Hi Jen,

Well..welcome to the club :) . I'm also a RBKA, for almost a year now. I'll be honest, fortunately, I haven't really experienced phantom pain...or much pain in general with my amputation. But I wanted to post and not leave you hanging.

First, every amputee's experience is different. So when you do get advice understand that you may have to do some trial and error to see what works for you.

Second, I have found that there is a large gap medically speaking (ie doctors), with residual limbs (your leg after it heals from the amputation) and how they interact with prosthetics. So you have to be your best advocate. Asking questions and making sure you understand what is going on.

So... obviously I can't tell you how much pain your in or what maybe caused by the amputation and what might be phantom pain, could be one or the other or some of both. If you havent already tell the surgeon about the pain. And don't let him/her play it off get some answers and some pain relief. They do have medicines for phantom pain...but this is one of those things that, what works for one person doesn't work for you so you may have to try a couple things. Phantom pain is cause by a variety of things and each has it's own treatment. I'm attaching a link on phantom pain to give you some basic information https://www.amputee-coalition.org/limb-loss-resource-center/resources-for-pain-management/managing-phantom-pain/

Probably the two things that will help most, is time....it usually get less over time...and you are probably just about ready for a shrinker (helps to reduce the swelling to get you ready for a prosthetic) in a couple.

Hope this helps, if I can be of any more help let me know.

Allen

That last sentence should be ...."in a couple weeks"

Hi Jen, I'm also a new amputee. It was cut above the knee on my right side on April 10th. Boy, do I get Phanton pain! Occasionally when I transition for a seat or chair to whatever, I get nerve pain that races down my right leg and lingers for about 5 minutes. Overall, the pain is much less that when I was dealing with my 6 previous knee surgeries. I'm 50, and wanted to learn to walk and drive again now instead of doing it when I was 60, 70, or more. I immediately set up with home health care and was able to have my wife as my caregiver. I also would like to know what lies ahead and what to expect.

Hi thank for all of your input ! I get the same nerve pain when I am moving to a different seat. It seems like putting pressure underneath my right thigh sends nerve pain all the way down my leg ! I am working with my drs to see what helps but now I may have developed a slight infection I am healing slowly and have bad scans they haven’t been able to remove my staples yet so it sucks ha

Yeah the infection will slow things down for sure, so if you havent get to the doctor and get some antibiotics, pronto. The infection will keep the incision from closing, because the body will keep it open to allow the infection to drain.