Michael Beck, nothing about last four months has been easy

Art Molnar, a civilian prosthetist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, holds Michael Beck's immobilized right leg as he moves onto the exam table to be fitted for his first prosthetic leg. Cox News Service photo / Rick McKay

Beck braces for prosthetic leg
Rocky Mount Telegram - Rocky Mount,NC,USA
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By Mike Hixenbaugh


Rocky Mount Telegram
Sunday, August 17, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shooting pains keep him awake some nights.



The steel pins that have been drilled deep into bone to hold Michael Beck's war-damaged right leg together irritate his skin. Without proper care, the rod entry points become dry, red and full of pus, making the most simple of maneuvers agonizing for the 21-year-old Rocky Mount native.


Since arriving four months ago at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., with two shattered legs and countless other gashes and burns, those 20-or-so pins have been a constant nag; a glaring hitch in the continuing recovery process.



Not all pain is as apparent, though.



Sometimes Beck can feel what, he said, seem like bee stings on the bottom of his twisted right foot. Patients often report the stinging sensation when impaired nerve endings begin to repair themselves, doctors say. It's a part of the process.



Likewise, although many of the 100 shrapnel wounds and burns that cover Beck's body have healed significantly since the April 6 mortar explosion in Iraq, the occasional cracked scab and broken blister still are a heavy burden.



Nothing, though, is as physically painful or disorienting for Beck as the stabbing sensation that rings through his left foot some nights. The pain comes with little warning and no explanation. Beck feels his toes cramp. The bottom of his foot begins to burn, and he can't help but wince. The throbbing seems to begin at the surface of the skin and penetrates deep into his foot.



Morphine doesn't seem to quell the pain. Even at Walter Reed, there is no lotion, pill or shot to fully eliminate the hurt in Beck's left foot.



That's because surgeons amputated the appendage more than a month ago.



"It was weird at first, not seeing my leg there," said Beck, who asked doctors to remove what was left of his left foot above the ankle to allow for a more comfortable prosthetic. "But it didn't really faze me too much. I woke up and just rubbed the end of my leg and realized, 'this must be how all the other guys felt.' It was kind of hard to adjust."



Nothing about the last four months has been easy, though.



Mother's load


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