Halloween and New Casts (week 3)!

What a great week! Kaitlyn had a super Halloween! It started off Friday with a party at school, complete with a Kindergarten parade. Her teacher, Mrs. Childs, was nice enough to decorate a special wagon for Kaitlyn to ride in so that she wouldn't miss the parade. She picked a friend to ride with her, and they both had a great time!

On Halloween night, we knew that trick-or-treating was out of the question. So Kaitlyn got all decked out in her witch costume, and she and I sat outside handing out candy. Since she couldn't go house-to-house, our awesome neighbors all brought treats to her. She sat there like a queen on her throne accepting all of the goodies from the kids! It was a great night, and thanks to such generous people, she didn't feel as though she missed out on anything.

The Kindergarten Halloween Parade

Witch Kaitlyn!



Here's Firefighter Connor!


Today we went back to the Floating Hospital, and saw Dr. Webster. We had hoped that she would get her casts off today, and be done with serial casting! However, he decided that she would benefit from one more week. The good news is that the process appears to be working well. While her casts were off today, I was amazed to see her walking nearly flat-footed for the first time! Her left foot is still having a little trouble coming down, so we're hoping one more week with her foot placed at an increased angle will help. She's also been wearing knee immobilizers overnight which keep her legs totally straight. Apparently this will help to assure that she gets the maximum benefit from the casts. The immobilizers are a little bit uncomfortable, but she really hasn't complained much.

Kaitlyn seems to be taking all of this in stride. She has the whole routine down pat, and walks into the office with a big smile on her face. She clearly has the whole placed figured out. I watched as she somehow managed to get the cafeteria guy we met in the elevator to give her a huge cookie. Then I saw the sweet lady from the front desk deliver some cool princess stickers to her while were in the casting room. In the meantime, she was chatting about the Patriots with the casting tech, and discussing music with Dr. Webster. It's amazing how she can be so comfortable in any situation!

On a funny note...Going to the casting room at the hospital is really interesting. There are kids of all ages with varying problems, conditions, or broken bones. There are always kids in there getting their casts removed. That entails a pretty rudimentary saw that is wicked loud and very scary looking. Understandably, the room is often filled with the sounds of hysterical screams and crying when kids see & hear that saw coming. Kaitlyn however seems to be prone to hysterics of an entirely different nature.

Check out this video clip to see what I mean...



So, overall I'm very happy with how the serial casting process has gone thus far. The true measurement of its success will be seeing how Kaitlyn does next week when the casts come off for good. Keep your fingers crossed! Here is a picture of the old casts coming off..

Here is a picture of the cast color choices this week (not bad!)...