Max got the serial casts on Friday. It took about an hour, and he was calm the entire time. (Thank you, DVD player and Cars movie.) I was so worried about how he'd get around with casts on both feet. He's a little wobbly, as you might expect when you're walking around with a couple of extra pounds glommed onto each leg, but it didn't stop him. Max was as happy and intrepid as ever.
As it turns out, the so-called "shoes" are the real trouble. It took us about eleventy billion hours to get a pair of Dave's socks on over the casts, or maybe it was ten minutes, and then once we Velcroed the "shoes" on, Max couldn't get a lot of traction and walking wasn't as easy. We may have to send him to school with open toes, perhaps Max could set a new trend in footwear.
My friend Wendy says that someone could make a killing if they invented actual shoes that fit over the casts. Heads up, Prada!
Max is still deciding what he wants me to write on the casts—it's either going to be "Max loves Cars 2" or "Max loves mac 'n cheese with ketchup" or both. Tough decisions like this take time.
I knew the casts didn't hurt but at bedtime last night, I asked anyway. "Nooooo," said Max. And then he gestured toward one foot, then pointed to the other and said "Nooooo." I knew exactly what he was saying. "You want to have a cast just on one foot, right?" I said. "Essss," he told me. And I hugged him tight and tried not to get upset and made myself think, This is good for him. This is good for him. But it was definitely one of those times when I hated the cerebral palsy.
Max wears two long blue plastic sleeves at bath time to keep water out. Thursday night, we have to take them both off; basically, you just unravel them. Sabrina actually did the job two years ago, the last time he had one, and we might ask her to do it again—assuming she still charges reasonable rates.
Max is supposed to wear the casts for six weeks but there's a good chance the left one may come off a couple of weeks before the right one. His grand prize: a new night cast in purple.
