Kick ball is possible for the amputee...

This weekend is Homecoming at Sweet Briar, one of the most beautiful campus' in America. As I am making my way back to Sweet Briar, I am reminded of my last week on campus as a student. It was Senior Week, the week after seniors took their finals and the week before graduation. There were events for us everyday. We floated the lake, went to the local Mexican restaurant and had a faculty vs. seniors kickball game, cocktail parties and luncheons, etc.

I was excited to participate in the kickball game. I didn't really know what my role would be, but I knew I was playing. At that time I had a "boring" hydraulic knee...no computer. We decided catcher would be the best position for me and when we were kicking, I would have a runner of my choosing. The game got a little more intense than I thought it would. There was a pretty new, young, male economic professor that joined the faculty and participated in our game. He got on base and even made it to third base. Next thing I know this guy is coming to home plate and it was going to be a close call. Naturally, I kneeled to block the plate as the ball was being thrown to me. The guy slide into home plate ( remember the plate was blocked by my knee, also remember my knee is titanium or something) HEAD FIRST!

The next day at lunch I saw him in the dining hall and had to comment on the giant goose egg just above his eye.

Vacuum Leg

My mom and I tried a new Vietnamese restaurant that had just opened near us since our usual Vietnamese restaurant was closed. We were seated in the sun room type area, it was kinda nice except I think they may have forgotten about us a few times. There was one other little family seated across from us. The little boy was done eating and you know how they get restless when they are bored; he was walking around the tables. I could see his face when he noticed my leg. It looked as if his thoughts were written all over his face. If only! He went to his table and said, "Mom, she has a vacuum cleaner leg!" This mom was one of those moms that used it as an opportunity to teach the little boy. She brought him over to me and asked if I would explain to the little boy what happened. I went through my spill, " My leg was hurt in a car accident and the doctors had to make me a new one."

That little boy sure had an imagination and when you think about it, it kind of does look like one of those little dirt devil vacuums. I would be willing to bet his chores consist of vacuuming.

Lake time!

Yesterday I spent the day floating on the lake with friends. I have a water leg (my old leg) that I use when I am in or near the water. I don't take any chances with my c-leg. I mean I can't really even walk with my cell phone in my hand without dropping it and shattering the screen. I can only imagine tripping and falling in the water with my c-leg on. I don't think Otto Bock has an AppleCare type policy to replace my knee!

I switched legs at the car and headed to the water. Before we got in the water, two little boys walked passed us and one waved. They walked down the sidewalk a little ways and turned around and walked back past us. The older one said, "hi" this time. I asked him if he was having fun in the water? He said, "what happened to your leg?" He was so funny the way he asked. He just had a comical expression. I told him, " I was in a really bad car accident and my leg got hurt really bad and the doctors made me a new one." He said, "So you don't feel it." I said, "No." He proceeded to touch my toes and poke my leg in several spots asking if I could feel it. I continued to say, "No, not at all." He said he was never going to drive in the dark again. I asked him when he has driven in the dark and what happened? He has a little car that he drives and he hit a tree once.

We floated for several hours, I was getting out and jumping in just fine. I switched to floating with my legs hanging off the float and after a little while,I felt a cage like thing with my foot and freaked out. I fell off my floaty and was flailing in the water. Ryan, asked me if I took my leg off the last time I had gotten out? I said, "no,I still have it on." I knew I could feel the suction was still there. I felt down and the leg was GONE! The shell had separated from the suction piece. Velcro and water are not friends. I freaked out again and started flailing again! Now, after 2 flailing incidents, I have no idea where I was when it came off. I looked at Courtney and Ryan and said we have to start diving! Luckily the water was only about 5 feet deep. I had been trying to avoid touching the bottom, there's just something about the bottom of lakes; they're slimy and you never know what is down there. I had no problem diving down and running my hands across the bottom in search for my leg. Our floats started getting a little to far from us so I swam over to get them and I turn around to head back and I see Courtney and Ryan standing looking at each other and smiling and I hear "did you?" I said,"did you really?" He was tall enough that he could walk around and feel with his feet. Much more efficient than my diving! He reached down and pulled my leg out of the water! I was incredibly lucky! Can you imagine if we had not found it and someone else had found it?

At this point, I decided to take it off and leave it on the side. I was concerned about how I was going to get the two pieces back together so I could walk back to the car, but I have learned that it does no good to worry about the future. I would figure it out when I needed to walk. After we were done playing in the water, I looked at my leg and the Velcro had dried and was still sticking. I put it on and was able to walk fine! I've got to figure out a better system for my water leg. If you have any ideas, I am open to suggestions!

Pedicure Time!

The day I got to take my prosthetic home, I first went to therapy, but on the way home I stopped at the nail shop to get my toes painted. My prosthetic has never been in my house without the toe painted (except when I have to borrow a foot when mine is getting fixed). I have had polish on my toes since i was about 13 when my mom got me hooked on pedicures, it was an expensive mistake for her. The best part is that I get half price pedicures now! That's right I can go in and get my toes and nails done for the price of a pedicure! 

Last weekend I got a pedicure then made the mistake of getting in the pool and all the polish chipped off my "real" nails, so today I went in and got them repainted. 

"Oh Lord"

My senior year of college a friend and I went shopping for gifts for our secret sophomores; of course we ended up on the candy isle. What gift is complete without a chocolate bar? She had pointed to something she wanted from the top shelf. I'm pretty short. So is she. I went to reach for it and I think she stepped back and my prosthetic foot got caught up in the mix. I didn't realize anything was wrong until I was on the floor. In fact we were both on the floor laughing. We were close to the checkout lines and two older men looked our way and one had begun to walk over to try to help. When he got closer he noticed that my prosthetic had popped off and was lying in front of me. In a loud, shocked tone, he said, "Oh Lord!" Now I was in central Virginia so naturally the gentleman had a pretty good southern drawl and it sounded more like "Oh Lawd!" This didn't help our laughing situation. 

The gentleman offered to help me,but when I'm in that situation, it's kind of hard to explain to someone what they can do to help. What was I supposed to do, ask him to hold my leg while I get up? I declined his help. He went back over to his friend and they looked back our way and he told his friend, "She won't let you help her." It wasn't that I wouldn't let him help me, but it was more I didn't know how to tell him how he could help me. Some things are just easier done myself. I don't think I could ever let anyone put my leg on for me. In fact, I think the first time I ever put my prosthetic on, I put it on myself. It probably took 5 times, but nevertheless.

I have recently become better about letting people help me more. I don't fall much anymore since I have the C-leg, but if I drop something and someone offers to pick it up, sometimes I'll let them. I know I could get it myself, but I've learned that most people feel the need to help and sincerely want to.

Summer Fun!

In my opinion, summer fun = playing in the water! Last summer was really the first summer I had good summer fun! The first summer after my accident, I returned to New York to do my internship at Cornell (I was headed to this same internship when my accident happened the previous summer) and didn't really get in the water. The second summer I had just graduated Sweet Briar and was too busy looking for a job. The third summer, last summer, I finally got in the water quite a bit!

Some family friends invited my mom and I out to their lake house one Saturday. They had their jet ski and boat out. Now I love to ride jet skis, I have been driving jet skis since I was about 8. When I was little I could throw almost anyone off, so much so that most of my family will NOT get on a jet ski with me. I was curious if I still had it! Answer: Yes!

Over the first two years I had my prosthetic, I had to replace my socket (the piece that connects the knee and foot components to my residual limb or I like to call it my little leg, under no circumstance will I call it a stump) my foot and my knee at different times. So, my prosthetist piece milled a leg together using the extra components that I could use as my water leg.

The first time out, I was riding with Mr. Caroll(he was driving) after a few minutes he threw both of us off. I can't remember if I was shocked or scared but I reached down and said, "where's my leg?" We both looked up and my prosthetic is still on the jet ski! That was a relief. We probably would have had to get a dive team out to search for the prosthetic at the bottom of the lake. We both got back to the jet ski, I got on first, therefore, I would now be driving! We were laughing and said we can't do that again! Sure enough, we were both in the water not two minutes later! The leg was still on the jet ski...again! We decided I would go back to shore and take my leg off or strap it on with some sort of rope or something. There was no more riding the jet ski for my prosthetic, I definitely continued to ride!

Skydiving!!!

Last year some friends and I went to Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon, TX. Skydiving is something I always said I wanted to do, but never thought I would actually do it. One Friday my friend texted me and asked if I wanted to go. I said yes, but I had second thoughts. I was debating if I was going to tell my mom I was about to jump out of an airplane three years after she watched me fight for my life after the car accident. I knew I had to tell her. Much to my surprise she was ok with it, at least in front of me.

I texted the picture of me in front of the plane to my dad and sister just 30 minutes before I was scheduled to jump. My sisters response was, “I want to GO!” My dads response was, “Don't lose your leg.” Skydive Spaceland works with a lot of the wounded veterans, so they have particular staff members they paired me with. They had a strap the went around my waist and then down to my ankle of my prosthetic to keep me attached to my leg in the event the prosthetic did come off.

Needless to say, skydiving was the biggest thrill of my life. I was on an adrenaline rush for over a week! Once you get in the air, the plane is so loud that you want to get out. I was conveniently placed right in front of the door and as you can see in the video I pretty much rolled out! It was GREAT! Hope you enjoy the video and please excuse the goggles on my face at the end!

Keri Skydiving video

* Sometimes You Tube will not allow you to watch the video from a mobile device(cell phone/ipad) I think I    have fixed the mobile device issue.