Coen's Cast Is Off!!!

After ten weeks and two casts, Coen's little (and even smaller now) legs are liberated!

Today we had a morning appointment for Coen to have his cast removed by our awesome orthopedist Dr. Yandow. Coen wasn't thrilled when they brought in the "CastVac", but he honestly managed really well, going from scared to curious during the 15+ minutes that it took to remove his grisly cast.

Once the cast came off, an impressive stench came over the room. His legs looked like he'd been living in a foxhole for a few months. I felt bad when we found a leaf from one of the trees in our backyard in there (he loves to help me water the trees, lying on his belly to do it). The other lovely prize was a strand of mom's black hair. It's no wonder this kid was constantly grab our hands and having us scratch inside his cast. It's just a good thing he got that cast off before the summer heat crept in.

Within about 15 minutes of having his cast off, he wanted to try standing. Needless to say, his legs are really weak right now, but I imagine that he'll be standing against things in the next few days and then we'll see after that. He's a little trooper, so I know he will go for it. I just hope his body can keep up with his mind.

It's such a relief to have this phase of his recovery behind us. There is a lot of aggressive physical therapy in store for him (likely a couple of years), but we're making progress. Lots of things still need to heal (femoral head needs to stabilize and 'marry into' the hip socket, the pelvic bone needs to finish healing, etc.), but it's happening one step at a time and we're immensely grateful for that.

Thank you very much to everybody (coast to coast and across the oceans) that has sent their love and most importantly their prayers. They are working and we're humbled by that. We'll be eternally grateful to you.

Lots of photos here: Cast coming off / Still in his cast.
Videos here.