Initial In-Person Assessment

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I last posted I know. I'm been keeping myself busy the last couple months, enjoying my Summer holidays and quietly working on the next step in my journey.

After countless emails to the prosthetic company I was ready to go for my first assessment, in person, where I would know by the end of it whether or not I was going to be able to proceed with this particular prosthetic.

So, bright and early Monday morning I arrived at the Clinic, where I was greeted by a very friendly member of the team who gathered information regarding my previous use of prosthetics and what I wanted out of this potential one (predominantly to improve my daily life, the little things such as tying my hair myself, chopping and cutting food, carrying and holding objects, computer shortcuts etc). After the general details were slowly sifted through I was finally shown a demonstration model of the arm. It was explained in great detail, and with much excitement I was handed it to play with. I've never seen anything quite like it, although it had the glove on it, instead of the lifelike glove, the sheer aesthetic is intriguing to say the least. As for the weight, I was pleasantly surprised by how light it was, all things considered...
Much to my disappointment I handed it back and we began the lengthy process of the trying to find my muscle signals that I will need to operate the hand. The back one came with ease, as this is the muscle I used for years to operate my old prosthetics. However, I've never required a second muscle for functionality before. Annoyingly, my back one was so strong that it kept interfering with the front, but after much poking and prodding with signal sensors (many strained facial expressions may I add that were apparently rather amusing) and failing to light up the impulse box, I eventually found the shy muscle and after repeating the action for roughly half an hour I was hooked up to a hand.
It was the most incredible experience! I'm obviously used to operating prosthetics before, but it only had one movement - open and close the hand. This one however, is the bees knees of functionality. I managed to get fairly good at opening and closing, adjusting open and close percentages and at the end of it (even if I do say so myself) I was feeling rather smug and proud of my poor, tired little arm muscles.

After all this excitement and muscle exercise I was given exercises to do by the physical therapist in preparation for the prosthetic (if I do decide to go ahead with it).

It's now up to me to decide if it is worth the investment or should I wait until something else comes along. I'm not going to rush, I'll take my time and I've been talking it over with friends and family.
At this precise moment in time I'm leaning towards yes, and I'm unbelievably excited, however, I mustn't rush this and make it for the wrong reasons. It will be a tough one that's for sure!