Now you see it…

Now you don’t!!

I know I was supposed to post this yesterday. Sorry, everyone. Once we got Tad home and into the bathtub, the Webmaster needed to check in at work and I lost access to the computer for the afternoon. Then we had a parent open house at Ane’s preschool (she starts next Wednesday!) in the evening. So I know these are late, but they are worth the wait.

It took a good 15-20 minutes to simply cut the cast enough to pry it off him. The tech who came in with the little saw cutter was so incredibly frustrated that she finally got the surgeon to come and finish it (her attitude being “You put him in this cast, YOU get him out of it without cutting him!” He did). There was a full inch of fiberglass around Tad’s hips. It was insane.

When the tech finally cracked the top half off, Tad began to panic a little. I’m not sure what he was thinking, but I’m sure that after six weeks in that cast, he felt unsettled and his legs no longer felt or worked like he remembered. He began to cry after the whole thing was removed. We comforted him, got his onesie back on him, snapped the picture, and whisked him home and into the bathtub.

The stuff that came off him in the tub was gross. And I don’t remember his leg being quite so furry before. It’s like he’s started growing man hair in the cast. What happened to my baby boy???

After his bath, I rubbed his legs with lotion (which his skin sucked up) and then went to pick Ane up from Grandma’s house. She was thrilled to see him out of the cast, but is having a hard time understanding why he can’t stand or walk anymore.

He did start standing on it tenatively, but his hips are tender after being locked up for so long. His right knee is fine, because it wasn’t casted, but his left knee is giving him trouble. He can flatten it out okay, but if it gets bent past where it was casted, he cries in pain. Poor kid. He won’t walk without help, and he was rolling around or sitting on the trike and pushing around Fred Flintstone-style to get himself around at Grandma’s house last night.

We spent a lot of time at Grandma and Gichan’s house yesterday. Ane spent the morning there, and then both kids were there in the evening while the Webmaster and I did the school thing.

According to the orthopedic surgeon, Tad will not need rehab. Kids this age bounce back quickly, although they do expect him to limp for a few months. We are going back to the orthopedic clinic in November for a range of motion check. If we have major concerns then, they may recommend rehab at that point. But they say that he should be walking normally in a few months, and his legs will be the same length again in a year.

Right now, I just want to get him ready for school. His new teacher is making a home visit on Monday, which should be interesting. She already knows about his broken leg. I’d better remember to tell her that sitting “criss-cross-applesauce” style is out of the question for him right now. He starts school in ten days. I hope we have him somewhat mobile by then. But, if he does have to be carried, he weighs a LOT less now, with the cast off.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 1:28 am and is filed under Children.
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