My New Leg

I called my physician’s office again, for the third week in a row, to try to schedule an appointment. I tried explaining it would be a brief visit; all they need to do is diagnose my amputation and prescribe a prosthesis. The man on the phone has no idea what I’m talking about and tries to book me with Vascular Medicine, who passes me back. I got cranky and tried to point out that health insurance doesn’t actually do much good if I can’t even see a doctor. I’m paying hundreds of dollars a month for this? I hate to think what would happen if I were actually ill…

I called my physician’s office again to see if they have any openings in their schedule for new patients, particularly one who has been paying out of pocket for health insurance and needs a new leg. Didn’t work, still no appointments available for new patients.

The first step to getting a prosthesis is getting a prescription from a physician, so I called her office today. This has always puzzled me because it hardly requires a medical degree to diagnose that I’m missing a foot and to determine that an artificial limb would be an appropriate course of treatment. Personally, I’d rather save their years of medical training and expertise for when I have cancer and not waste their time with a no-brainer like this. But such is our health care system. (The prosthetics field has not always been as scrupulous or self-regulating as it is now, and I suspect the need for a prescription has its historical origins in a need by the VA to regulate prosthetists’ billing practices. I should look into this.)

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Okay, the photo is a cheap shot. Yes, my footshell is clearly worn out, but that’s not why I need a new leg. That’s purely a cosmetic problem, and one I’m too lazy to fix. My current foot is a model called the Renegade, which is manufactured by a company called Freedom Innovations. It’s a great foot, but the footshells are poorly designed and the toes break off after a couple months. I went into my prosthetics shop and ordered replacement footshells a couple times, but then gave up. I’m just too busy to be dealing with this on a regular basis. But I would like to be able to take my shoes off in public without looking raggedy. I’ve been an amputee long enough that it doesn’t occur to me there’s anything weird about walking around barefoot with a prosthesis. But I do want it to look sharp, not broken down. It’s one of those small things that matter.

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