Anastasiya Prikhodkina
Recovery after an accident
Amputation above the knee
On May 14th, 2021, my husband and I decided to go for a little fun, for the first time on vacation in the last 6 years, and even with my husband. On this day, no trouble at all could foreshadow it. We woke up early in the morning, had breakfast, packed up and left. Approaching the interchange on Tavrida, a strong wind blew and I hid behind my husband's back, when we drove a little, I saw that repair works were underway, but I did not see any signs, we were not driving in a line of cars, but next to it and then from the turn there was a car. At that moment, I realized that a collision could not be avoided, and then it was like a terrible dream. I remember how I was spinning on the asphalt and my head was spinning in different directions, then I blacked out.
When I regained consciousness, I was lying on my back, and my husband was lying next to me, and I realized that something bad had happened. My husband was in a very hysterical state, constantly saying that it wasn't happening to us, we were sleeping, we were going to say goodbye, that how much he loved me, that I would never forgive him. I was lying and looking at the sky, it was so blue and I thought only that an ambulance would arrive soon and they would assemble me in parts and everything would be fine, at that moment I no longer felt my legs.
I was kept in a sleeping state for 3 days, I just felt like they were changing the IV. On the fourth day I was in my clear mind and then I was able to see everything. The first fear, I started to move my head, shoulders, fingers and sighed that everything will be fine. On the 5th day I was transferred from the intensive care unit to the ward. After another 2 weeks I was discharged. And my new life has begun. According to the results of the accident, my right leg was amputated above the knee, the divergence of the pubic symphysis, a fracture of the arm.
Well, the 2nd month of summer has been very productive for me all the time. Every morning I did exercises, it certainly looked very funny, but it made me feel much better. I started trying to move my fingers, my arm is broken, my hand has a pin in it, and even in a splint, but every day I had to do a dressing, and at this moment I tried to squeeze my fingers. I also started trying to lie down half-sitting, and every day I trained, and I felt better and better. When I got a little stronger, I decided to sit on the edge of the bed, lower my good leg, and oh, horror, I didn't feel it. However, every day I began to sit down and strain my muscles, and over the past month I even learned to stand in a bent position.
It's September, now everything is exciting and amazing to rediscover myself. I can say that walking on crutches is not as easy as I thought, you need to think about every step, slowly, uncertainly, but it can be scary, of course, the armpit is rubbing, the knee is buckling, I want to step off the missing leg, and now I have a new record, I walked 100 meters on crutches.
I've been on crutches for a month now. After amputation, literally everything needs to be learned from scratch: to stand, to keep balance, to go to the shower, everything that every person does without any thinking every day. Now my day begins cheerfully and brightly - breakfast in bed, then wrapping my legs and bandaging the stump, physical exercises for all muscle groups.
I can't say that I'm a strong person. Previously, I often complained about my life, there were always a lot of problems, nothing was ever easy for me, but I could not even imagine that I would be left without a leg and that lying on the bed for 2 months without getting up is very hard. But I did not lose heart, but went to the intended goal – to get back on my feet and walk.
For almost 4 months I have been searching for a prosthetic company. "Prostheses should rub", "You need to get calluses so that you can walk normally" according to the words of many people who faced amputation, you hear these phrases from doctors and even from prosthetists, which is even more upsetting and amputees. I was told that you want a prosthetic, it’s a foreign body, get used to it, and after all these stories, I was looking for such a prosthetics that wouldn't hurt, where there were no calluses, and I was ready to go to the edge of the world, because deep down I was sure that everything they say couldn't be true.
I was lucky to find a good clinic, which Alexey Pervomaisky told me about, with whom I corresponded for a very long time. I kept asking him questions about where and how he was able to get himself a microprocessor-controlled process. I am very grateful to him that he was able to convince me and dispel all my fears.
And here I am in Dolgoprudny. A small private prosthetics center, I was lucky that I found such as SPTM-ortho M, this team will not only put you on your feet, but also tell you and show you will let you feel different feet and knees, and later allow you to walk on them and choose the optimal configuration for yourself. I was told how the prosthesis should sit, where it should press, and where it should not.
On October 15, 5 months after the accident, I got on a prosthesis and became a cyborg.
We have been waiting for this moment, my first steps, for so long. While these are not yet confident steps, but this day is very national for me, my heart is pounding hard, a storm of excitement and filling emotions. So I want to say thank you to everyone for the strong and strong support, for this incredible feeling of walking again. But walking on a prosthesis, as a proper requirement for myself, I have to walk and walk beautifully. I like it that I can, but it's really not an easy task at all. I used to think that I would make a prosthesis, and that would be it, you stand up and go. But in fact, you need to train a lot, get used to many factors, work out the technique and let the brain know that this is a part of me. It is necessary to learn to trust the iron leg, and at first the brain does not want to understand at all how the prosthesis should move. Well, the biggest fear is to focus on the leg and hold on to it. The prosthesis turned out to be quite heavy, about 6 kilograms, but this is an external source, and it will help me to acquire a beautiful confident gait.
Today, looking back, I wonder what a long way I have overcome in a short time. Sometimes it happens that we don't notice how much we do. What new skills we acquire and what valuable things are happening in our lives. So, over the last year I became a cyborg, became a motivational blogger, changed my job and a city of residence, constantly visited the gym, for the first time in my life I’ve tried windsurfing, drove a kart and many more things. But I consider the main achievement to be obtaining a diploma of a rehabilitologist, and now I share my knowledge and help people. I like what I do, I inspire people. I have a new environment, there are people with whom we are on the same wave, new colleagues and of course friends. I am growing, learning and I like it.
