Last Wednesday Bashy had his little green cast removed. It was kind of a pain to get an appointment set up (apparently casts are only removed on Wednesdays?!?) and I couldn't take him, so JZ had the honor. I have to say that I was secretly thrilled to not have this job. I had heard that the cast-remover-saw is super scary. And since Ash is terrified of the vacuum, I was anticipating the worst.
But, in true Ashy form, he took it like a (tiny) man and never even cried! JZ was a rock star and took the picture above with one hand while he held Ashy's hand with the other. JZ reports that Ash was super psyched to get to play with the toes on his right foot again!
We were anticipating that this was the end of our Castasaurus Rex. Wrong! After the cast was removed he had another x-ray done to check on the progress. They said he was healing really well, but just to be on the safe side (again!) they wanted to either put him in a tiny walking boot or a small cast. We were hoping that they would be able to find a small enough boot for him because that seemed like a better option to us - we were envisioning baths and lotion on his poor little scaly leg. We were so happy when they found one for him! Actually, I became happy. Again, we were thinking this was all over, and I wasn't prepared to see JZ pull Asher out of the car with a boot on his leg. I was thinking I was going to be able to smooch his toes again! So, I'm ashamed to admit that I cried. Just for a minute, but I cried more than he did (again!)
That evening was awful. Ashy was so cranky and just cried and cried. We knew he was tired (the 5 min. nap he took on the way home just didn't cut it), but we also knew he was having trouble with the boot. He crawled out of it once, it was big and bulky, and it seemed to be uncomfortable. We had to really cinch the boot down to be able to get it secured and that made it worse. The only thing that made him happy was a bath. After a horrible night where he was up numerous times, and still was a crank box in the morning, I called Children's Hospital and begged them to take the boot off and put on another cast. The first cast didn't seem to bother him and the boot was just more trouble than it was worth. It didn't fit well and it was too complicated to take off frequently, so baths and lotion didn't appear to be in his near future anyway. Children's graciously fit us in that morning.
Here he is just before we left. Doesn't he look thrilled with the boot?
Seriously, walking boots are made for walking, not crawling. And look how bulky it is! These gray pants were the only ones I could fit over it!
At Children's Asher was a rock star (of course!). He laid nicely on the table and the cast tech was able to get a well formed (blue!) cast on him. This one is below his knee and his foot is at a 90 degree angle, so he can stand really well.
After the boot came off, we were able to see why he was so upset that night. After we cinched down the straps of the boot to keep him from crawling out, part of the Velcro on the top stuck out and was rubbing him. This is what his scab looks like 4 DAYS after the boot was removed.
So now our old Bashy is back. He's pulling up on EVERYTHING which is why they wanted to recast him - he's weight bearing now! He's happy, sweet, smiling, and sleeping again. He has to wear this teeny tiny blue cast for another two weeks and then (fingers-crossed) he'll be all done.
You're a super champ, Castasaurus Rex!
