Surprise Casting

Last night at the pool Abby had her Drycast bag covering her arm again. It has been great at keeping the water out. That is until last night.

About 3-4 tablespoons of pool water was floating in the tip of her bag and we realized the seal around her arm wasn't as tight as it once was. Last night I called the answering service for the orthopedist but decided it was not urgent and could wait until morning.

This morning I left a message and when I they called me back they asked us to be in the office within 15 minutes. So we rushed over, they cut off her hot-pink-full-arm cast, took several x-ray pictures and Dr. Posta decided to go ahead and give her a new short arm cast. She chose purple this time since Alexis already had purple.

It's amazing to me how puny her left bicep is compared to her right bicep after only 15 days! So now we have the short arm cast for 3 weeks, at least. September 1st we'll find out what comes next.

In the meantime I'm hoping she can figure out how to buckle and dress on her own again. Washing her hair will still be a challenge! :) Abby, Stephen, Sydney, Brody and I are all grateful for any added mobility she gains. This has made me even more grateful for the helper Abby is to our family. I am so proud to be her Mama!

Abby's Cast

I misunderstood Dr. Posta last week.  He had no intention of taking her cast off today.  Abby's x-ray today showed the angulation (where the bone was sticking out) has almost disappeared.  There was what he called a butterfly fracture - that part didn't look any different.  Dr. Posta said that will fuse back together, it will just take some time.

So now we go back in 2 more weeks for another x-ray and if everything looks good, he'll remove the full arm cast and replace it with a smaller one (below the elbow).  We're excited about that, hoping she'll gain some independence again (dressing herself, opening packages, buckling, erasing, etc.)

In the meantime, Abby has plenty of time for ALL her friends to sign her cast.  Yay!

Broken Arm

We had our first broken bone experience today. Abby fell at the playground. She really did a good job fracturing her arm! Thankfully she is 7 and will only be in a full arm cast for a week. (An adult would have needed surgery for this type of fracture.) And she was such a trooper. She barely cried and had to endure hours of sitting in doctor's offices with no lunch.

She reminded me you could purchase a cast from the American Girl catalog. She wondered if we "should" get one for Alexis so they could match. Since they are $26 we tried to come up with an alternative. She asked the orthopedist if he could make a little cast for her doll. :) We settled for some colored athletic wrap at Target. But the doctor did throw in some cotton wrap to make it official.