Cast Off, Cast On

Kendal sporting her newest hot pink accessory
A broken arm didn't keep her from wanting to fish with her Dad
Trey fishing WITHOUT his cast on
Kendal with her cast cover-up on

Last week Trey was scheduled to have the cast on his leg removed. It was. However, we now have another cast (#2 of the summer) in the Thornton household. This time around we have a hot pink arm cast on Kendal's right arm. Tuesday morning she was walking down the steps at the lake house to join her Daddy fishing on the dock, when she tripped and fell. She landed on her arm and after I took a quick look I pretty much new immediately that she had broken her arm. She really didn't want to go to the doctor, but after chatting about the importance of getting her arm fixed we headed to find a doctor that would take off Trey's cast and put a cast on Kendal. We ended up at the Orthopedist office where Trey went for he leg and begged for the opportunity to see the doctor. After sitting in the waiting area for almost 2 hours, we were the last ones called back before lunch. Kendal was x-rayed and even before the doctor came in I could clearly see the her arm bone was broken. At this point I began to try to talk Kendal through the process of getting a cast and trying to highlight all of the "cool" stuff about having a cast. We talked about what color she would get, who she wanted to sign her cast and what she would tell everyone who asked her about her cast. I think she was actually pretty excited by the time the doctor came in. Then he proceeded to tell us that the arm had to be reset. I have not experienced this part of a break before, but I was sure that it would not be pretty. He gave us the 3 options. We could numb the arm with shots, take Kendal to the hospital and put her asleep then reset the arm, or he could reset the arm in the office but it would hurt. Kendal and I decided that we would count our way through the last option, and that is what we did. She did complain a little, but she was not hysterical by any means. She is one tough cookie. The bad news about this cast is that because it is a full arm cast it is NOT waterproof. We found a cast cover that is supposed to be airtight, but after one swim in the pool the top of her cast was a little too wet for my liking, so we are still looking for other options. She has to wear the cast she has on now for 4 weeks and then she will be a half arm cast for the last 2 weeks. Even though it was her dominant hand that was broken I have been surprised at how well she has done using her left hand to eat, brush her teeth, and even paint....in fact the painting she did yesterday was best she has ever done! She has had the "itchy" cast a couple of times already, so hopefully it doesn't get too bad. I can only imagine....

Trey got his cast off, however he is still walking around with a limp. I'm not sure if it is because he got used to walking with the cast or if he is still hurting. If he doesn't improve I will probably take him in this week with Kendal when she has her arm re-xrayed to make sure that the bone in her arm has not slipped. Let's just say after 2 casts in less than 1 month, I am thinking that our calcium intake is going to increase dramatically in hopes of preventing further castable injuries.

We did have a great time at the lake last week with the Griffeth family. I will post pictures and details hopefully tomorrow!