What the Duck #70
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Tuesday, October 24
Sunday, October 8
Losing a hand
by
Francis Vachon
on Sun 08 Oct 2006 01:07 PM EDT
In a recent issue, Times reporeter Michael Weisskopf recall his struggle to learn how to use his new prosthesis after his right hand exploded when he tried to pick a grenade that landed into a military humvee, saving at the same time the life of photojournalist James Nachtwey.
The whole story is very touching – and sometime very funny.  Despite weeks of training on a computer, I had difficulty with the basic functions: my stronger outer forearm muscle kept flexing and involuntarily opening the hand--even when I was trying to close it. I had no more success with the mechanism to rotate the wrist. The simultaneous contraction of both muscles was unnatural and hard to remember in real time. When I did it right, I couldn't keep the hand from spinning 360˚, an annoying loss of control--and embarrassing in public.(…) Even putting on a tie remained a challenge, one fraught with danger. Rushing to a TV appearance a few weeks earlier, I tried to knot one in the backseat of a taxi. I gripped the short end with my prosthetic hand, which began to spin uncontrollably, almost strangling me before I managed to extricate myself. |
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