Ergo Elbow

Bionic Woman- Part 5 (I Got It!)

Friday was the day. I got my new arm! August 17, 2012, will go down in history, the history of my life, anyway.

At first glance, I was both pleased and a bit disappointed with the appearance of my arm. The forearm cable had been buried in the lamination and looked beautifully smooth under the cosmetic glove. Only a small section of the cable was visible, the part where the cable came out of the forearm, crossed the wrist, and entered the hand. The disappointing thing was the big bump it created at the wrist. I asked my prosthetist Brian, “Can you notch out a place for the cable in the wrist so it won’t just lie on top of it?” He was able to do so and the bump disappeared.

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Bionic Woman- Part 4 (Final Tweaks)

I’m glad you’ve hung in there with me through this long and tedious process! Here’s the July update…

On July 6th I drove the eighty miles to BioTech for a mid-morning appointment. I was amazed to see the transformation of my new arm in only fifteen days! (You’ll need to compare the “Bionic Woman- Part 3” picture to the one below for any of this to make sense.)

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Bionic Woman- Part 3 (The Skeleton)

I am one step closer to getting my new prosthetic arm. On Thursday, June 21st, I went for a “test socket fitting” at BioTech. Using the cast made of my existing upper arm during the April visit, they had created a transparent socket for me to try on at this visit. It was attached to my new Ergo Elbow and prosthetic hand, both purchased from the German manufacturer Otto Bock. The arm was fully operational with cables and harness. It was the skeleton of my new prosthesis, without all of the outside cosmetic features.

“Today you need to determine if you like how the arm feels and works,” my prosthetist Brian explained. “We can make any needed adjustments easily at this point.”

I was a bit anxious, knowing the importance of this step in the process.

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