I can bend my knee!

If you’ve been following the cast countdown, you know that I got my short cast recently.  If you ever wonder how they cut off a cast, here’s your chance to watch.  Evidently, the blade vibrates (not rotates) so it can’t cut you.  When she was done cutting the cast off, the cotton sock was still untouched underneath.  I did feel the heat of the blade a few times against my skin which was a little weird.  (2 min 53 sec)

Then she uses this tool to pry the cast apart (54 sec)

Voila!  My leg appears!

It’s not uncommon for some bruising.

My friends speculated about how small and shriveled my leg would be.  Surprisingly both legs looks pretty close to the same size.  I could tell that some atrophy is going on as the cast was getting a bit looser.

My skin is super dry but it wasn’t as bad as I expected.

I think the nurses and doctors thought I was crazy as I was tending to the hair on my leg.  After all, it will be a while before I see my leg again!

I miss my leg!

Well well.  My x-ray looks exactly the same.  The ortho doctor says this is a very slow healing bone. It looks like it’s healing properly but just slow as expected.  I get to spend another 4 – 6 weeks in a new cast.

Here we go again.

The color requested is pink and it still looks good with my purple nail polish.  The question has come up numerous times about signing the cast.  I believe if I let people sign the cast, a certain person and their scribble scrabble would make a mess of it.  I would rather not open that can of worms and if you knew what scribble scrabble was, I’m sure you would agree.

A big thanks goes out to Mike Kelly of Triple M Engineering who informed me about the Knee Walker that Mona used.  This is a crutch alternative that functions like a scooter with one knee bent on it.  I still use my crutches to get around short distances and small spaces but for bigger and longer trips, I use the knee walker.  Take a look at Jason testing the Knee Walker outside (15 sec).

My knee does get tired on there but for the most part, I can handle going places and staying out much longer than I ever could before on crutches.  I took it out for a test spin at the store and got lots of looks.  Some folks thought it was really cool while children longingly stared.  I’m sure some thought I was just plain lazy as you couldn’t see much of the cast under my pants.  Overall, it looks like the Knee Walker is the way to go.  I sure hope so because I turned in my wheelchair this morning.  Having the world’s tiniest trunk meant I couldn’t carry both in my trunk.

As expected, bending my knee has brought on a whole new sense of freedom.  I no longer have to push my power seat all the way back just to get in the seat.  Getting in and out of the shower is not nearly as awkward.  Sitting is also much more comfortable as I’m not constantly bearing the weight of my entire leg on my hip.  Although it’s still not weight bearing, I feel like a much more normal (subject to interpretation) person than when I had this big purple cast sticking out straight all of the time.  I’m on phase two of healing and in a month and a half, I’ll get to move to the walking boot before my physical therapy starts. One step at a time… literally!