Idaho Company, Kootenai Prosthetic Orthotic Service Inc. provides limbs for amputees

A few forgotten sticks of dynamite changed Harold Saunders’ life forever. For more than a decade the right-handed heavy equipment operator has struggled to recover from the loss of his right arm.

By RICK THOMAS
Staff writer Coeur d’Alene Press

On Nov. 16, 1992, while operating a trackhoe on a pipeline project near Boise, Saunders made contact with that forgotten dynamite, buried just below the surface but deep enough to create the containment necessary to create a powerful blast.

It blew.

"Six pounds of TNT is a pretty good hit," said Saunders. "It threw me 20 feet in the air and 100 feet away."

The explosion damaged his right arm and eye and several vertebrae. He also suffered nerve damage in his right hip area, and the right side of his face lost most of its feeling.

Doctors spent a year trying to save the shredded arm, but infection eventually set in and it had to be amputated.

A succession of prosthetic devices replaced the arm from the shoulder down, but none worked well.

"They were the arms from hell," said the 43-year-old Newport, Wash., man. "They were never a good fit."

After being fitted with two arms from Minnesota, another from Seattle, Saunders finally found Bob Miller at Kootenai Prosthetic Orthotic Service Inc.

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Kootenai Prosthetic Orthotic Service Inc

(208)765-3080

950 W Ironwood Dr

Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814

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On Thursday, after a four-month wait, he tried on arm number four.

"As soon as he slipped it on, I knew it was right," said Saunders.

It took a while to get to that moment of joy.

Saunders suffered through 13 surgeries before ending up at Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle for the final process, "to make the stump work right," he said.

That was one of three things he said are critical for those who have gone through similar trauma — surgery, physical therapy and finding a good prosthesis.

The last two he found at North Idaho Physical Therapy, where it was suggested he see Miller.

Along the way, Saunders met a disabled veteran with an artistically done prosthesis, and when he had his new one done he was able to personalize it as well.

"What Harold is wearing is made of carbon braid and epoxy resin," said Miller. "It has a very high strength-to-weight ratio."

It also has a unique pattern, a wolf fabric chosen by Saunders and bonded to the replacement arm by Miller.

"These prostheses become part of their lives," said Miller. "They want to put their own signature on them."

With his full head of long hair and bushy beard — ever try shaving with the wrong hand? — seeing a tattoo on Saunders would surprise few, but the wrist-to-shoulder pattern on his new arm is striking and unique.

But what’s most important is how it works and feels.

"I was never able to use the others for driving," said Saunders. "I couldn’t even sit down with them."

He was so comfortable when he left Miller’s office he left the new one on when he drove away.

"It almost felt like a real arm," he said.

The heavy weight of his last prosthesis — about double the new one’s three pounds — meant Saunders could only leave it on for a couple of hours.

"It pulled down on the socket," he said. "It created a lot of trouble."

The new one he left on for the rest of the day, about seven hours.

Saunders isn’t alone in his praise for Miller’s work.

Bob Benson, a Hayden veteran who lost his left leg from the knee down, also had his share of trouble from prior prostheses. Fitting problems and sores plagued him until he began getting them from Kootenai Prosthetic.

"I use them real hard," said Benson, a carpenter. "I’m on my feet 12 to 15 hours a day. I beat them up."

He praises Miller for keeping abreast of new technology in the field. That’s helpful, since the wear and tear he gives them means they need replacing about every three years.

"He is an ace," said Benson. "I cannot tell you how good that doctor is. His quality is top notch."

Miller said Saunders’ unit is a "silicon suspension pin suction" type, which is what makes it so much more comfortable than the other types.

Seeing a patient smile with satisfaction makes his a rewarding profession. That’s especially true for someone like Saunders, whom Miller called "a gentle spirit."

"It’s nice to be able to allow somebody to do more," he said. "It makes it a good day."

Saunders joyfully demonstrated the versatility and mobility of his new arm. With a flick of his shoulder, he can bend it, rotate through about 180 degrees whichever of the several hooks is attached at the wrist and perform other movements that he couldn’t do with his previous units.

His first order of business is ice fishing, an activity he loves but was unable to do with the limited range of movement of the other units.

That and learning how to use his muscles to take full advantage of his new arm will take some time, but he’s eager to get on with it, feeling almost as though he’s regained at least some of what he lost 11 years ago.

It’s given him a new sense of optimism

Pointing to his left arm, then raising the prosthesis, Saunders said, "If something happened to this arm I could get by with this one."

He’s sure that new "tattoo" will get people’s attention, too.

"Maybe I’ll get a new nickname," he said, smiling through his thick beard. "Wolfman or something."

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