I'm learning a whole new vocabulary, a secret lexicon known only to amputees and prosthetists. A few weeks ago I didn't know my AK (above knee) from my BK (below knee), a symes (an amputation at the ankle or through the foot) from a neuroma (the end of a nerve left after amputation.) Now I'm becoming fluent in amp-speak.

I learnt today that I'm a BK or "trans-tibial" amputee and, like a new washing machine, I come with my own instruction manual. It seems that more than 50% of amputations are below the knee. I'm as common as muck.

Discuss Northern Iraq -- and Beyond