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