Thursday August 18th was a much anticipated day for TJ. That was the day he to go get that big orange cast off his arm. He was so excited, and nervous at the same time.
He has been worried that his arm would still be crooked, when the cast came off. I had no idea, and told him so. But I thought it would be okay. We got to the doctors office and sat in the waiting room. Pretty soon we heard "Mr. Olsen". What? Are they talking about my 9 year old son? Yes. They are. lol He took us back to a room and pulled out his saw. TJ got big eyes. The doctor showed him how it wouldn't hurt him, just cut the cast. The doctor put it on his own skin and it didn't do a thing. TJ looked at me, like "are you sure about this?". So I pulled out my camera! lol! Actually I already had it out. I went and stood by him to reassure him, and we were off!
And I took video so we could get the full effect. TJ said it tickled a lot, as that saw cut through his cast.
After the cast was off, TJ again looked at me with concern. His arm was still bent (and filthy). So, I asked about it. And the doctor said it was normal. He sent us down to get x-rays, so they could see how it looked on the inside.
His arm was tan when it went into the cast, so the dead skin is dark. You can see the slight bow to it. It also bows outward. The x-rays, I'll admit, scared me. The bones still looked broken. However, I was prepared for that. My friend is an RN and she warned me that the bones would still look broken in the x-ray. There was a slight shadow, where new bone had grown around the breaks. Unfortunately, one of the bones shifted while in the cast. Thus the outward bump. The other doctor, the Orthopedic Surgeon, whom we went back and saw after the x-rays, said that since TJ is still growing his arm should straighten out over the next 6-12 months, as he grows. If he had been full grown, they would have done surgery when he broke it. The doctor said the other option was to go in surgically now and cut the bones and straighten them and pin them and cast it again. !!!!! However, he is confident his arm will straighten out. He said, even if it doesn't after 6-12 months, we can go back in and do the surgery at that point. But he assured me that he has never had to do that before. They have always straightened out. Okay. So, we wait and watch. I'm sure it will be fine.
TJ meanwhile, has not let it slow him down. He is so happy to have his arm back. It took a couple days to get movement back into it. And he still protects it just a bit. The doctor told him not to do and bike jumps or riding his motorcycle, etc, for 2 weeks. He is counting the days!
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