Women Are Talking About Their Amputations With #MyPhantomPain
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“Phantom pain doesn’t have one narrative.”
This is model and blogger Cax Mee. After being diagnosed with bone and lung cancer at 14, Mee beat the odds with experimental drugs and a leg amputation.
Since then, she's traveled to five continents, amassed nearly 80,000 Instagram followers, and appeared on BuzzFeed and Refinery29, among others.
@mamacaxx / Via instagram.com
But Mee still gets phantom pain — pain in limbs no longer existing after being amputated — and was recently inspired to learn about others' experiences with it, too. That's why she created #MyPhantomPain.
@mamacaxx / Via instagram.com
"Phantom pain doesn't have one narrative," Mee told BuzzFeed, "so I gathered stories from several amputees I follow on Instagram, amputated under different circumstances, and coming from diverse walks of life."
"I wanted other amputees to see that we all experience phantom pain/sensation in different ways, and use different methods to alleviate the pain."
@mamacaxx / Via instagram.com
Responses came from Instagrammers including @amputeen, whose "phantom" experiences are sometimes painful, but not always...
"When I first experienced a phantom sensation, it wasn’t necessarily pain," she told Mee, but noted she's since experienced everything from intense itching sensations to excruciating burning. She said she treats the sensations with baths, massages to the "red balloon" she feels around her amputated foot, and cannabis.
@amputeen