Well, the day that Cam has been waiting for has finally arrived. THE CASTS WERE COMING OFF!!!! 3 weeks have passed and we headed downtown for what Cam thought was going to be the best day ever. Kevin and I had tried to prepare him that he would be sore and that things were not going to feel outstanding just because he wasn't wearing casts, but regardless, he was excited. 10:15am the guy from the cast room calls us back and immediately begins cutting. Cam is laughing, especially when he gets to his feet because it tickles so much. It is so nice to see him laugh and smile while we are at the doctors office, normally he is mad and afraid. He cuts and cuts and cuts then pulls them apart and rips them off!! Cam is smiling from ear to ear until he realizes how much it hurts to move any part of his leg, ankle or foot. Now the disappointment starts to set in, it's written all over his face. Then the cotton comes off and we discover big, and I mean big, bruises and blisters on his knee caps from where the casts were pressing :( No wonder he kept complaining that his knees had been "shot off and were in lava". Now they fit him for knee immobilizers, which I was dreading, and it turns out that he likes them because they support his legs so they don't move. Finally the surgeon comes in to see the results and remove the stitches. She was very happy with how straight his legs were and how well the incisions had healed. Now the nurse starts taking out his stitches and I start going down, and by down I mean lightheaded, nauseous, sweating, on the verge of passing out! LOL Not sure why, but she made me feel better telling me that most parents experience the same thing. So while Cam laid there all brave and relaxed while they removed all the stitches I sat in the chair white as a ghost drinking my grape juice :)
Once we finished we headed for home and Cam couldn't wait to take a nice hot shower. Him and I fumbled our way in and out of the shower/bath with only a few minor pains and mishaps. Let's just say that was not meant to be a one man job, an extra set of arms would've gone a long ways. He was ready to relax in bed and watch videos on his computer for a bit and settle in. Meanwhile I found myself sitting in the kitchen wishing he had his casts back on. Over the last 3 weeks we had a pretty good system in place, the pain was nearly gone and we were moving in the right direction, now I feel like we've gone backwards. In my rational mind I know that the step we took today was in the right direction, but come on now, who is rational at this point.......certainly not me! We worked our way through the day, had a couple very special visitors and Cam even got a bag of Halloween cards from the kids at St. Damian!
Tomorrow begins a whole new adventure.....we check into rehab! Tomorrow we will check in around lunchtime and spend the afternoon getting settled into our new temporary home. Thursday morning will be the "real deal", we meet with the therapist for his evaluation. I have been trying to prepare Cam for this by moving and stretching him as much as he will tolerate letting him know that the therapist will be moving him every which way come Thursday. I hope that things go better than my gut is predicting, but if I was being honest, I am scared to death of what's to come in the next week. I am so afraid of seeing Cam in pain that I already have a knot in my stomach and we haven't even started :/ I am trying to keep that under wraps and stay positive for Cam so he can go in with an open mind, but inside I am screaming obscenities!
We will keep you posted as rehab progresses and hopefully be able to post some pics of his progress. For now I want to thank all of you again for your kindness, generosity and all of your thoughts and prayers. I know in my heart of hearts we are making strides in the right direction and we will see great success. Cam is one determined little boy that I know will put everything he has into making this worthwhile. When I think of it that way it makes me smile from the inside out! :)
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