Well, the orange cast is a thing of the past. Sort of. It is currently standing up in an opaque white trash bag at the back door, waiting until the trash man comes tomorrow. There's no more room in the dumpster at the moment and Joel confirmed my opinion that it's just too weird an item to lean against the dumpster at the end of our driveway. I've seen lots of things people put outside on trash day but seeing a used body cast would be a little unsettling for drivers passing on their way to work.
Things did not go as I thought they would today but it was not necessarily discouraging. As soon as our regular nurse came in to start removing the Spica cast, she announced that Maxim was getting a break from casts altogether for now. That's what I had expected. I let her know about our August travel plans, thinking she and the doctor would immediately decide to put Maxim in the typical little leg/foot casts until our departure date. However, the teams consensus is not only that they won't cast Maxim between now and our trip, but that they will not cast him at all until after we have returned from Washington State. They are still of the opinion that since they are planning to remove the talus from each foot and fuse what remains however they feel best, casting is not as crucial in the meantime as it would be if they had some ideal current position they were trying to maintain until surgery. Although this is exactly the mindset I did not want to settle for, I am at peace for one reason. God does not need continual casting to move Maxim's feet into position. He can do whatever He sees fit regardless of the doctors' decisions. I have no ill feelings toward the doctors. They are not giving up in some pessimistic defeatist way. They really feel that the most that can be accomplished has been done. I see it as an opportunity to continue praying and watch God do things in such a way that no one can deny His hand is at work. This whole thing is a done deal when He says so.
It was wonderful to get home and let Maxim enjoy a nice warm bath with no casts. He requested bubbles and really loved being in the water again. He is absolutely skin and bones so that was quite alarming to see when the cast first came off; I nearly cried right there in the doctor's office. But Maxim is such a trooper as usual; he was stretching and wiggling when tickled, scooting as best he could on the floor to reach markers, trying to roll over, etc. There are certain positions that are obviously uncomfortable/painful but he is already trying to adapt how he moves so he won;t be too slowed down. He has a foam wedge that is placed between his legs, then wrapped with a wide velcro strap so that the spread position of his legs can still be maintained somewhat. They worked hard during the surgery to give him more flexibility for opening his legs and they don't him to lose that. He is not too thrilled with having to keep that on at all times except during toilet use and baths. He actually ditched it once this evening and started crawling away which was bitter sweet. I know he really needs the cushion for positioning right now and I have to enforce that, but it was really neat to see him crawl in a normal position for maybe the first time in his life and it said a lot that he would even want to get up on all fours and try so soon after getting the cast off. After all, he has been in leg casts constantly since February 18 & the whole Spica cast since May 15, so his lower extremities are very weak and stiff. But Maxim has such a will to move forward, in more ways than one. I'm sure that persistence will be a wonderful blessing in many ways as he faces more surgeries and therapy ahead. Maxim is also able to comfortably sit in a regular booster seat at the dining table again, which is really nice too. I think he liked sitting up like everyone else instead of reclining in the wheelchair and trying to balance his bowl on the ridge of his cast.
We have a little piece of normal back in that respect.
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