The cast comes off!

After 4 weeks of being in a full arm cast, Nicole finally got her cast off (almost 2 weeks ago with this writing...I'm so behind! :(

I could not wait for that crazy cast to come off.  The afternoon before her appointment, Nicole started running a fever.  I really high, almost 104 degree fever!!!!  When she runs fevers, they tend to always be very high, and she was fairly active, so I wasn't to concerned.  But, by that evening when I couldn't get the fever down, I began to worry about the next day.  As I woke up with her throughout the night to give her tylenol and motrin to cut the fever, I wondered if we would make it to the cast removal appointment at 11 that morning.

Thankfully, her fever broke around 8am...and disappeared completely.  So we stuck with the appointment. 

Here is her last photo with her full arm cast in place.

We were in and out of several exam rooms as they removed the cast, looked at the pins, did x rays, pulled the pins and wrapped a new temporary cast. 

I have never had a cast on, so I wasn't sure how they would remove it.  The basically take a dull blade that shakes back and forth to cut the cast and then pry it off.  Nicole was very brave.  She wasn't scared at all (especially compared to the other little girl who screamed the whole time :)

Then we went off for X-rays.  Check out those pins!

Finally, the doctor pulled the pins out.  It was rough.  I had a grip on her, and felt him yanking her out of my arms (by her elbow, ugh!).  About 15 seconds of pretty bad pain, and then it was gone.  I guess that's not to bad.  She bled a lot where the pins were pulled out.  I wasn't quite expecting that either.

They also made a new removable cast for her.  They basically re wrapped her arm in casting material and then pried it off again to cut out the holes.

She has been doing great.  She doesn't wear the removable splint much because she's very careful with her arm.  So careful in fact, that she still hasn't bent her arm back out to straight position.  We can't get her to stretch it out :(  I'm hoping she won't have to go to Physical Therapy.  She's just scared to do it.  Her arm is not broken anymore....but her mind is having a hard time around that.

The first day or two after the cast came off were a bit dramatic. She was really freaked out by her skin "falling off".  Her skin was shedding a lot.  AND....she had a terrible rash all over her arm.  The guys at the casting room asked if she was outside playing a lot.  The answer was no...she never was outside because she couldn't handle the itch.  However, I think that hot fever she ran the night before produced enough heat for a long enough period of time she her poor little arm broke out. 

But, almost two weeks later, it's mostly better.  So now...we just need to get that arm moving!