Cast Update

The first night Evan had his casts he slept very well and even slept in the next morning. Clinic days are exhausting for the little guy so he was probably trying to recover from all the excitement. The following 4 nights? Terrible. Horrible. No good. Very bad. We tried Motrin, massage, keeping him up, singing, holding him, rocking him, feeding him... For two nights I even slept on the floor in his room--with him on top of me for part of the night--just to avoid the constant walks back and forth when he woke up crying every half hour.

I was surprised he slept so poorly because he was so good during the daytime. He learned how to crawl well and even get up on his knees without bending one of his knees. Kids are so resilient and tough!

I took his right cast off early yesterday because I noticed his foot had shifted position and I instantly became concerned. Sure enough he has pressure sores on his heel and ankle that are probably the explanation for his poor sleeping. I feel terrible and a little bit like these 5 days were a waste of time. If his foot wasn't in the right position then the casts weren't even doing their job. I wish I had noticed that sooner.

I'm sure there's some lessons we can learn from this painful experience--patience, sacrifice, etc. But I feel a bit upset at the doctors for suggesting casting so aggressively and for wrapping the cast so poorly. I feel badly for not getting a second opinion or doing more research before jumping into this. I don't think these 5 days helped straighten Evan's feet. Right now he's tighter than ever on his right foot and keeps his leg tucked up to protect it from pain. At least I know more now and at least we're done and moving on. It could've been worse. The biggest bummer is that he'll have to wait for his foot to heal before he can wear his new Nike high tops that are the cutest things I've ever seen in my life.

By the way, we had to go to several outlet stores before finding a pair of ankle-supportive shoes in a small enough size for Evan's very short but very chubby feet (size 3). Most stores don't carry shoes smaller than size 5, and those that do, like Stride Rite or Carter's, only have little booties or cute little flats. We were about ready to get some cute little girl boots so Evan should be thankful Nike carries his size. I was also just introduced to this site http://www.6pm.com/ that has some more options for us in the future.