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Amputation - what do you have to piece back together?

Rehabilitation has stages almost everyone goes through, but there is no single timetable. The rest does not even have stages: work, paperwork, family, everyday life, all of it has to be put back together, each at its own pace and without a ready plan.

A woman with a below-elbow prosthesis sitting at a table deep in thought, a light bulb in her thought bubble

Educational content: this section describes personal experience and general practical knowledge. It does not replace advice from a doctor, a lawyer or an adviser at PFRON - the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons - on your individual case.

Where to start

There is no single right order, but there is one that saves the most nerves. I start with what usually hurts first.

Phantom pain

A leg that is not there hurts. It is not in your head, it is not imagination, and it happens to most of us. Start here, because until you understand this, the rest can wait.

Rehabilitation

The stages are similar for most people, the time they take is not. In my case it ran into years, because the amputation did not come alone. I describe what really decides that.

Paperwork, step by step

Disability certificate, prescription, NFZ funding, PFRON, choosing a clinic. Some of these have deadlines you cannot make up later, so do not leave them for another time.

This section is also growing texts on the mind and emotions, residual limb and prosthesis care, going back to work, relationships and parenthood, and travelling with a prosthesis.

Articles from this section

Every text in this section, newest first.

Come across a term you don't know?

Look it up in the glossary in Resources - one place with every definition from across the site.

Open the glossary

Prefer watching to reading?

In „Życie po amputacji" (Life After Amputation) I talk to people who have been through it - emotions, staying active, getting back to everyday life.

Watch the series on YouTube

Looking for support from other amputees?

That's a separate section of the portal: webinars, mentoring and conversations with people who have already been through it.

Go to Community