When I didn't have my lower legs, I felt like the world's smallest man, even though I wasn't, but people still stared.  They ALWAYS stared.  

I lost my lower legs in a gas explosion.  I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  BOOM!! It happened that quick.  One minute, I was walking, the next minute, blinding pain, then merciful blackness.  When I woke up, I was startled to find myself in a hospital room, nurses and doctors bending over me, concern written all over their faces.

I learned I'd been gravely injured in a gasoline explosion.  I was burned, but the worst part of all was the fact that I had my lower legs blown clean off my body.  I now had no feet.  My legs ended just above where my ankles would have been.

The news was traumatic.  

Once I got over the initial shock, I resolved to get better.  I spent a total of five/six weeks in the hospital, recovering from my injuries/burns; I then was moved to a rehabilitation facility, where I would then start arduous physical and occupational therapy, not to mention, mental counseling.  It was a very bad time for me.

When I got out of the hospital for good over six months later (that includes the rehab joint), I was walking on a pair of kid-sized crutches strapped to my arms, but I mainly used my wheelchair.  The pain of the ground pressing against my stumps sent slamming pain into my brain, and I would fight like he-- to try to keep from passing out.  I'd also rub them raw and they would start to bleed, so I had to keep them wrapped up in layers of thick bandages.  Even that didn't work because I would still bleed, and I would run the risk of getting a nasty infection.

Well, yesterday, I got my new "feet", and they fit perfectly.  I now can stand like any other human being and not have people staring at me or having curious kids (or nosy adults) asking me about "what happened to my legs/feet".  Or seeing them stare at my little crutches or my wheelchair.  That was probably the worst feeling about the whole thing.  I felt like I had lost a part of me (which I did), and I felt inadequate as a person.

I had tried to go back to my job, but the boss let me go.  He said it was because of "downsizing", but I personally think it was because he had a problem with my disability.  I am currently looking for a new job, but to no avail; nobody wants to hire the handicapped, it seems.  It is extremely frustrating.  I also have since applied for SSI, but haven't heard anything as of yet.  Hopefully this will come to pass because I have bills I have to pay!  And my unemployment isn't going to last forever!

Thank God my family has been helping me out, as has my church.  If it were not for them, I'd be a homeless bum by now!

Maybe now that I have my new "legs/feet", I can get back into the grind of looking for gainful employment once I get used to them.  It's worth a shot; anything's better than sitting at home, bored out of my skull!  Just say some prayers for me and pray that people learn to accept the "new me"!  I would greatly appreciate it!  Thanks in advance for the prayers!

~Corwin Moe Gireauldt, Port Arthur, Texas.  

(To be continued.)