Last Adventures Update
This weekend, I realized it's been a while since I've really updated the blog on Joe since taking a break. Obviously, this past spring was really hard for us. What was supposed to be an easy surgery and recovery, turned into almost twice as long as expected. Both physically and emotionally, it hit Joe and I much more than we ever anticipated.
But this past weekend definitely proved why Joe got the amputation in the first place.
We spent Saturday with Joey's family on their boat. Joey went wakeboarding for the first time since the amputation. And he totally killed it.
It was almost unreal. It was like the amputation never happened. He just popped right up on the wakes and boarded like it was no problem. I can't even begin to tell you the happiness my heart felt at that moment. It made everything we had been through completely worth it because he was back to doing the things that he loved that by the time he had the amputation he could no longer do because of how much pain he was in.
This week, we are heading up to northern Virginia to meet with Joe's prosthetist to get his new carbon fiber socket to fit his 'new' stump shape. Now that the surgery is over, all is healed and the swelling is gone, the stump has taken a bit of a new shape; rather than an hour glass shape, it's a cone shape (which is what's supposed to happen). His old socket is tailored to the hour glass shape, so right now when Joe walks the pressure and weight he puts on his stump isn't quite as well distributed as it should be.
We are so excited to go get his new socket because this mean he will be able to continue adding to the list of all the things he CAN do, especially running again on his blade.
The best part about all of this is that Joe's nerve pain is gone. The surgery, while tough, was definitely successful. While sometimes he can still have some discomfort (mostly now due to a not-so-great fitting socket), there's so much hope for the future and what he can do. Before the surgery, it was just a future of pain. There was no answer. There was no cure. Now, the outlook is so much brighter. He is no longer limited in what he can do. And it's such an amazing thing to see.
When Joe was asked this weekend if the surgery was worth it, it was like music to my ears to hear him say yes.
Check out this video of Joe wakeboarding (and obviously the awesome photos below)! He truly is amazing.
