Jason helped Chris and I with attaching the fabric pieces called "sails" to the above knee prosthetic sockets. We were so thankful he did this, because it is so tedious. He had to make holes in the cloth for screws and attach them to the laminated socket.
Jason using the torch to heat a point to burn holes in the cloth.
Chris is working on Luckson's cast for his new socket.
The first patient who came for fitting was Osia. I'm showing her how to put on the liner while Esther translates.
Practicing walking with the prosthesis.
We also went outside for her to practice walking. She was doing well with her arm crutches but didn't feel comfortable enough to go with the crutches yet. I'm sure she'll be walking without them soon though.
Here's some of John's dental work.
I'm not really sure what the process is for John's dental work and prosthetic eyes, but some portion has to be cooked. The pot on the left is John's and the pot on the right is dinner that Esther was cooking. :)
Grinding the carbon socket. I have an intense dislike for doing this part, because the carbon dust makes you so itchy. I tried to cover as much skin as possible to prevent the itchiness...as a result it looks a bit like a hazmat environment.
I'm not sure what this lady's actual name is. Chris saw her last trip to fit her with an above knee prosthesis, and referred to her as "big mama". You can see in this picture that she's not big...she has apparently lost a lot of weight since last time. When we asked about her weight loss, she said that times have been hard in her village. So, we're not sure if that's food shortage or sickness or what.
She hasn't been wearing the prosthesis much due to discomfort at the bottom of her leg when wearing it. We fit her with a different style liner which helped it fit more comfortably.
I'm not sure how to spell his name but this is how it sounds...H-jomp-way. This is the guy who had brought his prosthesis to New Day months before we got there because it was broken. Very broken...one of the metal bars on the prosthetic knee had snapped in half. It broke while he was playing soccer. :)
The socket portion was fitting comfortably so he got a new cloth "sail" piece on the socket, a new knee and a higher activity foot. He can get back to playing soccer now.
After we did a few alignment adjustments, he walked right out the door and hopped on his bike to ride back home.
This is Melvin. He lost his left leg above the knee from trauma. Some thieves stole things from his home and started a fire, which burned his leg. He came for a prosthesis when he heard we were there...though I'm not sure how he heard about us. He was casted on Friday and told to come back on Sunday afternoon for fitting.
Here is little Luckson's finished prosthesis. Chris knew he would need a bigger prosthesis and foot, so this foot was especially bought for him.
*Next post is Day 11: Prosthetic fittings and trip to Luckson's village
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