on the cover-up

Almost done for the day                 Session 1 Complete!

After a 3 hour session, he was exhausted and that the parts on the back by his armpit did hurt.

Shaun's next session is scheduled for April 22, 2014!!

Follow Up

February 28, 2014

Today was the follow up appointment with Dave in the prosthetics department. Taden even got to join us this time. We were going in hopes of being able to get Shaun's arm molded for his prosthetic.

When we went in today, Dave started to take measurements of Shaun's arm to get ready for the mold.

 He said that the arm wasn't forming quite the way that he had hoped it would. the upper portion of the arm was still a bit larger than he would like.

 Dave decided that with the measurements he had taken, he would order a custom compression sleeve so that it could shape the limb the way he wants. If it doesn't form any different, than it's just the way his arm is and we'll go from there. I suggested until then, we could use the ace bandage and just wrap it tighter in the place that needs to be smaller. Dave thought that was a great idea! He told us to call him in a few days to let him know of any changes.

Since Taden was with us this time, he was interested in seeing the prosthetics.

 Dave was nice enough to take us back to the workshop again. Taden was fascinated by all of the machines, tools, and fake arms and legs lying around.

This time, we were able to see a little girls leg with a fun bright heart print in it.

I'm glad that Taden can be so involved in this whole process. It's teaching him so many valuable life lessons. One of the most important things he is learning is that everyone is different! Just because someone talks different or walks different or is missing a limb, it doesn't make them weird. They are people just like him and you don't treat them any different. Another thing we are trying to teach him is that if he sees someone that is missing a limb, don't stare, ask them how it happened. More often than not people are willing to talk about it, knowing that they are just teaching a child about the differences in people.

Taden had a lot of questions while we were checking out the workshop, and Dave was great at showing and telling Taden if a limb was for a child or adult, a male or female. He was great at explaining his plan for each limb as well. It was good for Taden to see the variety of prosthetics.

One of the things Shaun was the most excited about was Dave had a Prosthetic that he had just wrapped in black carbon fiber! This gave him a better idea of what his would eventually look like. He plans to do a full black carbon fiber arm with all black anodized parts, including the hook.

They were using a machine that encases the pieces of the prosthetic that have the carbon fiber, in resin. 

We left a little disappointed that Shaun didn't get molded for his arm, but we would rather wait and have it be as correct as possible. He's just enjoying the freedom of no arm at this point!