ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996 TAG: 9608020061
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
When Bobby Taylor moves his prosthetic limbs, the motor sounds like crows cawing in the distance.
He has seven sets of arms, 11 hands and a pair of hooks.
Seven years since the accident that resulted in the amputation of both arms - and more than $800,000 in medical expenses - the 32-year-old has mastered the usage of state-of-the-art myoelectric prostheses.
Right-handed before the accident, Bobby had to switch hand preferences because more of his right arm was amputated than the left, leaving fewer muscles behind to serve as nerve relays from his brain to the artificial limbs.
To turn his left wrist open, ``I snap my finger in my brain,'' he says, meaning he uses the same nerve sensations he would if his fingers were still there. To close it, he ``snaps'' it again.
To open his left hand, he contracts a specific muscle at the base of his stump. A small electrode picks up the myoelectricity being released via the contraction, multiplies it 250,000 times and sends it through the cable to the hand, which then opens.
His right arm, which doesn't have wrist function, operates on a single-electrode system.
``From a functional standpoint, he can do about anything he wants to. He's a good example for other amputees,'' says Douglas Call, president of Virginia Prosthetics in Roanoke. ``He's always been very positive.
``I remember one time he told me, `You know, this isn't all that bad. I know I've lost both my arms, but this is almost like having them back.'''
Call was astounded when Bobby went back to performing maintenance work for Botetourt County just three months after receiving prostheses.
``That kind of timing, for someone who loses both arms simultaneously, is extremely rare,'' Call says.
Bobby keeps an arsenal of both disposable and rechargeable batteries in his basement's recreation room. Because he's so active, he goes through more batteries than most amputees, up to six a day.
He uses a fabric ``sock'' to affix them to his stumps, performing the procedure in less than 10 seconds. He doesn't sleep in the prostheses, except on rare occasions when he falls asleep in front of the TV.
``I wake up really sore,'' he says. ``It's like if you slept in your shoes.''
Initially embarrassed to be seen in public, Bobby wore long-sleeved shirts - even in summer - to hide the prostheses.
He remembers how embarrassed he was the night he met his wife, Julie, through a co-worker, five years ago. ``All my good equipment was in the shop, and I had on my greifers,'' which operate as pliers instead of hands. ``I felt like a robot.''
Julie Taylor recalls him ordering sub sandwiches - take-out - for their first date. ``When I first met him, he wouldn't go out to a restaurant, he was too conscious of the stares,'' she says.
Now, the stares bother her more. Says Bobby: ``You get a lot of attention. You go into the store, you are the store.
``But we're all human, we all do it,'' he says. ``I see someone in a wheelchair, I look to see what's wrong with him.''
And while he's never gotten used to being stared at, he doesn't mind talking about his artificial arms.
``He enjoys telling his story,`` Julie says. ``He gets really, really wrapped up in his arms.''
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN STAFF Bobby Taylor has acquired a lot ofby CNBspare parts and replacements for his prosthetic arms and hands.
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