An Arm Without A Cast ... Yay!

Yesterday was the big day for Calob. He got his cast off. He has been looking forward to being "normal" (ha) again and getting the cast off is a good start. I don't know if he'll ever be normal (this IS Calob we're talking about here) but if not having a cast helps, then I'm all for it.

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The nurse sawing the cast off

Calob concentrating on the saw.

Almost there!

I don't know if you can really see it in this picture but the hair on his arm is sticking straight up after getting the cast off. It was pretty funny & made Calob laugh. You can also see all the dead skin ... ewwwwwww!

A cast with no arm.

Here is Calob once we were home. Can you see the deformity?!? It's pretty evident but the orthopedist said he thought it would go away over time. Maybe not entirely but at least some. I hope so. It's not a big deal but I didn't expect it to be SO obvious.

Calob is now trying to get used to moving his wrist again. It sounds simple but I guess when you've been in a cast for 6 weeks it's a little funky to move it freely. He was able to take a shower last night with NO bags, tape or rubber bands ... what a relief. It'll be a few days before the dead skin has worked its way off (he's not supposed to scrub it) and then he'll be good to go. He can't do P.E. until November 10th but once that day is here I know Calob will be celebrating. Back to "normal" again!

Cast Off ... Cast On!

Yesterday Calob had a tiny bit of relief. He got his long cast off ... yay ... only to get his short cast on. It was odd to see his arm w/o the cast ... it looks smaller - scrawny even. We asked the doctor if he could please wash his hand/arm once the cast came off & he obliged. Thank goodness. It's almost like Calob's skin is stained though ... weird. I can only imagine if he'd had the cast during the summer in Hawaii. Funky tanline for sure! Here are the pictures.

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Top left ... sawing the cast

Top right ... close-up

Bottom left ... right when the cast came off ... relief!

Bottom right ... soaping it up!

Calob had a choice of colors again & he was definitely leaning towards blue again. I swear, I did NOT force him ... the choice was his. He did good though ... real good. Check out the color of his new, short cast!!! GREEN IS KEEN!!! Oh yeah, don't you just love the shirt?!?! Perfect for Calob (and yes, he picked that shirt out himself in Hawaii)!
The only bad news (if you can call it that) coming out of the appointment is that Calob has to wear the short cast for 3 weeks. We were initially told 2 weeks but the doctor decided on 3. Calob's arm is pretty sore. His elbow hadn't moved in 3 weeks & he definitely will have to work on getting it moving & flexible again.

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When Jerrie & I were in Seattle I bought Callie this matching earring & ring set. It's fantastic! She was pretty happy to get to wear something "pretty scary" (get it? pretty & scary) ... lol!!!

She thought she needed a picture with Kit. ☺

C ... C ... C (Cats, Callie & Calob's Cast)

If you know my cats at all you know that they don't like each other. Samson is particularly disturbed by the other 2 cats but he manages ... barely. I'm not sure how this happened but it did ... and I'm lucky to have caught it on camera. It was a nice, sunny day and apparently all 3 cats decided the couch (where I sit of course, as you can see by my huge pile of magazines) was the perfect place to sun themselves. I still don't know how they did it without killing each other. Samson made noises quite a bit though ... as his tail & legs were touching the other cats (gasp). I love it though ... all 3 of my kitties together!

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That's Nalu on the left, Samson in the middle

and Tamara on the right

Tamara stretched out
This is shot from above ... of them touching ... lol

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Callie is a girl ... ALL girl! She enjoys her clothes way more than I think I ever did. Here's a couple of her latest outfits.

Adorable, right? ☺

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Calob gets his cast off on Tuesday and is getting a short cast (below the elbow). He is SO looking forward to that little bit of extra freedom. He is pretty used to this cast by now but I can't imagine he's going to miss it much. I figured we needed pictures of the signatures ... especially the ones he can't see. lol

Calob and his Supporting Cast

Thanks for the title Sharon! Calob went to the orthopedist (is that the right word) today to get his arm casted. He took more x-rays because he needed a more centered view of the actual break. Calob had a choice in colors for his cast & he chose blue. Shocking. I was hoping for green but whatever. ☺

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Here's Calob getting the cool blue cast.

At this point his doctor was telling him that there was still 1 part left. He said he had to squeeze the cast near the break. This is Calob trying to figure out what he's talking about.
This is Calob realizing EXACTLY what he's talking about. I swear, his doctor is NOT evil (regardless of the look on his face). You really have to know Calob to understand. I had just told Jerrie today how Calob deals with pain. He laughs ... a lot ... and REALLY loud! So here's the doctor squeezing VERY hard around the broken wrist & Calob laughing like you wouldn't believe!!! OMG, you just don't know whether to laugh or cry at that point. You know he's in LOTS of pain BUT he's laughing and you can't decide if you should laugh or not. I think I giggled & took pictures ... yeah, I know, you're happy I had the camera ready! Both the doctor & nurse laughed & commented that they usually didn't get that response at that time in the appointment (squeezing the painful areas).
Here's my big, strong boy with his cool blue cast.
Here are the x-rays from today. The colored arrows are the same colors as the previous post in case you want to compare (you never know). The green arrows are the break and the blue arrow is the fracture.
This x-ray concerned the doctor. Because of this x-ray Calob has to go in again next week for another x-ray to see if the bone still looks like this. If it does (no, please no) he will have to REbreak the bone & set it because it's not healing correctly. Uh huh, you read that right. My baby boy might have to have it broken for the SECOND time ... ugh!

Seriously, I am NOT cut out for this stuff.
As it is, Calob is officially done with soccer for the season. He will be in a cast for AT LEAST 6 weeks (could be more if the above scenario happens). I feel bad for him. He really wanted to play and now he can't do much of anything. Let's just pray (you too Sharon) that the bone is healing correctly next week!!!

*Broken In Two*

Well, Calob's arm wasn't getting any better so I took him to the doctor today. Guess what?!? HE BROKE HIS WRIST! Fun times for sure! HA He actually fractured 1 bone & broke the other one. Pretty awesome, huh? So, when I scanned his x-ray it didn't turn out great but it's the best I could do. If you look at the blue arrow, that's the bone on the outside of his wrist (meaning the pinky side). You really can't see it in this x-ray (there was a different x-ray taken from the top that showed everything better) but there's a fracture of that bone. If you look at the green arrow you can see how the bone is all wonky. Apparently when Calob fell on his wrist the bone actually broke & then crushed into itself. You can see how the sides aren't even and that's because of the bone crushing into the other part of the bone. Lovely huh?

So, Calob can't play soccer for 4 weeks (meaning he'll miss 1/2 his soccer season) and will miss any kind of contact sports in P.E. He's bummed but at this point there's not a whole lot to be done about it.

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His wrist is still too swollen for an actual cast so the doctor did what they call a "half-cast." It keeps the injured area pretty much still but can be removed for showers, etc. He will get a "real" cast on Thursday after school, so hopefully the swelling will have gone down by then. Thanks to everyone who has been thinking of & praying for Calob. We very much appreciate it!!!

All half-casted up & ready to go!