Adventures in Cast-Art

Excuse me, Mom? What the heck is on my leg?

When Gee was two months old, his left leg was outfitted in a new thigh-to-toe cast every week for eight weeks. As is not uncommon for children with spina bifida, he was born with a club foot. His pediatric orthopedic surgeon hoped that using casts as a kind of corrective brace might help fix the foot without the need for surgery.

(Yes, my toddler has a orthopedic surgeon. And a neurosurgeon. And a urologist. And...well, you get the picture. He's all checked out in the medical specialist field.)

So, every Thursday for eight weeks, Gee and I (along with Em and Zee) would drive up to Primary Children's Hospital to have the old cast removed and the new cast put on. Not the most fun in the world, but at least it didn't hurt (the doctor said he expected it ached the same way a teenager's teeth hurt after getting her braces tightened). The worst part for the infant Gee was the noisy buzz of the cast saw.

Gee was a little harder to carry around with the giant cast on his leg, and keeping his other little leg warm was always an adventure (you never appreciate feetie pajamas until you can't use them!), but for the most part, the cast adventure was pretty low key. And it had one major upside.

Drawing. Every week, there was a new, blank expanse of beautiful white plaster cast. The possibilities were endless!

Ants

Produce

Fish (my personal favorite)

Bugs

Alphabet

Planets

Sports

Ultimately (and sadly), as is sometimes the case, the casting didn't manage to completely correct the club foot, and when Gee was 22 months old, he had to have surgery on that left foot. But, still, it was worth the try, and it is possible that his later surgery wasn't as invasive because of the corrective casting done 18 months earlier. And the total bummer about his surgery at 22 months? He got a fiberglass cast instead of a plaster one. Sigh. No creativity for me!