It took about three weeks to fabricate and redesign the CYBI functional forearm prosthesis.
When he got his hand, he was overjoyed, exuberant! Matvey liked it right away. By the way, he was able to complete the prosthetist's tasks on the spot. And the fact that everything worked out for Matvey somehow appeals to him.
Now he is actively makes use of the prosthesis, thanks to the prosthetist for that - they made a comfortable socket, which suited Matvey just fine. I can see that Matvey is comfortable and nothing is chafing against his skin. From now on my son excels in running. He used to clamp his left hand and it started to become an issue, come to think of it, he's a lively boy.
Matvey's father
Matvey realized that he could ride a scooter, hold on to the handlebars, even if he couldn't feel it. While doing that, his back is straight.
Since we have a complicated case with a residual limb, the prosthesis grip is not quite strong yet, we don't let our son take fragile objects for a while. It's just a phase, the key point is to wear more and improve your skills all the time.
Now he enjoys putting on the CYBI arm, happily wearing it. People around him react to this in a positive way. You can see the children wondering, asking to touch and look, sometimes even bombarding him with questions.
The challenge is to accept yourself
Matvey almost never parted with his prosthesis out at sea this summer: he wore it to the beach, took a swim in the sea, and even played with children. His parents praise him for his accomplishments and keep him motivated to use his prosthesis. They also work together with their son toward his acceptance of himself.
We always talk to him like an adult, we've got nothing to hide from him. It helps him grasp that there are some unrecoverable things that he was born with and it can't be any other way.
We talk to him all the time about this [amputated arm] calmly. I tell him that he is not limited in capacity, what's more important is that the head and the brains are where they are supposed to be. After all, you can produce an arm, while you can't produce a brain. I don't really know how much it calms him down, but all in all I see that for him so young he's self-sufficient, being at peace with himself.
We always tell him that he was born that way, that it's just in the nature of things: your hand got amputated, but as for us we still love and stay with you. He just happened to spot a story about children with different syndromes being abandoned. Later on he kept asking us whether we were going to leave him, or why we didn't abandon him straight away, and these were such complicate adult-like questions. And when I answered all his questions, his self-acceptance soared. He understands that even though he is such a person, at least he is in the family, he is beloved. He is no different from the others in terms of maturation. I mean, maybe he's a bit slower to get dressed, but he's not inferior to anyone in anything on the sports grounds.
