Week 2 – Cast

We got the first full week of casting under our belt and Elliott rocked it from beginning to end! Moving into week two and he got to change up the color of the cast, and guess what he chose???

In the words of Elliott,

“OOOOOO!”

This week, he sprung for orange. I was a little more sure he was going to stick to this cast choice because he picked out an orange shirt when we were getting dressed in the morning so it would match his cast.

Similar to the past casting appointment, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in regards to the removal process. When we got into the office there was a big sign that detailed what to expect. I read it out loud to Elliott and it described a vibrating machine used to cut through the material. Just about that time we heard a VERY loud noise in the room next door. This must be the big vibrating machine they refer to.

Elliott looked at me and covered his ears and I got a little panicky. How in the heck was he going to respond to this machine, up against his leg, even if it wasn’t going to be painful? This thing sounded intimidating!

All I could do was reassure him & tell him how much I wished that I could get something cut off my body. Ha! Parents really will say anything, won’t they?

Pretty soon, the removal tech came into the room and wheeled in what looked like a huge vacuum with a saw attached to the end of a hose. He was great with Elliott and let him touch it and explained in great detail what was going to happen. He told us that the saw just vibrated and didn’t actually rotate. Elliott would feel heat and it would probably tickle, but there would be no pain.

He showed him exactly where he was going to cut the cast, turned on the machine and got to work. Wouldn’t you know, when he started to saw off the cast, Elliott started to LAUGH.

No joke, he was giggling the whole time. This kid slays me. Once again, I stressed for absolutely no reason.

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The removal process took about three minutes and shortly after the tech left, the doctor came to check his flexibility.

He was very happy with his progress.

The current plan was to re-cast this week, come back next week to get fitted for the AFO brace at a place called the Hangar Clinic, and then have two additional weeks to wear the third, and final, cast while the brace gets made.

After stretching his foot, the doctor looked at me, got out his phone and called over to the Hangar Clinic to ask for a favor….

Hangar made time for Elliott to get fit for his brace right then and there, and just like that, the doctor shaved off a week of casting…

The new plan now, is for the orange cast to stay on for two weeks while the AFO brace gets made. When we go back in two weeks, we will get the cast officially removed and put the AFO brace on–which will be worn full time.

The total appointment time took a little over an hour between the removal, fitting for the AFO brace and recasting– plus he got to pick out the design of his brace! Surprises await for what he picked 🙂

Similarly to the last time, when Elliott was all done, he marched his way right out of the office showing off his cool orange cast to anyone who looked his way.

I decided that we were going to have a mom and son date so I took him to Mueller Park, which is right by the doctors office. We had a brownie bigger than his face, followed by some park time, followed by chasing and counting ducks on the pond, from my shoulders.

Quality time is one of Elliott’s love languages and it was just what both of us needed.

Today, I ended the day feeling very grateful. Grateful that we only need the cast for 3 total weeks. Grateful at how well he is continuing to adapt to the cast. Grateful for his team of doctors and physical therapists, and most grateful for our little family unit.

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