When Kathy got to the lab a video camera technician was there. She was taken to the therapy room and given a bathing suit. She dressed in it and spent several hours walking, sitting, climbing, and even trying to jog. As she performed for the camera she was slightly embarrassed by being so exposed but this had to be done. When the session was over she and Joyce returned to the lab for the day.

Several days later she went to Dr. Western. “I want to have permission to attach my legs. What do we have to do?”

“Fred has to burn the chips.”

“That’s done.”

“I increased the length of the tubes yesterday so you can go about twenty five feet from the infusion device. That should be enough to try. You’ll leave the metal knees on your stumps. Disconnect the prosthesis and attach your legs. Do everything sitting down. When you get ready to try to walk, call me.”

“Yes sir,” Kathy responded.

By the way, you two are to get George up on his peg leg tomorrow morning.” She and Joyce headed for the lab.

When she got to the room Joyce put her in the wheelchair, put the strap around her waist, and buckled it behind her back where she couldn’t reach the buckle. “Doc says you don’t get out of the chair so I make sure you don’t get out.” She put the leg supports in the “up” position to make the legs more accessible. She unbolted the lower legs and put them on a table. They looked funny lying there. There was an eerie feeling, not having them on. It was a feeling of helplessness. Five minutes ago she could have gotten off the chair and walked anywhere she wanted. Now, she was confined to this chair. The thought brought back memories of that horrible day when she woke up without legs

“Just a minute,” she said. She wheeled over to the table, picked up the artificial legs and looked at them. “Kind of pretty, aren’t they?”

“I never thought about it that way. I guess they would be to you.”

“They sure are.”

“Let’s get on with this. Maybe you can get your own legs back soon.”

“Good.” She placed the artificial legs on the table and wheeled over to the infusion machine.

Joyce unbolted and unhooked the knee joints and slid the computers over the metal rods that came out of the femurs and then replaced the knee joints. The battery pack for each computer was slid over the lower rod from the knees. She carefully unbolted Kathy’s left leg from the support and extended the blood supply tubing to allow her to move the leg to the support on the wheel chair. She slipped it into the socket below the artificial knee joint and tightened the bolts. She then did the same thing with the right leg.