A Step Ahead: Prosthetic Limbs, Artificial Legs, Feet, Arms, Hands

But you’ll feel pretty terrible if you leave your prosthesis in your car during the hot days of summer. Think about it – your prosthesis gets eagerly into the car with you, anticipating a day of activity and excitement. You arrive at your destination, but instead of taking your prosthesis with you to share in your exploits, you leave it behind. You don’t even crack a window for it. Or worse, you put it (GASP!) in the trunk! The extraordinarily high temperatures that build up in your car can result in loss of shape in the socket, problems with componentry, and melting of the glue that holds up silicone skin systems. In case you hadn’t guessed, those are all bad things. Don’t leave your prosthesis in your car! I haven’t even discussed the possibility of theft . . .

Feeling bad? You’ll feel even more terrible if you put your prosthesis into checked airline luggage. When the airline routes that bag to Egypt – the country – instead of Egypt Massachusetts, you may be completely out of luck. Faced with that scenario, having a prosthesis with a melted socket, overheated C-Leg, and sagging skin (see above paragraph) looks outright appealing! Whenever you fly, make sure your prosthesis is either attached to your body, or in your carry-on bag!

You’ll never feel like a terrible person if you follow these simple instructions.

2. Popstars

Well, they’re not exactly popstars, but they are famous. “Who?” you ask. “Avra Wing (AK), John Kach (bilateral BK, bilateral partial hand), and Sarah Reinertsen! (AK)” we answer.

Avra, who had the honor of being mentioned in last month’s newsletter, finds herself back in the news with the publication of a recent article (“The Biggest Obstacle”, June 20) in the New York Times Travel section. Avra steadfastedly denies having thought of that title after watching the epic Burt Reynolds football movie, “The Longest Yard”.

Meanwhile, John was featured in the July/August issue of Health Magazine. The article educates readers about meningococcal meningitis, which John contracted while in college. Fortunately (from this Red Sox fan’s perspective), the article contained no mention of John’s love for the New York Yankees, making it a readable and educational piece. (Had the Yankees been mentioned, the words used to describe it would have been “obnoxious” and “dull”.)

Finally, Sarah completed yet another three-headed torture event (yawn), this time the New York City Triathlon. She completed the 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, and 10 km run in 3:17:07. Upon completing her training for the upcoming Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, oddsmakers put the odds at 7-1 that Sarah may never again require petroleum-powered transportation of any kind, instead swimming, biking, and running to all of her worldwide destinations.

Perusing the Triathlon results, we also noted that David Duchovny participated. Sarah could neither confirm nor deny reports that everyone who finished ahead of her was teleported by aliens to the finish line.

3. Stay Away. . .

from A Step Ahead on August 2-3, and again from August 30-September 1. That’s because Erik Schaffer will not be here on those dates. However, as always, our crack technical staff will be available for any prosthetic emergencies during those times.

In addition, David McGill will be out of the office from August 4-6 as he travels to Nashville for the ACA Annual Meeting.

4. If It Were Up to Me . . .

all of you would have full prosthetics coverage and no insurance problems ever. But since we don’t live in Nirvana (or Canada), you sometimes do face insurance obstacles. Here’s this month’s insurance tidbit for your pleasure.

What happens when you have insurance coverage through your employer, you leave that job, opt onto COBRA, and now your COBRA benefits will be ending? The answer – if you don’t have another job – is you either (1) don’t get new insurance, creating a lapse in coverage, thereby ensuring that you’ll be forced to pay out of pocket for your prosthetic costs for at least 12 months (BAD!), or (2) you’ll find an individual policy to cover you (and if necessary, your family) (GOOD!).

How do you find out what individual health plans are available to you? A good starting point is through your state’s Insurance Department. Each state’s Insurance Department website either (1) lists those insurers offering individual plans in that state, or (2) provides contact information so that a booklet containing a list of insurers can be sent to you.

If this is a road you are traveling down, contact David McGill. In addition to assisting you in the preliminary stages of your research, he will provide you the list of “golden questions” that you MUST ask any prospective health insurer in order to verify that it offers quality prosthetic coverage. For those of you silly enough to want to learn about your state’s Insurance Department, visit www.naic.org (National Association of Insurance Commissioners), which includes a link to each individual state’s Department of Insurance.

5. I’m Shakin’

Shakin’ with excitement, that is, about the upcoming Amputee Coalition of America Annual Meeting, August 5-7 in Nashville. Want to learn about and see new prosthetic technologies? Go to the Annual Meeting. Want to attend countless educational symposia that will not only make you a better-informed consumer, but a more handsome/beautiful, intelligent, and successful person as well? Go to the Annual Meeting. Want to hear Theresa Sareo sing? Go to the Annual Meeting.

In fact, if you want to achieve anything in your life worth sharing with anyone at any point in the future, you better go to the Annual Meeting. There’s still plenty of time to book that flight, so visit https://www.expotrac.com/shows/amputee/reg1.asp to register for this year’s event. Those of you who don’t, live forever with the knowledge that your remaining years will be empty, meaningless, and ultimately unfulfilled. How’s that for a hard sell?

6. Simply Because

That’s the answer to the question: “Why should I go to the ASPIRE running clinic in July?” Oh, and because you gain access to an elite physical therapist/trainer. Oh, and because you get to meet new and exciting people of all ages who share something in common with you. Oh, and because maximizing your potential activity level allows you to live a life without limitations.

Remember to keep checking our website for this month’s date, which is still currently pending!