Day 1 of Casting
Kara got her casts today! We have been really chill about this whole process - taking it one day at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves. My anxiety has been non existent, and Kara has had a great attitude too. Even when she has 30 minutes of PT exercises to do every morning AND every night. I am so proud of her.
Today we started the 4-7 week process of casting (the length gets longer and longer every time I talk to someone). First we picked up Grandma to come with us. Today would be the day we sit back there with Kara and get all the information and ask all the questions. Since my mom is so involved in our lives and helps take care of Kara, she needs to know everything too. My mom showed up with a casting present for Kara - Pinky Pie!
You see, we decided to treat this as a big milestone and we were proud of Kara for it. She has worked so hard the last 2 months with her PT and made good progress so she is ready for this.
We met the two ladies who will be doing Kara's casting each week, and I am so happy to see they are WONDERFUL, just like everyone else I've met in that company. (Btw, they totally got the prescription from the doctor, without me needed to do anything.)
They spent about an hour getting to know where she is now so they can predict where they want her to be when we're done. Today they videoed her walking, recorded every measurement, and this is officially her BEFORE (even though two months ago before we started PT was the real before).
Then they started applying the casts. They held her foot stretched for a good 20 minutes before they started - I'm thinking it was so they could see what the muscle could do. First they put loads of vaseline typed cream on to keep her skin soft and moisturized. Then they put a long sock on that was like tights with no foot - they measured and cut it to fit her. Then the used thick stickers that are all padding for where her bones would rub against the cast. Then they wrapped the "cloud" around it for extra padding.
Once all of that is on, it's time to wrap it in the fiber-glass cast. It looks like and ace wrap they dip in water, then a chemical reaction makes it sticky, then it dries hard. Super cool (and why it can never never never never never get wet).
Kara ended up needing 3 layers of the fiber glass wrap, even though they thought it might only need 2.
Then they used their metal clip board to flatten the bottom so it would be ready to walk on and so it could keep her muscle as stretched as possible, without hurting.
Before the last layer of fiber glass wrap, they cut these blue pads into the right shape to be like high heels for Kara. Right now she needed two layers - I can't wait to see where we go from here!
Then that last layer went on.
They put lots of filling around her toes so that the toes wouldn't be squished and stuck squished in the cast. When they took the toe padding off, it tickled Kara! Look at her giggle!
The second one seemed to go faster.
Kara was super bored and didn't really care what they were doing. They told us to feel free to bring whatever she wanted so she wouldn't have to be bored. They were so happy to be working with an older kid who didn't squirm or complain at all. So, we got her tablet out and she did that for a while.
An hour later they were done and Kara's casts were hard enough. That is amazing stuff.
Okay, let's learn to walk in these things.
Then Kara came back around that corner not holding on....
...and was walking normally immediately. Wow, kids adapt to new things so easily.
OF COURSE it was raining cats and dogs today, so we worked hard to keep our brand new casts dry, which was a pain. Honestly, we probably won't go anywhere on rainy days any more!
Kara thinks her casts are FABULOUS. I attribute it to us telling her how fabulous they are, and her young age where she really isn't self conscious yet.
Then we dropped my mom off at home and headed over to my friend Stephanie's house for her casting party!
They had giant cards made for her, cupcakes, plates, balloons, the works. Then they all signed her cast and Kara was LOVING IT! She was walking around their house like normal and didn't seem to care she had casts on. They played and played, just like normal.
Then I started noticing Kara seemed tired. I figure it was a big day, those casts are heavy, and her muscles are constantly stretching, so she would need to go to bed early.
I am so proud of her!
Michael is skeptical, knowing she will get bored with them soon and get annoyed quickly. To that I say he is probably right, and I'm glad to know they will be gone for good 7 weeks from now, maximum.
Basically, they check her results each week and once the results aren't so extreme and level off, we know the casting has done all it can.
(The lady said we may need to cast again in her life if she has another growth spurt like this one she had earlier this year. The new me kept the anxiety low and decided to just cross that bridge when we get to it.)
Today we started the 4-7 week process of casting (the length gets longer and longer every time I talk to someone). First we picked up Grandma to come with us. Today would be the day we sit back there with Kara and get all the information and ask all the questions. Since my mom is so involved in our lives and helps take care of Kara, she needs to know everything too. My mom showed up with a casting present for Kara - Pinky Pie!
You see, we decided to treat this as a big milestone and we were proud of Kara for it. She has worked so hard the last 2 months with her PT and made good progress so she is ready for this.
We met the two ladies who will be doing Kara's casting each week, and I am so happy to see they are WONDERFUL, just like everyone else I've met in that company. (Btw, they totally got the prescription from the doctor, without me needed to do anything.)
They spent about an hour getting to know where she is now so they can predict where they want her to be when we're done. Today they videoed her walking, recorded every measurement, and this is officially her BEFORE (even though two months ago before we started PT was the real before).
Then they started applying the casts. They held her foot stretched for a good 20 minutes before they started - I'm thinking it was so they could see what the muscle could do. First they put loads of vaseline typed cream on to keep her skin soft and moisturized. Then they put a long sock on that was like tights with no foot - they measured and cut it to fit her. Then the used thick stickers that are all padding for where her bones would rub against the cast. Then they wrapped the "cloud" around it for extra padding.
 |
| You can see the stocking is on, the padded stickers are on, and they are wrapping the cloud layer. |
Kara ended up needing 3 layers of the fiber glass wrap, even though they thought it might only need 2.
 |
| I'm glad the lady doesn't read this because it's not a flattering expression! Sorry, Deb! |
Before the last layer of fiber glass wrap, they cut these blue pads into the right shape to be like high heels for Kara. Right now she needed two layers - I can't wait to see where we go from here!
Then that last layer went on.
They put lots of filling around her toes so that the toes wouldn't be squished and stuck squished in the cast. When they took the toe padding off, it tickled Kara! Look at her giggle!
 |
| Stop! It tickles so much! Pinky Pie was keeping an eye on those ticklers. |
The second one seemed to go faster.
Kara was super bored and didn't really care what they were doing. They told us to feel free to bring whatever she wanted so she wouldn't have to be bored. They were so happy to be working with an older kid who didn't squirm or complain at all. So, we got her tablet out and she did that for a while.
An hour later they were done and Kara's casts were hard enough. That is amazing stuff.
 |
| Whoa, these are heavy! |
 |
| These ladies were cracking jokes the whole time. |
 |
| Now you can draw - it's a write of passage. 3 pictures in, they told her to do the rest at home since our time was up. :-) |
Okay, let's learn to walk in these things.
Then Kara came back around that corner not holding on....
...and was walking normally immediately. Wow, kids adapt to new things so easily.
OF COURSE it was raining cats and dogs today, so we worked hard to keep our brand new casts dry, which was a pain. Honestly, we probably won't go anywhere on rainy days any more!
Kara thinks her casts are FABULOUS. I attribute it to us telling her how fabulous they are, and her young age where she really isn't self conscious yet.
 |
| This is what I posted on Facebook I put big socks on top of her casts to help keep them dry. |
They had giant cards made for her, cupcakes, plates, balloons, the works. Then they all signed her cast and Kara was LOVING IT! She was walking around their house like normal and didn't seem to care she had casts on. They played and played, just like normal.
Then I started noticing Kara seemed tired. I figure it was a big day, those casts are heavy, and her muscles are constantly stretching, so she would need to go to bed early.
I am so proud of her!
Michael is skeptical, knowing she will get bored with them soon and get annoyed quickly. To that I say he is probably right, and I'm glad to know they will be gone for good 7 weeks from now, maximum.
Basically, they check her results each week and once the results aren't so extreme and level off, we know the casting has done all it can.
(The lady said we may need to cast again in her life if she has another growth spurt like this one she had earlier this year. The new me kept the anxiety low and decided to just cross that bridge when we get to it.)
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