Elsa's New Legwear

So today was our follow-up visit at Children's Orthopaedics of Atlanta. After two days in a splint, three weeks and two days in a cast, two different homeopathic pellets three times a day, some frustration (but a really good attitude overall), and a lot of dragging her leg behind her, I was hoping for the best but not really expecting the best for our dear little Elsa. It turns out that all of that hoping paid off. Elsa no longer has her "ah-pul leg," and did not have to go into a shorter walking cast!

Our doctor's visit was amazingly short today -- we were in and out in about 15 minutes, which really surprised me. We went back into a room, and just a few short minutes later a guy came in with the big machine used to saw off casts. He warned both of us that it was going to be loud, and I tried to prepare Elsa by telling her it was going to sound somewhat like the vacuum cleaner. Well, loud it was -- and very loud at that. I was helping hold her down as the tears started streaming right from the start. And then when he turned on the saw, it got even louder, to the point that I looked down at Elsa and her mouth was just gaping wide in a full-out scream, yet I could not hear a sound. I was honestly scared for a moment that he was cutting into her leg, but when I did not see blood start streaming out, I figured everything was okay. Poor little thing, though -- she was terrified. He cut it down both sides and it fell apart in two halves.

He set out a towel and a washcloth by the sink and told me I could go ahead and give her leg a washing, but before I could even start, the x-ray technician was in the room telling us it was time for the x-ray. So off we went, and Elsa was once again frightened by being laid on the table with the big x-ray machine overhead. I held her leg in place and sang the ABCs to her, which seemed to help hold back some of her tears. And she was given stickers after the two x-rays were taken, which helped tremendously in putting her back in good spirits.

We then went back into the exam room and I began washing her leg. Just moments into the washing, the physician's assistant we were there to see was in the room and told us that the x-rays looked great -- that her tibia was healing fabulously. So as I washed, I asked if Elsa was going to need another cast, and the doctor said she did not believe so, and that if they had a boot that was small enough, she would just need to wear that (the Velcro fabric-type boot with tread on the bottom) for one to two weeks. Hoorah! That was music to my ears.

So then moments later another woman was in the room with the boot, and fitted it to Elsa's foot/leg and showed me how all of the Velcro straps were to go in place. She only has to wear the boot when using her leg, which means she can go to bed without it on and can now take real, true, soaking bubble baths. This makes Elsa and her parents very happy, as the child does not like sponge baths (or minibaths, as we like to call them).

We are to go back for one more visit in five weeks just to make sure everything is looking okay, but other than that, Elsa's leg should be good to go! She has not yet tried to walk on it much, except with some help from Daddy, but it does seem nice that she can now bend her knee at will. The skin that was under the cast was very dry and flaky this afternoon, so the bath and application of lotion tonight was much needed. Ah, the little things in life that we fail to appreciate. I don't know that I will ever complain about giving her a bath again!