In the Amp it up magazine this month, on pages 18-20, is a GREAT article about amputees connecting and how important it is. This article was written by my dear friend Neal! You will notice the pic of all of us in Cali surfing! I, of course, am the no legged one! lol
I agree with Neal completely. Connecting together via phone, email, chat, Facebook, twitter, events, cruises, or conferences is the most important part to keep our sanity as amputees! Knowing we are NOT alone is so important! I also think that listening to others stories, and telling our own is more therapeutic for amputees than ANY counseling will ever do!
Unless the counselor is a amputee, a counselor will NEVER understand, or be able to help a amputee completely wrap their minds around and come to terms with loosing a limb. An amputee has to re-starting their lives over, literally. They have to learn how to walk, run, write, move, and just get use to a new body all over again. Not only do they have to re-learn these things but they have to get use to people staring and glaring that we get from being "different," or as I like to say "UNIQUE and AWESOME!"
So where does a amputee get that urge, or motivation to move on, deal with, and cope with their new lives without a limb....through other amputees! There is NOTHING more therapeutic then knowing you are not alone, hearing others that have either been there and done that, are far off worse than you, AND telling your own story! Telling your own story wraps your mind around everything that has happened to you. Yes after awhile, like for me almost 18 years, telling your story can get OLD, but is and will always be beneficial telling it. Telling your story lets you, well honestly, rationalize what happened to your limb and WHY it is gone (regardless of the reason why it is gone!). This of course doesnt make it all better! I never said it would make things "all better." I just said it helps!
In my story, everything was a fight till the choice was no longer mine. Then a decision was made for me, the first time. The second time everything was my choice. I struggle and get mad at the loss of my left leg. I have my "why me" days and yes it is the left twin that gets the blunt of that anger. Why you ask...well it was taken from me without a choice! The right twin I never get mad at (unless she gets mad me first with blisters LOL), because I choose myself for her to go. It was MY choice, and no one else got a say in it! But all of this is made better when I hear from, see, talk to, chat, get a card/letter in the mail from, Facebook or twitter with a amp friend! I know I am not alone and well they have been there and had those days!
Even my friends that are parents of amputee children, make me feel better knowing that I am not only struggling as a parent in life, but they are struggling with a child that has a limb difference. I remember those days as a teen becoming a amputee, and realize things are a LOT easier now!
Just knowing I have a support system with not only my family, but a whole world of friends that have literally walked in my shoes makes everyday a lot easier. Having that line of communication for questions, a shoulder to lean on, or just that common struggle in day to day life as a amputee is so comforting. I encourage all amputees to turn to Facebook, twitter, amputee activities, or attend a conference to make these bonds with other amputees to have that connection. Once that bond is form with a amputee, make sure to keep in contact for not only yourself but also the other amputee!

Motherhood...not like it is on TV

TV paints this magical picture of motherhood. You are laughing with your perfect children. All smiles and lovingly joy when they are sick. FUN FUN FUN! THEY LIED! Yes there are those times of joy and enjoyment. Dont get me wrong I wouldn't trade my children for ANYTHING in the world! Let me give you the last 24 hours of life with a 14 yr old daughter and 9 year old son that I had last week.
We woke up Sunday to go to church. Had a wonderful service came home and ate lunch. Austin and I started working on his homework his teachers gave us since he was going to be absent due to having two teeth pulled on Monday. Then we left to go pick up our daughter from her ex-stepmother, she spent the night with her little sister there.
After picking up the hormonal bundle of joy, she gave us the silent treatment till we got home. Where her and Austin were told to do their chores so we could have family night. Brock and myself helped them with chores while dealing with dinner. Then the REAL fun kicked in. Lauren yelled, bossed, and snapped at Austin for the next 30 min about doing chores, how he was doing them, how he wasn't doing them, and I think at one point about how he was breathing. After letting them "work it out" themselves Brock intervened with groundings. This lead to Lauren not going to youth groups due to the fact she wasn't done with her chores. The tears started streaming, the attitude that was already on high alert got worse, the door slamming started, and then we get told "I am not a good Christian because I don't go to youth groups". This is when our reply comes back with as much attitude as we had been receiving. "WHATEVER!" It was a Code Red Teen Girl Meltdown (or also known as CRTGM)! After the storm calmed, they showered and we all sat down to play a game together. Then everyone was off to bed.

I didnt post the real pictures,
because honestly I already lived through it

1:30 A.M. I was awoken to the sound of a panicked child trying to yell "MMMMOOOOOOMMMMMMYYYY I PUKED!!!!" I have two different kind of pukers in this house. There is the calm and predicted puker. You know the type, "I have to puke....." then calmly walks to the toilet to vomit. Then there is the projectile vomiter that gives no warning, "I have to p....." YAKS EVERYWHERE! That scene from the Exorcist does zero justice to a projectile vomiter.
 I laid in bed praying that I really didnt hear one of my children say they had vomited, and also praying it was our son and not our daughter the projectile vomiter. Then the bellowing came again, "MMMMOOOOO (gagging, coughing and yakking)OOOMMMMMMYYYYYY I (gagging, coughing and yakking) AM PUKING!!!" followed by some more coughing and gagging. This is when Isat straight up and was wide awake putting my legs on as fast as I could to go assess the collateral damage. I open our bedroom door and BAM the smell hit me!  The worse is going through my mind. I am thinking that the bedding has to be cleaned, the floors are going to have to be cleaned, and the bathroom....oh the bathroom....I wondered if that could just be a loss and claim it on our homeowners insurance. I walked into her room and saw nothing, not even her. I yell "Where are you?", worried she had moved to another room in the house to make this reenactment of the Exorcist. She yells back "I am in here." Oh the bathroom is going to be a TOTAL loss!
As I leave her bedroom to go to her aid I assess everything. Nothing on her bed or bedroom floor. I turn and walk down the hallway...nothing. I open the bathroom door and see my sick little girl curled up with the toilet, hanging onto it as if was going to cure the vomiting she was dealing with. To my surprise, the bathroom had no vomit anywhere.
In my daughters 14 years of life this is the first time that I was not for hours afterwards cleaning everything from her projectile vomiting. I felt so relieved. We get her cleaned up and back in bed. She gets up and down for the next several hours, and alerted me every time. Which lead to me taking my legs on and off at least 20 times that night. We both finally get some sleep.
The next day came TO EARLY for me! I kept our daughter home from school, obviously, while I took our son for his fun teeth extraction. An hour before his appointment, I had to give him a prescription the dentist gave us of muscle relaxers. I had informed him that it would make him feel "FUNNY." Honestly how do you explain to a 9 year old how muscle relaxers make you feel?
WE arrive at the dentist and our son is starting to talk nonsense. The hygienist looks at me and makes a declaration "He is ready!" She then proceeds to inform me they were going to give him gas too to help relax him. Oh GREAT, gas, muscle relaxer, and a sick kid...this day is becoming a dream come true!  
30 minutes pass, and they return what was once our son but now a wet noodle. As I talk to the Dentist, he informs me that the baby teeth were deeper and had a lot longer roots than the x-ray had shown and that they also had to give him numbing shot in the gums of both teeth. WONDERFUL! My son now has a muscle relaxer, gas and numbing medicines in his system. This answer the question of why my son is a wet noodle now. They said the holes left by the teeth are quite a bit larger than usual and he is not allowed to drink from a straw for a week. I think they forgot he was 9 YEARS OLD! I take my wet noodle home, check in on my projectile vomiter, and start the mommy spoiling process.
They was spent running to and from the store to get medications, soft and light foods to make for dinner, and picking up school work. By the time my husband got home I was DONE!
So in all of this, where was the smiles, and light laughter? There wasn't any! Why because again Tv LIED!