Navigating Upper Extremity Amputation

We’re mere days from 2026, and my mind is whirling with reflections on 2025 and hopes and plans for the new year. What have I accomplished this year? What do I want next year to look like?

In many ways, I’m already beginning 2026 in defeat. In February, I likely need to have a follow-up surgery on my right hand after a relatively unsuccessful surgery in October. While I pictured starting the new year with a new, better-fitting prosthetic socket, instead, my myoelectric hand has been out for repair since Thanksgiving.

So, while my hopes for 2026 include being able to bend my middle finger after flipping off the world for the past 18 months, traveling with friends and family, and continuing to renovate my new (old) home with my husband, I’m also mentally bracing for the unglamorous realities of my third round of OT in the last two years and trying not to fight my body as it begs to slow down and heal.

I can’t do it all

Recovery isn’t linear. At first, every step forward was immediately followed by two steps back. Now, if I’m lucky, I can maybe take three steps forward before taking two steps back, which is essentially one step forward, but with 5 times the energy expenditure.

And I’m learning to be okay with that.

As someone who has always found their value in productivity (good grades, work promotions, having a clean, well-ordered home), I’m learning to accept that things take more time and energy for me now. I need to prioritise.

I can’t work for 8 hours, cook dinner, clean, play with my cats, exercise, spend time with friends, attend doctor’s appointments, learn new skills, and have time for my hobbies every day. So, how can I set more manageable goals for myself and choose the things that will provide the greatest good for myself and those I love?

Choosing the best over the good

Most of the things that I want to do and accomplish are inherently good things. Exercising daily is a good, healthy choice, but it is also not realistic for me right now.

There are some days when I get home from work, and my body is yelling at me to move, and other days when I could go straight to sleep at 5. Pushing myself to exercise when my body is already exhausted is not the best choice, even though, under normal circumstances, it would be a “good” choice.

I know that in this season of life, my priorities need to be my health and my relationships. (Usually in that order.) The rest I can let go of.

I am also learning to recognise that prioritising my health can look different on different days. Sometimes rest is the healthiest choice, and sometimes I need to do something for my mental health, like going out with friends, even when I’m physically tired.

Reflecting on progress

Part of why I’m able to hold this perspective now is because of the slow, gradual, gruelling healing process I’ve experienced. On the one-year anniversary of my accident, I wrote the following in a blank Word doc:

“Last year, when I got home from the hospital, my right hand had two pinned fingers and was wrapped in bandages. I couldn’t:

• Dress myself
• Put on shoes
• Feed myself
• Use the bathroom independently 
• Shower
• Style my hair
• Hold a book
• Hold my phone to talk or text 
• Type on a computer 
• Carry anything 
• Go to work
• Drive a car
• Go grocery shopping 
• Cook a meal
• Open a jar
• Do a workout 
• Fold clothes

But now I can. 

My middle finger still doesn’t bend, and I’ll need another surgery in October. I still can’t:

• Put my hair up
• Play an instrument
• Make a fist

But I will.

I may never again:

• Tie my shoes
• Braid my hair

And that’s okay. Tying shoes is a waste of time.”

At my first OT appointment, my therapist told me to track the dates during my recovery when I completed a new task for the first time. That felt unattainable at the time, but one year out, I felt I needed to acknowledge how much I had grown and healed since that first day home.

Maybe I haven’t accomplished everything I wanted to in the last couple of years, but I have accomplished enough. I’m here and healing.

Small Goals for 2026

I’m not setting big New Year’s resolutions this year. You won’t catch me dead with a new diet or exercise plan, but I am going to set small, hopeful goals to remind me of where I’ve been and where I’m going.

In 2026, I’m going to:

• Enjoy 2 of my dear friends’ weddings
• Play an instrument badly
• Recover from surgery
• Practice mindfulness
• Go camping
• Take my first marketing class (after working in marketing for 5 years)

See you next year!