I Don't Need No Stinkin' Cast

In an unbelievable turn of events...

I went to the Doctor today so that he could look at my leg and make a determination if I was ready to move to a cast. Two weeks ago when he looked at my leg he was surprised at the amount of swelling and discoloration that was present. He put me back in a splint and said he would see me in two weeks...which was today.

My first stop was the "cast room" where they removed my splint. When it came off, my leg looked noticably thinner than the last time and a great part of the swelling had gone down. After the cast removal, I crutched my way down to the X-ray room, where they took some fresh pictures...just to make sure everything was still where it was supposed to be. I then crutched back to the cast room and waited for the doc to come in.

When he arrived, he commented on how good my leg looked...proving once again that all things are relative. I was laying on the cast bed (very different from a casting couch). He had me sit up and bend my knee so that my lower leg was hanging down. He then took my foot in one hand and my leg in the other and gently started to bend my ankle.

After a little bit of that he got a big smile on his face and said I was ahead of schedule...was healing nicely and he wanted me to start doing some small exercises with my ankle. The even better news is that the kind of exercises he wants me to do cannot be done if I am wearing a cast...so...no cast!

Instead he put me in a "moon boot" which completely immobilzes my ankle but can be removed any time I feel like it. This means I can take showers, or go in the swimming pool, even sleep without it on. I am not sure I want to do the sleep part, but the rest is awesome.

I still cannot put any weight on the leg for another four weeks, but the fact that I do not have to wear a cast is freaking awesome!

Under the category of things could always be worse...when I was waiting for the doctor to come in to see me, they wheeled a 14 year old boy in who had had a skate boarding accident and had broken BOTH of his legs. That is right...he had a red cast on one leg and a black cast on the other. We compared stories and I was happy that I broke only one leg. He on the other hand was glad that he had broken his bones while he was young and not ancient (his word) like me! Laughed my butt off at that comment.