Cast Off Day!!!

8 Weeks..... 8 Weeks.... that was Caleb's (and our) entire summer.. From June 24 to August 20 he wore the "big purple cast".  He sat in the stroller and on the couch for countless hours watching television, reading books, and sleeping his summer away.  Since it was not really fair for the rest of us to be outdoors enjoying the pool or doing lots of activities we all pretty much stayed home and sucked up the air conditioning right along with Caleb.
Amazingly, the 8 weeks went rather fast.  He had some amazing positions that totally did not look comfy to any of us at all....

But I guess when you don't have a choice you make due.  Caleb was a true trooper and I would never ever ever!!! wish this on any child, but if it had to be one of my kiddo's Caleb was the one that would just go with the flow more than the others.

Today we got his SPICA cast removed.  It was not a pleasant experience for an Autistic child with Down Syndrome and Sensory Processing Disorder to endure, but once the sawing was all done and the cast was removed he was actually quite exited that he could see his leg again.  He was anxious to get into the car and come home.  This was a photo I took in the car on the way home

Talk about dry scaly skin!!!!  He kept itching it the whole way home, but I think he was doing it just hard enough to remove some of the skin, he didn't make anything bleed or anything.  The GROSS GROSS thing and a recommendation I can now make to anyone traveling home with a child who just got off a very large cast in the summertime.  WARNING: Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT roll down the windows to let air into the car.  You will have dry skin floating all over the car, including in your hair, around your face, and out the windows.. EWWWWWW!!!

We got him home and to celebrate we had his favorite dinner of Pizza and then he got into the tub for the first time in 2 months and sat and soaked and splashed in a Mr. Bubble Bubble bath for more than an hour..

I must say, I am SHOCKED and surprised that they did not recommend physical therapy for Caleb.  We were told that the healing is going to take several months and they said that sometimes physical therapists can be hard on the patients to get them back up to par quicker and she did not see any reason to make this child suffer more than he already has.  She said the his fracture site is not tender or sore, however, his joints and muscles are stiff and sore.  We are to give him tylenol for the next several days for pain and she said that if he's motivated to move around ( he is!!!!) then he will figure this out much like he figured out how to get around in his cast like he did.  Makes sense to me.  We will go back in 6 to 8 weeks for a follow up, if at that time he is still not walking to his full capabilities then we will discuss further therapies.  WoW, go Caleb..  I am excited to see how things come along in the following weeks.  I will say that we have been home a whole two hours at the time of this blog and he is not moving his leg hardly at all, its still straight out and in the same position it was in the cast.  At one point, I think he got brave and tried to bear weight on his knees and fell to the ground crying.. just like an animal has instincts on how to heal, so is true of my boy Caleb.  We shall see how he progresses and I will share it all with you.

We plan on hitting the pools next week, the last week of summer before school!!!!