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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Gerri has her First Casting!!

We discovered last week during the power outage that there was something wrong with our generator. When Dan called the company that makes them we found out that they went bankrupt 6 months BEFORE we bought it 2 years ago!! Dan found a local company that would look at it to fix it and the cost was 75% of what we paid for it. So Dan went to Home Dep*t to talk to them and look at new generators. I thought we could wait but he couldn't. But before he left the store he talked to the store manager and was told that if he brought in the receipt they would give us FULL credit for the purchase price! I pulled out my box of records and found it!!! So here are the boys with their new toy!
And wouldn't you know this am we lost power and Dan had to put it to good use for 2 hours!!
Of course I heard "told you"!

The girls discovered that my fridge magnets stick to the washer, dryer and freezer :)

Early this am hugging Gerri goodbye before we head off to the ortho clinic

Saying goodbye to her "sideways feet"

One last picture at the clinic before we start.
The techs all commented on how happy she was. One told me that this is the only patient she has ever had come in for casting happy in all 3 years she has worked there!
The Doc was SO happy to see how much range of motion she has gained

We had a quick couple of xrays on her hip to be sure it is fully heeled before casting
The doc confirmed that the hip surgery she had in UA to put her hip back in the socket is why the left leg is so much shorter than the right. We will deal with it later.

Here she is showing Heather her Dora movie while Doc holds her foot in place and the tech starts the plaster

Waiting for the plaster to dry

Oh man is that PINK!!!!

Mama look!!!!!

Leg #2

Holding it in place while the fiberglass molds and hardens

So Proud of her pink casts!!
The way the clubfoot serial casting works is that the bottom of the cast is real plaster. It hardens and hold the foot better than fiberglass. Every 10 to 14 days we will go in and get the casts taken off and new ones put on. Each time her feet will be stretched to new positions. The doc thinks we will be doing 8-10 casts in total.

On the way home she asked if the other kids would be happy with her pink casts. I told her they would be SO happy and probably a bit jealous :)
She then asked how can I pee?
(I told her I would help her once home but that we would figure it out :))

Figuring out how to play Frogg*r
She has a pair of Dan's socks on her casts so she won't ding up the floors and can slide over them easier.

Tired of sitting up so she rolled over onto her tummy and thought it was funny her feet were in the air

We went out to the trampoline to burn off some energy.
At first she was afraid to let anyone near her

They found a bug so everyone had to stop and look :)

Ok, I guess I can bounce after all!!
It is tiring carrying all that weight around!
I put her on a towel for a bit and pulled her around inside the house and she loved it!
She was all worried about getting clean and changed and I told her with a straight face that she has to wear the same clothes till she gets her casts off in 2 weeks.
All 3 of them completely bought it :)
evil mom :) :) hee hee
So I put her on the kitchen island on a towel and washed her down and helped her put her pj's on. 
The other kids are fascinated by the whole thing.

Needless to say she was very tired at bed time.

5 comments:

Tami said...

What a great attitude she has! Wish I could say the same...

Glenna said...

Hi Nancy! I haven't been to your blog for a while. How exciting that Gerri has started the casting process! You and Dan are awesome parents. And sharing this experience is doubly amazing given how full your plates are! I loved the generator story too! Hugs to all of you! Glenna

Sally-Girl! said...

Yes, we used soccer socks or men's tube socks on Bryson all the time. You will find a new normal for doing things that we normally take for granted, but it will get easier. I remember feeling so overwhelmed the first week Bryson was casted and then it became old hat and weird not to have casts on. I guess that's why he broke his leg for us so quickly so we could be reminded!!!

She is darling and getting more so with each picture you post!!!

Mel said...

It is so hard to believe that this is the same little girls from just a few months ago! Congrats on starting the casting process!! :)

Anonymous said...

Well, that's a great attitude for sure! No doubt she's my heroe! I love how her siblings hug her and said goodbye to her feet. And I totally LOVE her pink casts