Casting day!

Things are moving right along here in the orthopedic unit.  Saturday and Sunday were uneventful - Suchitra spent most of each day sleeping, and when she was awake, she watched TV.  She is not as cranky as she was after the rhizotomy, but I am looking forward to her getting back to her non-medicated self.  Neither of us slept very well Saturday night, but they let us sleep in Sunday morning, which was nice.  They decided to turn up her epidural for Sunday night, and also give the Valium a little more frequently, in hopes that she would get more sleep.  This worked out well and we both slept pretty well Sunday night.  No sleeping in this morning though - an orthopedic resident woke us up at 6:15 am!

At about 9:15 the nurses came to take Suchitra to get her casts on.  She was taken into a separate room where we met a nice man named Laster.  He cut off her long bandages, which had a bunch of stuffing underneath them so when he cut them off, it looked like a stuffed animal's insides coming out.  Then he very carefully and expertly constructed her new casts.  They go up to just below her knees and all the way down to the bottom of her feet, though her toes are exposed.  I'll post pictures next time because right now she is prone and all covered up.  The casts are made of fiberglass and they have a bar in between to keep them positioned correctly.  It can be screwed on and off with a little key.  Then Laster signed her cast, "Laster the Caster."  Awesome!

Another guy came to fit her with new knee immobilizers, which she was a little disappointed about because we had thought that she might get a break from KIs while in her casts.  However, these are soft so she can wear them without pants underneath.  We don't know the wearing schedule yet.

After casting, she had X-rays taken to make sure the alignment is correct.  Then we came back here to her room where they turned off the epidural.  From now on she will have only oral pain medication.  Lots of questions yet to be answered, so I'm sticking close to the room to be here when people come by to tell us stuff.