We had to suspend casting when we cut the casts off and found a wound on Therese's foot. Here is a picture of the foot 2 days later, still very inflamed:
After a week it was much better but we still couldn't cast over it:
Finally, the second week after cutting the casts off, I sent this photo to the doctor and he said we could cast again.
We were worried that we would be starting all over again, and the doctor had warned us that we would likely lose all or almost all the correction we had gained. Here is Therese waiting for her new cast, after two weeks out of them.
Her feet looked about like they had when we started.
The doctor was very surprised at how far her feet we able to be moved for the new cast. She didn't lose very much of the correction and this was such wonderful news. The 8 hours of driving every Friday were very tiring and the thought of starting over again just made me feel exhausted.
For cast 3, Therese chose a blue cast. Here is the procedure for removing the cast each week.
Cutting each side with a very loud tool:
That thing is loud!
We wondered why Papa looked so calm, then we noticed that he had come prepared with earplugs.
Therese's motto is, "I do it by self," and she loves to try to help pry off the casts. I don't know what this tool is called, but I call it the cast-cracker.
Here is a foot after cast 3, the cast after two weeks of no casting. The large lump is the callused skin and bursae that had formed on her foot where she walked on it. When she walked, that was on the bottom of her feet, and now they are almost in the right place.
Cast 4 has taken her feet as far as the shortened achilles tendon will allow. On Monday, February 24th, she will have a tendonotomy. They will put on the last casts, which will be on for 3 weeks. The next step after cast 5 is getting her AFOs and turning her loose. She heard us talking about surgery and is clearly a little apprehensive about it, but she immediately announced that she was going to be brave, and "I not cry like John," since he cried constantly for weeks after his surgery. She is a tough little girl but we would appreciate prayers for her procedure. Our biggest challenge will be trying to keep a set of casts intact for 3+ weeks.
