Diary of a Gimpy Kid

It behooves me to write a follow-up post on the toddler fracture, as heaven knows Knox is tearing down Toddler Lane right behind Miles and it might come in handy to remember a thing or two about cast care and what to expect once the cast is off.

First, it was totally true when we were told that Miles would adjust to the cast quickly.  They only time I ever wondered what we were getting ourselves into was the very first evening when Miles starting pawing at it and asked for me to remove it.  I simply told him that he had to wear it for a long, LONG time and that Doctor Brown was the only person who could take it off.  Then I shut my eyes tight, put my hands over my ears, and waited for the earth to shake.  But it never did, thankfully.  We did make a calendar with a big red star marking the day he would get the cast off and told Miles that he could put stickers on each day that passed.  He liked that, and I always made a big deal out of his progress.

Life with the cast was actually really easy.  I can't think of one thing that Miles could do without it that he coudn't do with it.  He learned to run, jump, climb - you name it.  Here he is figuring out how to crawl through the rings at the baseball field.

 


He could even get on the swing and pump himself with one leg, which I thought was impressive.



He also loved taking sponge baths every night, and he never once complained of itching.  That's probably mostly luck, but I also never allowed him to get overly hot or dirty in the four weeks with the cast in order to at least try to eliminate itching.  There was a downside to that big ole fiberglass cast, however.  It caused a fair amount of wear and tear to some of our furniture - namely, our bar stools where the boys eat, the edge of the bathroom counter top where Miles sat for his sponge baths, and the toddler rail on his bed.  When I realized how destructive the cast was - we went ahead and removed his bed rail.  But, any place that his leg grated against has no finish left.



As for his recovery, Miles' tibia healed beautifully, but we are now 2.5 weeks post cast and he still has a slight limp.  The doctor told us this was perfectly normal, as he is now limping from having adjusted to walking in the cast.  He says it will just take time for Miles to adjust back.  He also said that it wouldn't be uncommon for Miles to have some soreness and possible tingling in his leg for several days after being in a cast.  It's not the easiest thing to trust that everything is fine when you see your child still limping, but I do see some progress so we will give it more time.  Hopefully, this completes our medical adventures for the year.  It seems Miles has one big issue every year, so we can mark "Broken Leg" off the list for 2012.  What a kid!